two 6 volts to two 12 volts

Can a person change a 660 International diesel to two 12 volt batt. ? It has two 6 volts on it now .

Yes just make sure that you hook up the 12 volts up in parallel rather than in series.

for sure, pos.to pos. (parallel)
if it starts good i would not even worry about 2 12's, just put in a good 12 volt with about 900-1000 cranking amps and your set .
had 1 12 volt in 560 for years now and no problem.

I agree with rustred, multiple batteries are always a headache.

Your by far better off going with one single large battery over 2 smaller ones. A lot less head aches because if one battery goes bad it will take the other with it or at least cause it to go dead. Plus in the long run one large battery will cost less then 2 smaller ones. Years ago I did the double battery in my 1963 Diamond-T road tractor and found that one battery was 1000% better less hook ups to keep clean and tight and by far easier to make up new cables for etc etc etc

YEP, you can change it to one single 12 volt battery (less cost and headaches though less amperage as if two in paralell) OR two 12 volt batteries in paralell if you want twice the AH and CCA availabilty only one 12 volt would provide. Id use like at least 900 better yet over 1000 CCA batteries. If it has to start at real cold temps Id go with two twelves in paralell otherwise you can prob get by with only one. You want the 2 batteries to be idential in size n type and rating and age.

John T

John on the less amp I can not agree with you on this one. I have a battery out in my shop that is 3 times bigger then the biggest Wal-Mart 12 volt battery and yes it is 12 volts and it has a lot more as in more hen twice the CCA of any of there batteries but is is also very big. Each of the 6 cell in it are as big as the common group 1 6 volt battery. Ya in this case he may not be able to use that big a battery but just saying you can buy one big battery that will have as much or more CCA as a pair of the common batteries will have. So I guess what I am saying is you can not generalize a statement like that

Hey Rich, Hope your not getting that flood??? Who meeeeeeee generalize a statement lol

When I said ".... YEP, you can change it to one single 12 volt battery (less cost and headaches though less amperage as if two in paralell)"

I meant/intended two typical car/truck batteries WHICH WERE THE SAME i.e. two (of same) in paralell is sure more CCA then only a single battery. I meant to compare Apples to Apples.

Hey sure, AND YOURE EXACTLY RIGHT a big huge (8 D I think) bus type battery like my buddys diesel uses is sure more CCA then two regular car/truck batteries in paralell WOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOO....

AND SURE, its POSSIBLE to buy one big honkin car/truck type 12 volt battery (say a typical 1000 CCA) that has more CCA then two light wimpy car/truck ones in paralell, but many light car/truck ones are still like at least 525 CCA, in which case two of those in paralell IS STILL MORE CCA THEN THE SINGLE BIG 1000 CCA HONKER.......OF THE SAME GENERAL TYPE (NOT a big diesel truck/bus battery)

In theory I agree with you (if you consider a big huge 8D semi battery) but in practice a person would have to shop for a super light wimpy car/truck battery such that two of them in paralell isnt still more CCA then a decent sized (say 950 to 1000 CCA) single car/truck battery.


Fun chat, thanks Rich stay high n dry down there now and thank your son again for his service to his country

John T

No flooding in my area but it has been a tad bit on the wet side here. Plus last week we set record highs as in 90 degrees and then this past week end we set another new record but it was a record low as in cold high of 50 something which was the lowest ever on that day for a high.
As for the battery I am talking about ya it did come out of my 1963 Diamond-T truck and it is about 3 maybe 4 car battery side by side big and yes it is one heavy battery. But when I got it the thing cost less then 2 of the biggest 1000CCA Wal-mart batteries so I said the heck with it and gotr rid of that pain in the back sides double battery to boot

I LOVE old Diamond T Trucks, I cant believe how much nickel/chrome or whatever they used on their smaller trucks (grills n bumpers etc), they were so fancy. I owned a Diamond Reo a short time but then I believe White bought out Diamond T and Reo then Volvo bought White I think. I had a 1947 White Super Power, 110 certified BHP 6 cylinder in line flathead had a carb as big as a gallon jug. Next to Diamond T I think the B Model Mack was the best lookin truck then maybe the big Autocars.

Yep the big 12 volt batteries were group 8 D HUGE HEAVY MONSTERS

John T

old feller i use to work for thought there was nothing better than an 8D battery until a 225 cummings he had, which was the most aggravating thing on the yard to start in cold weather was giving trouble starting every morning due to cold weather,new starter and battery, good cables good connections even had a compression release and starting fluid,hook jumper cables to 2 more vehicles trying to start it, motor would spin a couple of revolutions then loose speed,i ask him to get me 4,6 volt truck batteries and some extra cables to solve his problem he acted like i insulted him and the 8D batteries,but when he went to get them and the starter shop sold him 3, 1200 amp truck batteries, i installed them, truck started fine temperature was about 55, next morning it was 32 hit the starter button starter turned it until it cranked up no compression release or either that was the end of the 8D batteries at that time there wasn't much difference in the cost of the 3 than the 1.

I would recommend against two 12V in parallel, unless you're willing to replace BOTH batteries at the same time, every time. One goes bad, replace BOTH.

In parallel the two batteries need to be the same so they charge and discharge evenly. If you put a weak old battery together with a strong new battery, when the old battery goes bad you don't notice it right away. This causes the new battery to get overcharged due to the old battery not wanting to accept a charge. This also causes the new battery to get drawn down while the tractor sits because it keeps trying to charge the old weak battery.

What happens then is a vicious circle of replacing one battery, then the other, then the first one again, then the other again, and so on... One battery keeps ruining the other in turn.