AD244 Alternator Upgrade for 96+ GMT-400s

[83GMCK2500]

A while ago I read a thread (elsewhere) about upgrading the factory CS130 (105Amp) or CS144 (120Amp? maybe...) on these trucks or Vortec 4.3L/5.0L/5.7L/7.4L & 6.5TD engines, here is my experience.

1996 Vortec 7400 AD244 Install Notes

My 8 month old ACDelco reman CS144 (the OEM 454 one) went out on me last weekend. Pulled it off and found an ever-so-slightly bent shaft, bearings making pretty-pretty noises. Knew about this upgrade, so I went alternator shopping. I found Napa 1N-4807HO, which is a brand new 200A AD244 unit with a lifetime warranty. In their product notes they mentioned that it requires a cable upgrade kit, sold separately. I am not one to create a situation where if I do need to warranty it, they fail to honor it because I didn't install the cable upgrade. Holy crap, cable upgrade indeed; it is for the charging wire, and it is a nice heavy 2 Ga piece of work.

Easy-peasy, remove belt, unbolt old one, remove, remove rear support bracket (not used on AD244) and ready for new parts.

Now, the CS144 alt I had used the rectangular regulator plug, where-as the CS130 & AD244 uses the oval plug. I knew this going into it and therefore purchased the oval-style pigtail as well. Did not need to splice/solder anything as the metri-pack pins are the same, unpin old rectangular plug, pin on new oval plug. At this time I also included the voltage sensing circuit that mr98z71 (GMT400.com) mentions in his thread (HERE). I connected mine to the battery at this time, until I upgrade the crossover/feed to the fuse panel itself I'd rather not cook things. Using an '02 Escalade as my reference I looked at the wiring diagram for the alternator and found that the AD244 uses both the L and the I or F pins (seen it referenced by either letter). L is the brown wire that is the charge light indicator, I/F pin is the field engage/excite circuit. For reference, both are ECM driven on the Escalade. (great, when I do my 0411 swap I'll be sure to include them) I left the brown wire circuit alone, but I added the I/F circuit and tied it into switched power at the fuse panel. Did you need to do this? I don't know, but I did. Now, pictures...

New parts.


Oval pigtail, removed extras, plugged unused.


Pret-ty!


Cable kit has inline fuse holder identical to the one GM used on GMT-400s with heated seats (including Escalade/Denali) and similar to ones on S-series (98/99+, under battery). I trimmed out one of the available windows on the cover and fastened my fuse block power lead to the battery side of the fuse holder as well. (Reduced clutter around battery post.)