your alt was always live.
the vr doesn't change with the bypass.
it stays key on.

you mention continuity to the field wires from the vr, but not actual voltage at the field wires at the alt.

12.6 volts.

I got 12.6 at the output stud and the same at the field connector and v reg plug.

both of the field wires should not have read 12.6 volts with the car on.
one of them should have read lower. was that not the case?

Yes it is. I had that voltage at the field wire that runs directly to the voltage regulator and significantly less at the other field connector. Also, I have only 12.6 volts at the alternator output stud with the truck running and the rpm's at 1800. I have not tried full fielding the alternator yet.

Still confused.

Lets call it like this.

Alt
Field wire 1- what did you get
field wire 2- what did you get
Which one goes to the VR vs to the splice?

big wire out of the alt you said 12.6

VR-
field wire-you said had continuity
Sensing wire- you said had 12.6

What are you using a ground for these checks? Is it the battery or the case?

I say keep it simple. 9 times out of 10 if my car is not charging I simply replace the POS alternator and done.

Did you miss this statement in the first post?

A replacement alternator was only $25 so I replaced it. Same problem.

Guess I missed it...

I've been grounding to the block.

I sold auto parts for years and have seen many parts that were crap right out of the box. I am going to do a full fielding test today to see if it's capable of charging at all. I'll let you know what I find. Kind of hard to believe that I'm having the same problem with 2 different alternators.

Alt
Field wire 1- what did you get
field wire 2- what did you get
Which one goes to the VR vs to the splice?

big wire out of the alt you said 12.6

VR-
field wire-you said had continuity
Sensing wire- you said had 12.6

Use the case of the VR for checks against the sensing line.

Use the case of the alt for ground against the field wires.

If your field wires both read the same at the alt, either there is a problem with the wiring or the VR.

If they read different, the one from the VR like 2 volts or 3 volts or something like that, then it might be a bad alt.

If changing the ground changes the voltage, then you have grounding issues that need to be addressed.

Speaking of grounds, is this the finned case alternator or the heavy duty one with rubber bushings?

If its the bushing style, THERRE MMUST BE a GROUND WIRE FROM THE CASE TO BLOCK.

I have a red field wire and a light green field wire. The red wire goes to the upper connector of the VR plug and the light green wire goes to the lower right connector of the plug when you are facing the firewall. I have 12.6 volts at the red field wire at the alt and VR and I don't remember what the voltage at the other field wire was, but I know it was significantly less. Also get 12.6 volts at the alt output. I have a ground wire running from the VR case to the block, so I figured that using the block as my ground should have worked. I did a full field test of the alt today and I got no difference in voltage to the battery or from the output stud at the alt. I'm thinking that I got a dead alt right out of the box, so I returned it and got another one. Haven't installed it yet. When you are saying "sensing line", are you talking about another wire different from the field wires? I'm not sure that I'm understanding what you mean by that. The alt is a 60 amp unit. I replaced my 100 amp unit with it. I had the brackets to swap it and didn't have the money for a new 100 amp unit.

The 100 amp alt that I swapped out did have a ground wire connected to it. The new alt is a finned case 60 amp.

OK wanted to be clear on which alternator you had.

Sounds like a dead alternator at this point.

there are 2 wires to the vr.
only one is a field wire. Both wires from the alt do not trace back to the VR.
the second wire is a sensing line from the battery. It goes into a splice that goes back to key on power AND splits off as the other field wire.

Based on the fact you have voltages, makes it sound like it is wired correctly, you just traced it back wrong.
And I agree, it sounds like a bad alt out of the box.

Ok, today I replaced the alternator and VR with new ones. I'm back at square one, only battery voltage. I think it's time to pull the instrument cluster out and examine my connections from there to the bulkhead and out. Wiring has never been my forte'. Usually gives me a headache just thinking about it. This time is no exception. I must be missing something somewhere. It can't be this difficult.

(1) key off, no voltage at either alt field terminal & none also at reg blue/green terminals. (2) key on, voltage at alt blue wire field terminal and reg blue wire terminal and some at green wire terminal at other alt field and reg green wire terminal. (3) reg triangle connector is tight (4) reg is grounded (5) continuity between alt large "batt" terminal and battery positive post (6) continuity between alt case and battery neg post. (7) good alt and reg. redundant on some & I'm thinking we're covered most or all of these but if all are good then it MUST charge so we've missed something. Short version: we'll assume alt/reg are good & reg is grounded & alt case has continuity to batt neg post. all that is left is (A) does alt batt terminal have continuity to battery positive post & (B) are the blue wire terminals at alt/reg hot with key on and (C) does the green wire have continuity between the other alt field terminal and the "side" reg terminal.

Perhaps I have overlooked the answer to these questions?

Does battery go dead while driving and engine is running?

Or do you find battery is dead after vehicle has been parked for some period of time?

If the second question is the case, pull ground cable and meter between that and negative battery post. Any reading other than 0 is cause for further trouble shooting to determine reason of current draw.