Looking for a little advice/confirmation. Brought the truck home this past weekend. Alternator belts were loose. was able to tighten them a bit, but still not sure it was charging. In neutral it would idle and rev no problem, as soon as it went into gear it would idle but sputter and stall w/revs, I'm presuming it was losing spark under load.

Bad alternator? Loose belts? Spark plugs/wires? points/distributor?

I'm trying to get this thing to the point where I can decide if it's worth fixing (sounds funny).

Thanks in advance

 

Alternator check: Check the battery voltage when not running. (approximately 12 volts) Check the battery voltage when running. (14-15 volts) Turn on the headlights and the voltage should drop and come back up.

What you describe doesn't sound like an alternator problem. Pull the plugs and check them. Start the truck at night in the darkest place you can and look at the plug wires. Any arcing means they need replaced. Check the timing. Clean the coil and check for cracks. There are resistance readings to test the coil. You don't have points but you can check the pick-up coils in the distributor. This could also be a carburetor problem.

 

Check the spark plug wires and the coil.