Parts list/diagram for Crackedback's alternator wire around harness

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cbfazer

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Does anyone have or is willing to give me a list of what I need to make one of these or a quick sketch of a diagram? I've tried Crackedback a couple times over the last 30 days and I don't want to keep bothering him if he's dealing with some perspnalstuff or health issues. This is the last thing I need to do for my new build to be road worthy and I'd like to get it done before the decent weather starts creeping in.
 
From what I understand.......

Appropriate length of #8 or #6 (depending on your amperage needs) from alternator output stud to starter relay area.
A Gauged fusible link 2 sizes smaller than the main wire (eg. #8 would need a 12 gauge link)
Link gets attached to the main wire (the one that you are installing) in series, and attaches to the large relay stud.

Rob's @crackedback expert workmanship in the manufacturing of the harness.

@Mattax @67Dart273 .....Have I missed anything?
 
CFD244 said:
From what I understand.......

Appropriate length of #8 or #6 (depending on your amperage needs) from alternator output stud to starter relay area.
A Gauged fusible link 2 sizes smaller than the main wire (eg. #8 would need a 12 gauge link)
Link gets attached to the main wire (the one that you are installing) in series, and attaches to the large relay stud.

Rob's @crackedback expert workmanship in the manufacturing of the harness.

@Mattax @67Dart273 .....Have I missed anything?
Click to expand...
Am I able to fuse the wire another way versus the fusible link? I think I remember seeing Rob say that those are getting hard to come by. My situation calls for #8, I'm only bumping up a little more than stock amperage just for consideration of the Sniper 2 system I've installed on the new motor.
 
I don't see why it matters if you want to connect it to the starter relay instead of to the battery in that case. It's a wire with a fuse and some terminals.
 
I rewired my 85 d150 and in the process I went to the junkyard and looked at many of the remnants there, looking for an under hood fuse box. My original harness was a train wreck, with many blown fusible links. Also the big "hot" off the alternator changed colors and gauge size 3x and was just twisted and crudely taped in the length of the /6 valve cover. One of these splices hung less than 1/2" over the steel fuel line that runs over the valve cover to the carb. I'm really surprised it went that long without being burnt to the ground before I got it.
I searched and searched and searched some more for info on fusible links that told more than that it had to be 3 gauge sizes smaller than the parent circuit, and the standard color chart for various gauge sizes of fusible link wire. This was completely helpless. Nowhere did I find how many amps a given gauge size or length was rated for.
At one time I got the idea to email Littelfuse company on the subject.
In return I got a TSB about the development of the maxi fuse, which was developed in 1986 "get this" as a direct replacement for fusible links".
You noticed newer cars no longer have fusible links.
My truck is an 85. In my local junkyard I found a real nice under hood harness from an 84.
With the FSM for both 84 and 85 open (I have the CDs of both years) the only real difference I could see was one wire having to do with the wiper switch went to a different hole in the bulkhead between them.
I untaped the 84 harness over the kitchen table and went thru it looking for problems. I found it too had 1 blown link, other than that some brittle insulation in a couple spots that was wanting to flake off. Way less blown links, damage and "previous owner interference" than the original harness.
I replaced those sections of wire, adding bare crimped butt connectors, then soldered and heat shrink covered each repair I made ( there weren't many, mainly had to extend a few wires as my truck is a/6 and the harness came from a 360 powered 1 ton) and retaped the whole thing .
along the way, the important part was that i went to the junkyard and looked around for an under hood fuse box from a newer "something" that had one and settled on one from a 90-92 Ranger, and incorporated that into my replacement harness. They have 12 slots for maxi fuses depending on how "nice" (option level) of a ranger that I saw anywhere from 8 of those slots to all 12 had power to 1 side of the fuse, the cheaper level trucks has more slots with nothing going to either leg of a given fuse slots.
I found one that was "pretty full" and used that. Everything that used to go thru a fusible link now goes thru that fuse box instead.
As id said earlier, I couldn't find a damn thing that told me how many amps a given link would take to "blow".
I found it pretty easy to decide which circuit on my truck, to wire to which slot on the fuse box.
When the fusible links were taken out of the picture, I looked at the wire gauge size of the parent circuit and easily matched up to a like gauge circuit coming from the fuse box.
That made it easier to figure out what amp fuse to use on each circuit. It seemed all of a given gauge size wire leading into the box had the same amp fuse as every other circuit in the fuse box with that same gauge wire coming out of it

And I conveniently had about the same number of circuits with that gauge size coming out of my truck harness. I made a bracket to mount it to the driver side inner fender well near the master cylinder.
And I have a couple of extra empty slots in case I decide to add something later.
On the alternator main hot wire circuit the factory harness has a plug in connector at the back of the engine, and I didn't feel like that spade connection within that plug was enough contact should that alternator suddenly have to put out full amps. Especially with the age of the harness.
(My truck has the factory 78a unit, looks much like the 40-60a alt that 70s cars have) so I added a 10 gauge auxiliary/redundant feed off of the hot lug to a previously unused slot in my new fuse box so I now have 2, 10ga wires from the alternator to the fuse box/ the original and my add on one.
 
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