Should car still run on alternator with ground terminal off battery?

This site does a good job, and I hate to see people get their fur up. But the simplified testing that bobg450 posted is not always sufficient. There are 2 types of field setups in the Mopar world, and in the single filed wire case, 'some voltage' is a 1-3 volts or so volts, and in the 2 field wire case, it is up close to 12 volts. So if someone measures near 12 volts on a single field wire system, they could conclude that it has 'some voltage' and the regulator is OK, but in reality it could be either OK, OR the regulator could be bad and causing a system overcharge.

So, the objection is that the simplified procedure is not enough. It does it matter that I have a Masters Degree in Engineering..... if I presented the simplified procedure, it could lead to misdiagnosis, and if you are trying to help people get to the right result 90%+ of the time, the procedure has to be more complete.

As for the removing the battery lead thing, perhaps it is worth mentioning that a likely problem that can result is a blown or damaged regulator. This occurance is less common on the Mopar system, but it was a very normal result with the Ford alternator system in the 60's and 70's.....BTDT!! That is why I would never recommend it.