Waterproofing

After frying my Alternator this weekend, I was thinking, what is the best way to protect it, besides not going through the mud. I was thinking marine alternator. I mean if they sell snorkels then you cannot burn them up all the time.

Best thing to do is stay out of the mud. Its fun on the outside but murder on the inside. It eats at you whole cooling system. It starts at your radiatior and that gets cloged with mud which then strains your thermostat and your water pump the mud dries up your hoses and belts faster. It does a number on your pullies and bearings. Thats not the end, the stuff gets in your trans and axles. Then you have to think about what grows in the mud. Ask Bill about the fun he had with his ear and the mud. Its just my two cents on the mud. To me its not worth it unless thats your goal and your not depending on your rig to do anything other than that. If mud is the goal accept the fact that your going to eat parts and generally trash your rig. Snorkel and extending your breather lines will help alot to keeping the mud and water out. Forgive me if I have offended any mud lovers but I don't like that stuff and the affect it has on my hard earned money. party on I will tell you its fun to watch.

There are some heavier duty Alts out there. Which have better circuitry. As Nester said Mud will cost you. How old was the Alt and how many miles on the jeep. Also maybe next week we can meetup on the Bazook if you want.

There is a happy medium with the mud. if you run fast through the mud that has a lot of water then the muddy water will splash up from the tires and soak the entire engine. It will also splash ahead of you and soak the radiator and plug it with mud causing overheating and if not cleaned properly early termination of the radiator. If you like the fast blast through the mud then you need to at least find a way to protect the muddy water from entering from under the vehicle. That means blocking the direct route from the tire to the radiator etc, I've heard of people using pond liners and eyelets to secure the liner to the vehicle. Not too sure of how successful that is but you have to go around suspension components and the hot exhaust. I looked it over and though about it and ended up deciding to just avoid the high speed runs through the mud for now on. That means no more 5' mud pit, no more frog hole or any other deep Rausch Creek pit that requires blasting through. Anything that is just sloppy that you can drop in and grind out is fair game as it is less likely to soak the motor. As for the alternator and high speed runs through the mud you might want to check out how the swamp buggys protect and waterproof their stuff. I know there was an article recently in Jeep magazine about that. I probably still have it around here somewhere. I'll get back with you no that if I can find the article and see what they do.

Yeah I am not a big fan of mud but it is fun at the same time. It just got me thinking about what others do to protect from the water. The age of the Alt is unknown to me. The jeep has 108k so it may have just been its time anyway.

Rich If you are around this weekend, my wife and I will be heading that general direction this weekend, Sat. or Sun., whichever day is nicer, so maybe we can meet and I'll get that from you.

I started using dialectic grease on the electrical connections, battery terminals, cam locks, or anything else I needed to keep water and dirt out of.... but there were so many I ran out of patience. Maybe if you used enough of it it would protect your alt, but it would take a lot.

I did find the article on waterproofing and nothing was mentioned on the alternator. The did a repeat on the article in the current article of fourwheeler.