Originally posted by horseydug:
I may have worded my last point poorly, it was to confirm that you had continuity on the main cable to battery. Since it was disconnected at alt. and neg cable (only) was off battery you would have to check from alt. end of cable to neg bat terminal to get volts.
I guess my concern from reading initial post was whether you had experienced a short to ground at alternator output terminal or was it simply B+ arcing because of poor connection.
It seems you have diagnostics well in hand so we'll wait for your success story to be posted. 
Good point, and just the sort of suggestion I was looking for. I did get battery voltage between the neg terminal and the alt. end of the cable. But also found a cut in the insulation on that wire, near the alternator terminal connection. Question is, cause or effect? But I figure if I replace the terminal to get a good connection, and put some heat-shrink and tape over the end of that wire, and replace the connector on the other wire that attaches here, I'll be back in business. Tough part is finding the terminal extension post, working on that today with the parts folks.
