Are pickup truck plows normally hard on alternators??

[diesel lover]

I was talking to a good friend of mine the other night, and he just had to put an alternator on his 2008 ford F150. I was quite surprised as I have seen alternators last up to around 150,000 miles.

Are snow plows in nature hard on alternators? It seems possible to me as a snow plow is constantly pulling energy from the battery so the alternator is always trying to replenish it. Seems like a high reserve battery or someone mentioned to me two batterys would surely help but wouldn't it be hard on an alternator to be charging two batterys instead of one? My friend out of suspicion of the snow plow being hard on the factory alternator purchased a 110 amp alternator. The factory alt was a 90 amp I believe. In all honestly a 110 amp alternator will never put out 110 amps as the rating suggest.

I have never owned a pickup truck plow but have operated other peoples before. I have used highway plow trucks, and pay loaders etc but those all have a dedicated hydraulic system.

Would it be easier on the alternator and battery if the battery was hooked to a battery charger after plowing snow? Thanks

 

[bucktaker]

Autos normally un on the voltage produced by the Alt when running. Measure the system voltage and you will typically 14 volts coming from a charging system. It doesnt hurt an alternator to run and produce voltage as long as it not at peak load.

 

[firemanmike69]

The factory alt was a 90 amp I believe. In all honestly a 110 amp alternator will never put out 110 amps as the rating suggest.

Why not?

 

[puckgrinder85]

Some trucks have smaller alternators from the get go, as in they have higher amp options from the factory for towing and other loads that may be added later. Reman units typically don't stand up to the test of time but they are also usually cheaper. A 110A alternator sure as **** should put that out at peak RPM if you're buying it, they should and do that easily, thing is it may only do that when the engine is running at 2k rpm or more, when is your plow truck running at 2k rpm for more than a few seconds? A second battery can soften the voltage fluctuation, think of a 40 gallon air compressor vs a 120 gallon air compressor. Yes the alternator still has to work but its not being run at such a high duty cycle. Plow trucks are just inherently taxing on all systems of a vehicle, that's why large snow removal companies have real equipment.

 

[jaotguy]

alts use diodes to rectify the power to DC ... almost all failures are due to the diodes overheating and cooking off... ( burning up ) an alt may be rated for 100 AMP for short duty cycles ( to allow cooling in between just like welders ) .... not allowing enough cool off and you cook the alt....

most vehicles only use 40 -60 % of their rated output and the diodes are not stressed continuously to the limits... but plowing puts a huge draw on the unit over and over and over ..... bigger ( or more batteries ) tends to flatten out the spikes, but the alt must still work just as hard to fill them back up.

 

[pmsmechanic]

Pickups with a snow plow option have two battery's and a larger capacity alternator.

 

[George2615]

Electric hydraulic units such as snow plow motors draw a lot of current. I believe even a 110A alt. is too small to constantly operate a plow. I agree with pmsmechanic that most plowing trucks have dual batteries and hi amp alternators. If his battery isn't up to par, the alternator he has is being required to both constantly charge the battery and supply power for the hi amp plow motor and will likely destroy itself again.

 

[PILOON]

If the plow system is all hydraulic (like most fisher) then there should be no problem.
On the other hand most Meyer plows use an electric driven hydraulic pump.
That pump is basically a starter motor that drives the pump and you know that a starter draws tons of amps.
They are popular because installation is simpler and less pricy but for serious plowing they just don't cut it.

The ideal set up is the all hydraulic one. The only electric extra demand is the caution yellow light (5 amps)and the usual 2 rack mounted additional flood lights and they generally only draw maybe about 5-6 amps.(25 watts ea)

 

[LD1]

No doubt they are harder on an alternator. And all front end components. Just the cost of doing business. But its not like you will be replacing the alternator every year either.

And I disagree with "for serious plowing they just don't cut it" actually most all plows designed for 3/4 and 1 tons like most parking lot contractors use ARE electric powered units. Boss, western, Meyer, blizzard, etc. Not a lot of room on the front of modern engines to add an axillary pump like there was on trucks of 20-30 years ago.

Now if by serious plowing you are referring to the highway departments, then yea, different setup.

And as to the current draw, it isn't continuous. Maybe 3 seconds to raise the plow, 20 sec to back up, 2 sec to angle, another 20 to push up into the pile.

So the large draw is for only a few seconds each minute.

 

[Farmtruck]

I have a 1987 Chevrolet 3/4 ton pickup with a meyer plow. The electric plow motor I found hard on the alternator. After burning up an alternator I installed a heavy duty alternator and an extra battery. That was several years ago and no problems. It works good but I only use the truck around the farm.