I have an 04 QC 4x4 1500, just over 100k mi owned since brand new. Truck all in good working order, maintenence kept up with by dealership.
Apologies for the length but want to give you the info
I have the Warn hidden Winch mount so all you see is the fairleed. Earlier this year with some river crossings that were deeper than normal due to snow melt, ended up winching out a few of my buddies. One of which hydrolocked in the deepest part of the river. It was moving so fast my buddies couldn't even hold the tow strap in the water. I was on the other side and had to winch him the entire way, lead basically all the way out. In the process of winching, especially as the lead started to get in some and the winch technically became less efficient, I started to see the alternator dropping. It dropped to the point I got on the throttle to keep from stalling. That managed to work, we winched him all the way across then got to pulling the spark plugs, etc to get him back on the road. For the future, can I just put in a bigger alternator to give that puppy more juice? Does that mess with any of the electrical components of the truck to do so? Also, small issue but I don't want to put a synthetic cable on because in my experience you end up winching in less than ideal conditions and I like having steel on there in case if rubs on rocks and such, not that it would have made much if any difference here
TL: DR Can I just pop on a bigger alternator to power the winch when really pulling hard (if so how big, which one)? Is a second battery/dedicated circuit a better call, because that sounds more complex than needed.
Thanks in advance. Your help is appreciated.
Apologies for the length but want to give you the info
I have the Warn hidden Winch mount so all you see is the fairleed. Earlier this year with some river crossings that were deeper than normal due to snow melt, ended up winching out a few of my buddies. One of which hydrolocked in the deepest part of the river. It was moving so fast my buddies couldn't even hold the tow strap in the water. I was on the other side and had to winch him the entire way, lead basically all the way out. In the process of winching, especially as the lead started to get in some and the winch technically became less efficient, I started to see the alternator dropping. It dropped to the point I got on the throttle to keep from stalling. That managed to work, we winched him all the way across then got to pulling the spark plugs, etc to get him back on the road. For the future, can I just put in a bigger alternator to give that puppy more juice? Does that mess with any of the electrical components of the truck to do so? Also, small issue but I don't want to put a synthetic cable on because in my experience you end up winching in less than ideal conditions and I like having steel on there in case if rubs on rocks and such, not that it would have made much if any difference here
TL: DR Can I just pop on a bigger alternator to power the winch when really pulling hard (if so how big, which one)? Is a second battery/dedicated circuit a better call, because that sounds more complex than needed.
Thanks in advance. Your help is appreciated.