If you went to look at a new gas powered tractor today, would you consider one that came from the factory with a 6v generator system and points ignition? You'd expect them to sell about 2 of them because the maintenance on those systems would be too costly, especially when equipping one would cost as much or more than a modern system.
There is a reason tractor manufacturers started with 6v systems, and a reason they abandoned them for 12v, and very good reasons they abandoned 12v generators for alternators. There is a reason they abandoned mechanical points for electronic systems. These things are called "improvements" because when properly implemented they work better than the former technology and increase productivity and efficiency. Just look at the Farmall A (1939) to 140 (1974) saga. If it had hung in there another few years, it would have been not only 12v alternator, but EI as well, and if they were still made today, they'd have full syncro trannys and EFI, because these things make for more useful and efficient tractors with far less maintenance.
Shops have regularly "retrofit" new improvements to older tractors to make them better suited to the needs farmers had for them - bigger pistons, better heads, higher output hydraulics, even things like duals ("they didn't come from the factory like that, so it's just wrong!")
Yes, you can get by running the 6v starter on 12v. A lot of people have and have had no problems. Shortly before I changed my SA to 12v, the starter was giving out (spent a summer hand cranking it, which sealed the conversion before winter), so had that rebuilt with the 12v field coils and new bendix. Works great and glad I changed the system. I can now run lights (and jump other vehicles buried in snowbanks on frigid days) with ease.
Above all, this is Your tractor. If it's a restoration, you'll want to keep it at 6v, or at least keep the parts to change it back. If you're using it for work, make it work for you in the best way you can.
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Today's Featured Article - Chores - by Frank Young. The ceaseless passing of time! It is at once our friend and our enemy. It measures our progress and it makes us old. Like most features of our life, few things are all good or all bad, and most such judgments depend on our own perspective or viewpoint. In our particular hobby, we enjoy the nostalgic return to the days of our youth as we recreate many of the scenes that took place on the family farm that served as the stage for the first few acts of the play that is our live
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