Yet another update. I brought it to my mechanic who told me that although the battery may have enough power to start the vehicle, if the post start battery voltage drops off too far, the charging system will not start charge output. He also told me that Jeeps are particularly sensitive to low voltage issues, and low voltage will create all kinds of weird problems.
On to the load test. We’ll see what kind of voltage lingers after ten seconds of glowing Ni-Chrome wire...