I have been suspecting a bad ground somewhere for a long time---when I turn on lights, heater fan, etc. the meter goes down between 10 and 8 and if I hit a turn blinker the meter kicks up and down. Ive triple checked the battery cables, I have two negative ground cables to engine and frame, starter connections, etc. Oddly, last month I changed the water pump and had to take off the alternator and its connecting plates. After re installing, it was perfect! meter was 13 and up and didnt go down under pull but that only lasted a week. Ive gone back through and checked all connections again but all are tight. Ive had to put a lot of alternators in this stupid thing, now that I think of it---could all this be becasue of the loose connections in the steering column? Ive got to pull the wheel to tighten that up and cant get it off after taking off the main nut.

Could the wire thats burning be a fuseable link?