1985 Toyota 4runner alternator problems

[lowgeared]

I am now having some issues with the 85 4runner.  I have had it about two weeks and haven't had any problems.  Drove it to my shop this morning and when I came out, smoke was coming from under the hood with a strong electrical smell.  The smoke was coming from the alternator and was burning off the oil the PS pump and had leaked onto the alt. over years of use.  Anyway,  the pos battery wire was hot too.  I disconnected it and the heat died down.  It sucked the battery all the way down in like an hour or so.  A short?  Can the alternator be full fielded while the key is off?  Should I just change it out and assume it's bad?  It is the open case design where you can see the copper windings inside.  My 84 carbed yota looks more like a delco style.  I have an 85 donor that I could swap in, but don't want to ruin another without some advice.   Any help before tomorrow would be greatly appreciated.

[brainlessfool]

if the reg is intrunal, just change it. if the reg. is extrunal, change them both.

[WHITE_TRASH]

Just put a GM internal reg.  into it and be done.  I love toys to death but everytime a toy alt fails i just put a GM in it and never look back.  They are cheap and every parts house in this hemisphere carries them and they put out more amps.  Whats the drawback?
WT

[brainlessfool]

good thinking WT:thumbs:

[ol yeller]

Hey WT, hwo many mods needed to brackets to fit gm alt?

[lowgeared]

Turned out to be a bad bearing in the alternator...so the rotor drug on the stator (if thats what you call it in alternator terms) and shorted it out.  I swapped out the alternator from my parts truck (what a life saver!!) and it worked fine.  12+ volts at rest and 14+ while running.  I removed the negative cable and checked with a test light for draws and nothing.  Now I would like to know how to do a delco swap.  Anybody have any info on this??  It would be a real pregnant dog to get in in there...I had to loosen the fan shroud and take off that dumb ass splash pan to get it out and smash it into the radiator hose for clearance.  A GM alternator is much larger than these Nippon Denso ones.

[Prismo]

You could go to a 4.3 and then a GM alternator will fit no problem.This got me thinking is the 350 & 4.3 alternator the same?

[WHITE_TRASH]

Yes the alts are the same IF they are all cs130? cases.  The newer alts have a different mounting setup than the older style like I use.  I cant remember all the mods off the top of my head but Ill go look at them tomorrow.  I would go look at my trucks but one of them has a 350 so no bracket mods needed and the other one refuses to die!  So ill have to find one of the swaps Ive done and look at that.
WT