The truck mfgs just put what they have to on the trucks. A lot of people who snow plow (the plow lifts run off of 12V) go through alternators often once a winter. Either they go buy the cheap ones with a couple of year or lifetime warranty so they get exchanges for free or they go buy a heavy duty alternator that they won't have to change in the middle of the night while plowing.
On my Ford diesel, Ford stuck a minimal alternator on it. When the batteries aren't kept fully charged, the electronic control module can burn out. Even though my alternator hadn't gone bad yet, I put a new heavy duty one on last week. I don't want to mess with it in the middle of winter.
So what I'm saying is the OEM units are minimal and increased usage can shorten their life span. If you still have your original one on the Dodge, I'd change it to a heavier duty one and be done with it.
Bill
