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old popper

old popper

Well-known Member
I am converting an H Farmall from 6 volt positive ground to 12 neg ground. Do I swap sides on the ammeter wiring? Or leave them the way they were? .................Thanks in advance.
I trust your electrical advice to the max.
 
and swap the coil small terminals as well. Add a ballast resistor if using the same coil. (ignore this if it is a mag) Jim
 
I won't answer JT question, let him do it.

I will like to add, after shearing off two starter drives on my Farmall C and Jubilee by using a good 12v battery on a 6v starter. I bought a 12v starter for Ford off TY. Last starter drive also chipped a tooth on starter ring. Not to mention I used a magnet on Jubilee and fished out parts to 6 previous broken starter drives. I've never been more pleased changing to 12v starter. Some will tell you it isn't necessary. I will tell you in the winter when it's very cold, oil is very thick is when I lost all my starter drives.

I couldn't find a 12v starter for my Farmall C, so I took an old lawn mower battery that at the time only was producing 180 CCA, used 12g copper wires and to my surprise, it has worked great for 3 or 4 years now, even in the winter. I have a mag, so in reality the mower battery spins the tractor faster than in the old days when we hand cranked them.

I've yet to lose another starter drive after making changes.
geo.
 
A lot of times I do not swap them but I also know that by not doing so it will read backwards so I know when it says discharge it is really charging.
So if you want it to read as it should yes you need to swap them but I don't a lot of times due to the gauge being very old and if you try to swap them you break the gauge due to the age and having been hooked up for decades.
You also swap the small wires on the coil
 
yes i agree , those poor 6 volt drives take a beating. i have a massey 44 special that someone converted and a w6 and i just cringe when i hit the starter, just hear that bendix kissing the ring gear hard. and now the w6 starter is actually damaged. im ready to put them back to 6 volt.
 
I agree with most of the gents below, YES if you want the ammeter to register correctly and are converting grounds SWAP THE LEADS its so simple and easy I wouldn't leave them as is in case the next poor dude isn't aware and thinks its not working right lol.

If its a battery powered coil dist ignition you swap coil leads also PLUS if you keep the old 6 volt coil you need to add an inline series voltage dropping (12 to 6) ballast resistor, or use a new full 12 volt coil. If a mag no change required.

I always kept the old 6 volt starter although it can be a bit tough on starter drives which some gents replace with an improved unit.

John T
 
John, If you read why I leave them you either have not had it happen to you or if you have you just spent $$ to replace the map gauge. U have had more then one when you try to unhook the wires either you snap the stud off or the stud turns in you and there goes the gauge also
MY Oliver 77 has a back wards gauge just because you can not remove to old wires with out damaging the gauge and it is a TRUE Oliver gauge
 
rustred,
I'm always working on a neighbors 1963 MF35. His starter and battery came 12v. The other day his started screwed up big time. He had to split tractor. The end of starter drive and part of starter ended up in bell housing. Never seen anything like it. He bought a new starter from YT.

Before you go back to 6 v try my fix, mower battery with less CCA. Excide makes many different CCA mower batteries.

I stand corrected, recently replaced cable wires with 10g copper. Try using an old mower battery and see how it works? Do you have a mag or ballast and 6v coil? If 6v coil I'll post another idea.
geo
a233727.jpg
 
My local NAPA boys couldn't find a starter drive until I gave them the numbers from YT's starter drive. So I would have gotten the exact same drive from NAPA as YT and paid twice the price. YT did a very good job of shipping mine too.

Good luck find a stronger starter.

May check YT to see if their different starter drives have different numbers or the same numbers. I'm betting they are the same.
 
Rich,
Instead of swapping the wires at the amp gauge, you can cut the wires at some convenient place and use butt connectors to reverse the wires going to the amp gauge.
 
Many gauges have multiple wires on the load side, making it a bit more difficult, and rats nesty to splice. I have used a long nosed vice grip to hold the outer end of the brass terminal to loosen the nut, then cut off the boogered up end. It keeps from applying torque to the gauge innerds. Jim
 
Ya I know but this way is easier plus if some one tries to steal the tractor and see the discharge there more likely to leave it alone LOL That Oliver 77 had been that way since before I got it and since it isn't broken I'll not fix it.
 
Yes but why?? I know if it working just that the gauge reads backwards and since I know that it works just fine as it is. You know one of them anti-theft devices LOL
 
Thank very kindly for the help. I got them swapped, and the ignition is a magneto, which has given me zero problems, so OK there.
I don't use this tractor in cold weather, (also I put a small 490 CCA battery on it) so I am going to take a chance on the starter drive for now.
 
Actually, when using a 6 volt starter at 12 volts, it can be better to have a relatively smaller CCA battery which softens the blow on the starter drive. Others have actually used smaller battery cables which purposely drop voltage to also soften the blow, so you done good.

John T
 
JT, My jubilee had a 12v battery with one cell on the low side. It still snapped two drives. I'd recommend trying a used mower battery and work up from there. I'm still using the weak 12v on ford. Works just fine on 12v starter. And a weak mower battery on Farmall. Call me cheap if you want.


No need to worry about spark with mag.
geo
 
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