At my wit's end, please help

[Stocker]

Bear with me guys, I gotta vent. I am so frustrated right now.... this truck has been testing my patience lately, one problem after another. Possibly all related, maybe just one problem that I can't seem to solve.

Several weeks ago the new alternator over-charged and burned up some wiring from the alternator to the voltage regulator. That fix involved a second new alternator and three new regulators before going back to the original regulator (and adjusting it). The truck has been fine since then, until now.

Several months ago, the plan was to resuscitate my long-dead factory A/C. All new parts, and converted to R134. The third new compressor seemed good, and the shop advised me to install pusher fans in front of the condenser, so I did. They run off a relay triggered by the hot lead for the compressor. Everything seemed okay until a few days ago, I had been running the A/C for at least a half hour. All of a sudden everything died.... I blew a fusible link. Cut out the bad section and had just enough wire left to reach the distribution block on the inner fender. It started & ran. I assumed the problem was A/C related so I drove home without A/C (more than an hour due to construction). Truck worked fine.

My mechanic suggested running the compressor wire through a relay, so I did that. Everything seemed to be working normally. Today I made a short drive across town and something didn't sound right as rpm went up. Then I noticed the ammeter was showing an excessive charge, same thing that happened before when the wiring burned up. Got it home and felt the new fusible link, it was hot but not hot enough to burn it up. I had not been using the A/C.

I am at a loss. Either the alternator / voltage regulator is totally hosed, or something in the wiring is creating an excessive current draw. I'm starting to think it has nothing to do with the A/C. Not sure how to track down the problem, maybe start pulling fuses one at a time and watch for the charging rate to change drastically.

Sorry for the long rambling post. I am just so bummed out, I have owned this truck 41 years and never experienced anything like this.