Indeed they are.... and of course, it died just as temps were heading into the 90's...... Bought a fair sized window unit, so, at least it's bearable downstairs when it is stupid hot outside......

 

I’ve been there. Those window units were never so cherished.

 

The honeymoon is over. Went to Home Away From Home Depot this morning. All is well. Came out, started truck and the gauge was back to dancing around again. So the pattern holds true. Change, replace, upgrade, relocate grounds to the regulator, clean, repair field wire terminals to the alternator. Eliminates voltage fluctuation for a week or two then it comes back.

Out of ideas other than throwing parts against the wall to see if I can get any to stick. Start with a new alternator. If that doesn’t work another PCM. If that doesn’t work, punt.

 

I have an idea about my ram 50 with the intermittent electrical problem. It isn't a ground so much as it is an old wire that is shorting somewhere in the system.

Thankfully its just the powered dash panel gauges that lose power. If I knew enough I'd just rip out all the OE wires since all the OE electrical motor stuff is gone and its just got a Weber carb, and run the few wires for sensors and the starter it needs to run. Drove it yesterday and the gas gauge came back to life when I started it. At least the parasitic draw isn't rearing its ugly head.

 

HY (or anyone who wants to drop their 2 cents in), I gave that one field wire terminal on the alternator a little tweak and the needle steadied up again. Clearly there is something wrong with that connection. I pulled the alternator out and got it on my bench. Here is what I found: All puns aside

The connection on the left of the picture is the bad connection. The one on the right is perfectly fine. What's wrong with the connection on the left? A few things. One, the nut never bottoms out. I can turn it for the rest of my life and it will never tighten. Obviously the threads are boogered. Two, I can thread the nut down part way (maybe halfway down) and it threads up fine but I can wiggle that nut a good bit. Three, I can take the good nut on the right and thread it on the bad stud on the left and it's a pretty tight fit with little/no wiggling. However, it bottoms out about a third of the way down and I didn't want to force it down with a wrench so I didn't. Four, I put the bad nut on the right and it threads to the bottom but it wiggles.

So here is my plan and I'm more than happy to hear anyone shoot holes thru it and give me their advice. I'm going to run to the store and get another M4 nut (stainless or zinc?). I'll try threading that on the bad stud and see what that gets me. I'd like it to bottom out but I suspect it wont. But even a third of the way down with no wiggling would be good. I'll use washer/spacers but I want it to have a good bite on the threads with no wiggles. I cannot chase the threads with a die on that stud and get to the bottom. You can see why in the pictures (plastic frame gets in the way). If none of this works then I have to think out of the box and my only thought then is to solder a terminal with pig tail onto the connection surface on the alternator and then come up with another connection back on the field wire. How solder withstands alternator vibration is an open question. Pretty savage but I'm no electrician. Maybe there's a better idea and I'm certainly all ears.




The good nut on the bad stud threaded down as far as possible before bottoming out.

 

I have the same idea as you along with the idea that those studs may be replaceable with a rebuild kit. I have never rebuilt an alternator.
https://www.maniacelectricmotors.com/13354.html
https://www.maniacelectricmotors.com/99901000.html

 

interesting. That kit is for a 120 amp it appears. I have a 90 amp pretty sure

 

Got back with some M4 hardware. Ran the nut down the bad stud. Got it all the way down with a little persuasion and it feels nice and solid. Have both flat and lock washers too. Looks like a new nut will get the job done. Kinda not feeling motivated to throw the alternator back in the truck tonight so I’ll do it in the morning.

 

That is two links the second one is from the first page for a 90 amp alt. I'm sure if you called they could tell you what capacitor & terminal block you need if you need it.

 

Or, you could just replace the entire alternator.