I would check my ground for a short. I small one just pulls down voltage.

 

Once I get my truck back from my buddy that is building me a new front diff brace I will do the old test light on the negative

 

I think I might have found the issue, the wiring harness that I put in didn't have the wires to control the alternator regulator like my factory harness had. I pinned them in but unfortunately I will have to wait a week or so to try it out as I don't have a motor in it right now.

 

Nice work.

 

Those pesky details... they get in the way of A Great Plan every time...

 

Unfortunately that didn't fix the issue, back to digging through wires.
lol

 

So i spent a little time checking things over today, I pulled off every single aftermarket and factory ground 1 at a time with the truck running checking voltage with a multi meter and no change, changed the negative little black thing that is by the negative post with a spare one I have, pulled every single fuse under hood and by the driver door one at a time with the truck running and no change at all.
Volts were right around 13.4 while doing this and i turned on the headlights, fog lights, blower motor full blast and stereo on and it went to 13.2.
not really sure what to try next.
any suggestions?

 

The 2005, with OEM 2 wire regulator plug will default to 13.8 volts UN-PLUGGED.
In very warm climate, that will (just barely) keep a battery from DIS-Charging, but it will NOT fully charge your battery, nor will it Re-Charge a deeply discharged battery.
the TWO wire plug Alternator relies on PWM signal from the PCM to adjust output voltage.
You can retrofit the 145 amp older style alternator, mounts exactly the same, has a 4 wire plug.
You WILL need to run a single Ignition Excite wire to that 4 pin regulator, and it will do a pretty good job of maintaining around 14 volts HOT, and up to 15 volts in very cold weather.
The Lester number for the 4 pin, 145 Amp unit is 8292

 

I appreciate the info, so it needs a 5v signal and pwm from the computer.
does anyone know the pin #s i need to make sure are connected, maybe I depinned one while thinning the harness to work with the holley.

 

Figured I would update this as I found the problem.
I had swapped fuse blocks to a different one and it didn't have the fuse provision to power the negative module that controls the alternator. Swapped back to my factory fuse block and all is well.