i have my factory mounted alternator, and another alternator and mounting bracket sitting here,is it possible to run dual parallel alternators???

 

Yes. Ford's been doing it for years with their ambulances and other emergency vehicles, and Prestolite has recently released an integrated parallel alternator system for heavier vehicles.

 

What kind of belt would you use with that? The serpentine belt only stretches so far, right?

 

alma gates' competition spl bronco had 17 alternators

 

well all id have to do is get the belt for my xj, the motor is out of a 92 yj , so its shorter, all id have to do is get the belt for my year xj without a/c and ittl give me enough belt, (i was measuring it out when i did my engine swap)

 

I'd love to see dual alternators on an XJ that would be interresting.

 

im working on it, i just wana have a common system, instead of 2 seperated systems, i have the battery space, which im upogradeing to dual optimas when these batterys go bad, but because of my stereo system, and all my accessories , i want dual alts to keep the batterys charged when under full load, so its takeing a while but im getting there

 

Measure out the new run, select a six-rib belt of the appropriate length (belts don't "stretch" in operation - and they usually want replacing because they have stretched and won't maintain tension.)

You're going to need to install at least one idler pully as well, most likely, to maintain enough belt wrap around the pully to make useful power. And, each alternator needs to have its own regulator.

Typically, having the belt wrapped around 120-180* of pully is sufficient. If you check ganged alternator setups, you'll usually see idler pullys below and between alternator pullys, just to maintain belt wrap. (How much wrap is required depends on the accessory and it's required drive power.)

 

On a renix engine just take of the ac compressor or the idle pully that are in its place, put another alternator in its place with some brackets and you can use the original rib belt. We did that on my friends -89 Comanche that was equiped with a big Meyer snowplow and needed a lot more amps because he had a lot more lights on it, I think it was 8 or 10 extra lights with 100w lamps in.
Had to do a lot of modification to cables and it had dual truck batteries in back.
He used it for night time snow plowing and wanted good lighting, and it was.
After 10 years of heavy work the MJ now is in my yard waiting to be rebuilt, a lot of frame cracks around steering.

 

O ik, i alredy got an extra idler pully, and i know the belt i need, and i was thinkin of makeing an spring loaded tensorer from a 96 chevy work, still working on figureing that out instead of using asecound idler pully, that way i dont have to mess around with tensioning from the power steering pump

 

Springs wear out. The tensioner we use typically doesn't.

Moving to Advanced Tech.

 

Am I the only one that thinks it would be less work and headache to just upgrade to a higher amp alt. and better battery?

 

i got duall batterys alredy, parrellel of course, but i have a spare alt bracket, and i dont have ac so ima do the highmount alternator trick and i have 2 spare alternators, so i figured why not, its free(alredy have the parts except the belt) and my dads an electrical engineer so hes gona help me wire up the secound alt so its a dual parrellel alternator setup