92 Alternator Upgrade ?'s

[joshthib@comcast.n]

92 XJ 4.0L HO AW4 182K miles

Recently the charging on my Xj has been sub par (or not at all the last two days) so I believe that it is time for a new alt. I have searched and have narrowed down my reasonable options to the 97-98 ZJ 130 amp and the durango 160 amp

I see that the alternators are nearly plug and play with the exception of grinding the brackets on the 2000-2001 Xj's and are able to fit without much more work on anything above a 98. I also have read that they will NOT work on the renix era.

My question is, what do i need with the exception of the alternator for my 92? will i need an external regulator or will my PCM handle it?

Thanks for the help

[clean4drxj]

You will need the correct size wires and fuse to handle the extra amperage, I'm planning on doing this upgrade in the future and was told to contact 5-90. He's got the info on all this plus sells a nice quality set of wires/fuses.

[stewie]

Zj alt, 5-90's cables and CLEAN your grounds

[5-90]

Originally Posted by stewie

Zj alt, 5-90's cables and CLEAN your grounds

Correct - best is to clean the chassis contact points down to bare metal, use clean or new hardware (the OEM stuff is usually black oxide, which doesn't conduct well. Use bright zinc-plated stuff. Or brass, bronze, or CRES,) and apply a corrosion inhibitor on assembly.

It's amazing how many electrical problems I've traced back to shonky grounds over the years...

[joshthib@comcast.n]

I bought a 98-97 XJ V8 alternator and i have the old one out of the jeep.

The middle front bracket nut is still stuck and i have at least partially rounded it off. I had two attempts fail to weld a socket to the nut.

Any advice? Should I continue the attempts to weld the socket on seeing as i already have melted part of the socket?

[2DOORDAN]

would this process be same for a 95 xj ?

[Aroufkir]

I am interested if it is the same for a 95 xj. I had the wire melt off of the alternator so it's time to upgrade.

[bajabronco]

If you go with the Durango alternator, you will need the correct plug. Here is a writeup that I did on my 98ZJ - the process should be similar for your rig. I got AC Delco part # 334-1446 off of RockAuto. The plug for the back of the Durango alternator I got off of EBay for $12.00. - https://www.ebay.com/…/ALTERNATOR-RE...…/291611891043. You simply cut the wires going to your Alt before the black connecting box, there will be 3 wires going into the box, a green, a green with purple stripe and a thick black ground. I soldered the green to green on the new harness/plug and green/purple to the black on the new harness/plug . I then just extended the thick black ground wire and put a new eyelet on it and attached it to the top of the alt bracket (where the brace between the manifold and alt bracket is bolted) . The new post on the Durango alt is too wide for the eyelet on the original red charge wire, simply open it up a little wider with 5/16 drill bit and it will fit. Connect everything and then I reconnected my battery, and turn the key- and 14.0v charging - It is as easy as that!