Third Dead Alternator in 3 Years!

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Gyro, fwiw, I changed my alternator and batteries out 4 years ago. I went with a new (not rebuilt) alternator from O-Reilly's (and their batteries), and I haven't had one hint of a problem. I'm not sure what the difference is between the 7.3 and 6.0 alternators, but I think I only gave around $179 for the new alternator. I drive everywhere with my headlights on, but I don't haul much. I wouldn't think the extra drain from your 5th wheel lights would amount to much (unless the charge circuit for your trailer battery is draining the alternator down good), but I would definitely step up to a higher output alternator. You could check to see what the oem alternator output vs an alternator from a 6.0 with ambulance package would be.
For a long time, DBelectric was the premier place to buy an alternator from, but I've read enough posts over the past year to sway me to buy locally, if I can find what I need.
If you have the chance, you might take your alternator to an alternator shop to see what it would cost for them to rebuild your alternator with a higher output capacity (if it's possible).
I've got the AIC in my 2000, and it's nice to be able to push a button to see what your truck is doing. Having the charge protection on it is doubly nice, so I can set the AIC to high idle when I need it to, or watch the battery charges if I start running things off of the dc-ac inverters.

just my .02 cents worth

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