Mean Green alternator versus stock wiring

[DamnHippie]

So I'm about to install a new Mean Green 180 amp alternator along with my replacement engine. (I think it's funny that I'm about to bolt a $400 alternator to a $500 engine.) Then suddenly it struck me... my stock alternator is 80 amp, the new one is 180 amp, surely the stock wire from the alternator to the fuse block isn't heavy enough to handle that?

What I'm thinking is I need heavy new wire (4 gauge? 2 gauge?) straight from the alternator to the battery post, with a new fusible link thing rated for 180 amps right where it connects to the battery. Does this sound right? What have other folks done who've upgraded to alternators with this much output?

[tmorgan4]

A little bit off topic, but I'm curious as to whether the Mean Green alternators will fit the Pathfinders. I had thought the Xterra and Pathfinders alternators mounted differently, but then I read that the Quest alternator upgrades can be done to both models. Does this mean I can use the Mean Green too? Stock one surely won't last long with a winch.

[CurleyMan]

i've never had any trouble with my stocker pushing the winch even with the KC 100 watt lights working. However I am going to put the quest alt in very soon...

[ChefTyler]

Google "the big three" it's used a lot in high end car stereo setups, it involves upgrading the positive cable from the alternator to the battery, motor to frame, and I wanna say negative battery terminal to frame but I could be wrong.

[Ryan Gee]

The quest alternator is 110amps...... bolt on for the X guys...

[tmorgan4]

Bolt on for me too. That's why I'm hoping the Mean Green works...

[South Side Ninja]

Google "the big three" it's used a lot in high end car stereo setups, it involves upgrading the positive cable from the alternator to the battery, motor to frame, and I wanna say negative battery terminal to frame but I could be wrong.

yes "big 3" is important for any system with big amp draw.
search "big 3" on sounddomain.com

here is the link to sounddomain
http://forum.sounddomain.com/forum/ultimatebb.cgi

[Allen Rose]

I've had a mean green on my X for over 4 years now and haven't had any issues with it. I'm running an XD9000i and 4 x 100W lights too.



Axle

[DamnHippie]

A little bit off topic, but I'm curious as to whether the Mean Green alternators will fit the Pathfinders. I had thought the Xterra and Pathfinders alternators mounted differently, but then I read that the Quest alternator upgrades can be done to both models. Does this mean I can use the Mean Green too? Stock one surely won't last long with a winch.

The Mean Green site lists only Xterra and Frontier, nothing for Pathfinder. Doesn't the Pathy alternator mount high on the right of the engine rather than low on the left? If so, I think that would imply there's no way the same alternator could be made to fit. (Maybe I'm thinking of the 2.4 engine tho.)

The only reason I'm replacing the alternator at all is that my old one is almost dead -- the bearings started screaming about May or June last year and no amount of washing it out helped. I've heard they're hard enough to install that I figured I should do it now, while the engine is out. And I figured I might as well get a good one that will last.

At first I was kind of dubious about this new one -- it's way more open than a stock one. I guess it needs to be to stay cool at high output. My first thought was "Wow, more mud than ever will get into it." But then it occurred to me that the flip side of that is that it may be easier to wash the mud out after each trip, so it may actually last longer.

[Ryan Gee]

They will fit on the WD21, just have to grind on the case a little and change the pulley to a v-belt.

[DamnHippie]

Well, I reviewed a couple sites google found for "the big three". I've never heard those wires called that before (must be some idiom in the aftermarket stereo biz), but they pretty much confirmed that I need to do just what I thought. I was already planning on doing the ground side of things just because my old battery terminals and wiring looks old and corroded, and their recommendation on how to fuse the new alternator->battery cable is pretty much what I mentioned to start the thread.

The other handy thing the sites confirmed for me is that it's perfectly alright to leave the oem wiring in place and just string new heavy cable to handle the higher loads. I was pretty sure that would work out fine, but it's nice to have it confirmed by peoples' actual experience. (You wouldn't wanna do that with AC wiring because you'd end up with phase problems from different lengths between the legs of the multipath, but it should be fine for DC.)