AD244 Alternator Upgrade for 96+ GMT-400s
 

A while ago I read a thread (elsewhere) about upgrading the factory CS130 (105Amp) or CS144 (120Amp? maybe...) on these trucks or Vortec 4.3L/5.0L/5.7L/7.4L & 6.5TD engines, here is my experience.

1996 Vortec 7400 AD244 Install Notes

My 8 month old ACDelco reman CS144 (the OEM 454 one) went out on me last weekend. Pulled it off and found an ever-so-slightly bent shaft, bearings making pretty-pretty noises. Knew about this upgrade, so I went alternator shopping. I found Napa 1N-4807HO, which is a brand new 200A AD244 unit with a lifetime warranty. In their product notes they mentioned that it requires a cable upgrade kit, sold separately. I am not one to create a situation where if I do need to warranty it, they fail to honor it because I didn't install the cable upgrade. Holy crap, cable upgrade indeed; it is for the charging wire, and it is a nice heavy 2 Ga piece of work.

Easy-peasy, remove belt, unbolt old one, remove, remove rear support bracket (not used on AD244) and ready for new parts.

Now, the CS144 alt I had used the rectangular regulator plug, where-as the CS130 & AD244 uses the oval plug. I knew this going into it and therefore purchased the oval-style pigtail as well. Did not need to splice/solder anything as the metri-pack pins are the same, unpin old rectangular plug, pin on new oval plug. At this time I also included the voltage sensing circuit that mr98z71 (GMT400.com) mentions in his thread (HERE). I connected mine to the battery at this time, until I upgrade the crossover/feed to the fuse panel itself I'd rather not cook things. Using an '02 Escalade as my reference I looked at the wiring diagram for the alternator and found that the AD244 uses both the L and the I or F pins (seen it referenced by either letter). L is the brown wire that is the charge light indicator, I/F pin is the field engage/excite circuit. For reference, both are ECM driven on the Escalade. (great, when I do my 0411 swap I'll be sure to include them) I left the brown wire circuit alone, but I added the I/F circuit and tied it into switched power at the fuse panel. Did you need to do this? I don't know, but I did. Now, pictures...

New parts.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ps444bd203.jpg

Oval pigtail, removed extras, plugged unused.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ps45106db9.jpg

Pret-ty!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ps99329247.jpg

Cable kit has inline fuse holder identical to the one GM used on GMT-400s with heated seats (including Escalade/Denali) and similar to ones on S-series (98/99+, under battery). I trimmed out one of the available windows on the cover and fastened my fuse block power lead to the battery side of the fuse holder as well. (Reduced clutter around battery post.)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ps9fd55512.jpg

Re: AD244 Alternator Upgrade for 96+ GMT-400s
 

Nice. Wonder how hard it is to do that to the 96-98 5.7.

Re: AD244 Alternator Upgrade for 96+ GMT-400s
 

Direct swap. If you have the CS130 alt you already have the correct plug. The only thing I'm unsure of is your belt...you might need a longer belt.

Re: AD244 Alternator Upgrade for 96+ GMT-400s
 

Uh, THIS WILL HAPPEN!

Re: AD244 Alternator Upgrade for 96+ GMT-400s
 

It is strongly advised that you upgrade the alternator charging wire at this time. You won't need the massive one I purchased unless you get close to the 200A that mine is rated at, but a regular AD244 will put out 145-165A depending on what application you purchase it for. A lot of guys just get them from a junkyard for cheap cheap as they have a more robust design and do not have the bearing problems that the earlier ones do.

Belt info: For Vortec 5.7Ls with CS130 alternator you will need the longer belt, specifically the one for your vehicle IF you had the available 140A CS144 alt.

Re: AD244 Alternator Upgrade for 96+ GMT-400s
 

What is the visible diff between the AD244 and the CS series aggrevators?
CS130 is 130mm is the ad244 really huge? And are you saying the cs130 plug is the same plug as Ad244?

Is the ad244 able to run without sensing wire? As the cs do?

Re: AD244 Alternator Upgrade for 96+ GMT-400s
 

The CS130 & the AD244 use the same plug, rounded ends, 4 pins all uniform size. The CS144 (What I had) uses a rectangular plug with 3+1 larger pin in the connector.

All of the alternators mentioned are capable of running without the sensing wire, they just default to 14.5V output. I added it because why? Because I wanted to...no real reason. Someday I will upgrade the wire to my relay center and when I do I will tie the sensing wire in there. The idea behind it is to maintain the 14.5V at the relay center. There will be a voltage drop along that relay center feed, for sake of easy math, say 0.2V, so when it senses the 14.3V at the relay center (14.5V out - 0.2V drop) it would crank up output to 14.7V so 14.5V reaches the relay center.

CS130 vs AD244
http://i310.photobucket.com/albums/k...d244cs130d.jpg

Re: AD244 Alternator Upgrade for 96+ GMT-400s
 

Hi

I know this a very old thread but it's of great interest to me and others who need to upgrade from the original CS alternators our trucks came with.

I recently installed the AD244 form a 2005 2500 6ltre. I read about the sense wire but am confused as to how to use this.

My idea is to use 18ga wire with a ring terminal from the JB directly to the S pin on the oval alt connector. Is this all there is to this ?

BTW I upgraded all cables to 2ga welding wire a few weeks ago. The battery is a new 34/78 Odyssey AGM.

Thanks

Re: AD244 Alternator Upgrade for 96+ GMT-400s
 

That does work, but the sense wire isn't really required. I mention it in post #7, without it the alternator defaults to 14.5V output.

Re: AD244 Alternator Upgrade for 96+ GMT-400s
 

Hi

Thanks for the prompt response. It seems to be fine without it but could help maintain output voltage at the JB to offset and loss from the cabling to the JB.

I did replace all grounds and positive cabling including to the JB with 2 ga welding.

This is the theory anyways