Farmall H starter

Hey Guys,

I have a 42 Farmall H and over the past year or better I have been having alot of problems with the charging system. When I originally bought the tractor, I was told it was an 8 volt system. Even had an 8 volt battery in it. I decided to go with a 6 volt battery and had my genny rebuilt to 6 volt and put on a brand new 6 volt VR.

When the tractor is at 1/2-3/4 throttle my ammeter is reading between 10 and 20 on the charge side. Appears to be charging fine right??

I had the battery out for the winter and put it back in last week and gave it a good charge and the tractor fired while still on the charger. Let it run and again my ammeter was showing charge.

Now, when I shut down, I am having trouble restarting without the charger. I press the starter button and the motor wants to turn over about 1/4 turn each time the button is pressed. Sometimes it'll take off and fire up and other times I have to get the charger.

Is it possible that sinse this tractor was supposidly an 8 volt system that I have an 8 volt starter?

I notice that my starter button and wires get hot to the touch after cranking a while on those 1/4 turns. I plan on replacing them with 2 guage wire, (not sure if thats what they are now or not) and replacing the starter button. Any suggestions would be great! My booster pack has earned the name, "the Farmall's diaper bag"

Thanks!

The only time I have heard of using anything 8 volt was to give a 6 volt system a little more "oomph". I have never heard of an actual 8 volt system before. I guess you learn something new every day! Anyway, you should definitely enlarge the battery cables. There also might be something drawing charge. If the lights were not wired correctly, they can run the battery down, even when off.
Good luck, SF

We had the same problem last year, just ours was 12V. Turned out to be problem in starter. Rebuilt starter everything fine.

The 8v has nothing to do with the problem. It had a 8v batt because the owner didnt want to take the time to see why it didnt turn over. To start with you need 1ga cables and when trying to start which ever cable gets hot or warm theres the problem. You dont get the starter and genny rebuilt to make them 8v someone is pulling your leg basd. Have you took a hydrometer reading and is every cell up to snuff reading 1260 or so.

I think I would clean all the connections first.

I have the exact same problem. Only difference is mine crank slow but will almost always start.

I've had this issue for years. I've had my starter looked at and my generator looked at, and they both test good... My H ran and started great when I got it. I replaced the wiring harness and the regulator and then I couldn't get it to charge or turn over fast. Two regulators later I fixed the charging problem. I wish I had saved the regulator that was on the tractor instead of throwing it away at tear down. Only thing I can think is that mine must have been 8 volt when I got it.

Here's a question fo you. On your S/N plate, do you have an X1 at the end of your S/N? That would mean high compression from what I've read. I believe that is the issue with my tractor. The standard Starter dosen't have enough oomph at 6 volts to turn over that engine. I can't even hand crank my tractor. And to my knowledge it has never been rebuilt.

Gene Bender is right. Changing to an 8 Volt battery does not require any change to the starter motor or generator. The regulator needs to be adjusted so that it charges to a higher voltage and the cut out needs to be adjusted upward too. To change back to 6 volt the regulator just needs to be set at standard 6 volt setting.
You may have a charging issue. It is fine for the ammeter to show 15 or more amps if the battery is discharged. If the battery is fully charged, the charge rate should be low. You can make a very basic check of the regulator with your battery charger. With the tractor running connect the charger to the battery. When the charger is operating, the ammeter reading should drop as the regulator should reduce generator output. If it is not, the regulator is incorrectly adjusted or defective.
As to the starter issue the following are most common:
1). Poor contact at or inside starter switch (check resistance with ohms meter)
2). Defective Field windings in starter motor - replace windings.
3). Dirty commutator or worn/dirty brushes in starter motor - clean and/or replace brushes. Clean commutator segments, especially the gaps between segments. If this fails, segments should be re-cut.
4). Bent armature shaft in starter motor - replace armature
5). Battery defective - test battery under load as a no load test may give a reading between 6 and 7 volts, while a test under load will reveal the battery's true state.
6). Wiring and connections insufficient for the electrical load. A 6 volt starter motor requires a far greater current than a 12 volt equivalent.

X1 is a gas engine, not high compression engine. (Vs a kerosene engine)If you cant hand crank an H engine, you may have problems in the handcrank mechanism, or youj ust dont know how to do it. (No ridicule intended.) Pretty sure its been rebuilt.

1 gauge cables are borderline, IMHO, get 00 cables for all 3 starting wires, new HD starter switch, and make sure every connection is clean, then clean them again. Why did you change it all, if it aint broke, dont fix it!!

Good fitting bushings are important too. If they are worn it will let the armature drag on the field poles . It needs heavier cables if yours are getting hot.

Low voltage will make even a 00 gauge wire get warm. Make sure your battery is able to deliver a good cranking amperage at 5 volts. It takes a long time to charge a good battey, longer for a poorer one. A 100 ampere hour would require 100 hours to completely recharge a dead battery at 1 amp charge rate and 10 hours at 10 amp rate. A couple hours of run time won't do the job weather on a charger or tractor. So many batteries get put to work at a partial charge stage. That being said, a good 6 volt battery and number 1 cables will crank an H just great if all is in good shape. I am betting your starter and switches, cables and connections and battery are all contributing to the problem. Also, don't over look ign timing. A tad too early will stop that engine dead with a slow rolling starter. I had a customer bring a starter for his 300 utility in many years ago, I repaired it, he brought it back, didn't do the job, went through it again still didn't start so he brought the tractor in on a trailer. While he was attempting to start it on trailer I heard it, went out and retarded the timing a little and it cranked like a dream. Put the light on it and timed it properly at full throttle , problem solved. One never knows what you will find. Also, some of those old H tractors ended up with a starter without a center bushing and that just doesn't work out on them. Mostly those were rebuilt units so one never knows what he is getting. Have put in a lot of center bushing plates over the years.

Thanks for all the great advice, I looked at the wiring and found that the wire going from the starter button to the starter was only a 4 gauge. I replaced it with a 2 gauge and she fired right off. Now just need to get the packing nut figured out on the water pump...brand new pump and everytime i shut the tractor off my packing nut is loose.