Farmall C Electrical Drawing

I am in need of a Farmall C electrical drawing. I have searched this site for quite awhile. The forum posts that address this are littered with broken links to what must have been what I need, years ago. It looks like John T in Indiana may have posted this several times a long time ago, but again, the links are broken.

This tractor belongs to my dad and I am traveling to see him over the holidays. He's complaining of charging problems and other intermittent electrical problems. I'm trying to educate myself a little before I get there.

His Farmall C has a distributor, a three position light switch and a four terminal voltage regulator. It remains as 6v positive ground, as originally equipped. S/N 178305 (1951?) Casting number 1815.

I appreciate any help.

hyounker

Send me an mail at
wrm(at)rochester(dot)RR(dot)com; I'll
email you the diagram you need.

Sir, Just google Farmall wiring diagram and all different diagrams come up. Should cover all different models, magneto to distributor.
6 and 12 volt generators and alternaters

Thank You!!!

Oldiron29, that's the problem. There seems to be thousands of diagrams, but none of them seem to match what I have. The ones that make any sense are re-drawn, but simply do not match what I have. Any many are not labeled, so I don't know if it has anything at all to do with my Dad's tractor. Keep in mind, the tractor is 700 miles away so I don't have the option of comparing several drawings to the tractor. At least not yet. I was hoping to get more information before I left for the holidays.

Thanks for your response.

Bob M's diagrams are very accurate and easy to follow. I am confidant that he will have one that shows your tractor the way it came from the factory, however, that tractor left the factory more than 65 years ago and who knows how many changes and modifications might have been made in that time.

I've worked on old tractors that I had to go through the electrical system and diagram out how it was wired before I could start troubleshooting it. You may need to go that route.

(quoted from post at 07:26:19 12/06/17) . . . He's complaining of charging problems and other intermittent electrical problems. . . .

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If it hasn't been messed with (and probably even if it has) go over all the connections and make sure they are clean and tight. Pay attention to the ground connections, particularly the voltage regulator. Check for frayed insulation on the wiring. If it works some of the time, chances are the wires are going to the right places. They just need some clean-up.

Intermittent charging could also mean the generator needs some attention (new brushes and armature clean-up) or the points inside the regulator need attention (light filing with a point file, NOT abrasive paper/cloth).

Wow! A big thank you to everyone that has commented. I can use all the help I can get, especially going in blind.

I am a medical equipment service engineer, so I think I have the skills to figure it all out (fingers crossed here!). I was hoping that I could get a diagram so that I could check all the connections while I'm there. I'll be sure to clean everything up. I may opt to buy a new wiring harness, just to give my Dad some piece of mind. I'm sure identifying that will be yet another chore.

Also, believe it or not, this tractor has been in the family it's entire life! Handed down a couple of times, but in the same family. My dad claims that everything is original except for the generator and the voltage regulator. The generator housing is original, but it was rebuilt about two years ago. He purchased a new voltage regulator at the same time. Maybe from Steiner. Not 100% sure. The charging circuit worked well for a time after the generator was rebuilt and the voltage regulator was replaced. I'm certain that I am next in line for this hand-me-down!

Again, thank you all for the info. I feel like I'm in good hands headed into this project. I am more than certain that my laptop will be setup near this tractor while I'm working on it so that I can refer back here. Some great stuff.

hyounker

You have a 1953 Super C If it makes any difference.

(quoted from post at 22:33:52 12/06/17) You have a 1953 Super C If it makes any difference.

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hanks to everyone that has replied. I have a new drawing from Bob and lots of direction as to where to start in my troubleshooting. AND, I know what year this tractor was manufactured.

An awesome community! You'll probably hear from me again in a week or so, once I get to Maryland and give this tractor a good lookover.

Again, thank you all very much.

Well, over the holidays, I determined that the wiring on this old tractor was in really bad shape. So, this past weekend, I drove to Maryland again and my Dad and I replaced the entire wiring harness and the battery. We used a very nice replacement harness provided by Porch Electric. It amazes me how easily this old tractor starts!

Anyway, when the tractor is running, the ammeter is showing discharge. I've double checked all the wiring and everything seems to be in order. I've opened the voltage regulator, which my Dad replaced about 2 years ago. It looks new inside. I also opened the band cover on the generator. There was a good bit of rust in there, so I pulled the brushes, cleaned everything up really good and replaced. The armature had a thin layer of corrosion on it before the cleaning, like the brushes were not making contact. After cleaning the armature shined right up in about 5 minutes of run time. This generator was rebuilt by a local shop when the regulator was replaced.

I also performed the motor test on the generator. Here's where I need some help. The generator spins during the motor test, if you give the pulley a little nudge. When I disconnect the ground from the F terminal, I get mixed results. Sometimes there seems to be a slight increase in speed, other times not so much. It never "runs away". Should the generator spin without help and should I see a drastic increase in speed when disconnecting the F terminal ground?

Also, I've read a little about the use of digital voltmeters. All I have is a digital voltmeter. Should I be able to read the generators voltage at the battery terminals with a digital voltmeter? It's a Fluke 77. I've read that you need an analog meter.

At last, looking into the generator from the brush area, I see a complete layer of thin rust. It looks like water was setting in there at some point. Is there anything in there that would benefit from a remove and clean?

Thanks in advance for any help!

For the benefit of those that may run across this in the future:

I decided to go ahead with a complete dismantling of the generator. I loosened the two long through bolts while the generator was still on the tractor. This made it an easy job removing these on the bench. The generator end with the pulley on it pulls out of the generator body easily with a few light taps. No need to remove the pulley. The generator end and the generator body are aligned with a pin, so replacement is foolproof.

Next, the other generator end was easily removed from the body, again with some light tapping. This removes the brushes and all the associated springs and mechanisms. Again, alignment is achieved with a pin. I removed all the brushes and wire brushed this assembly with attention to detail. The little areas that hold the brushes in place seemed clean, but looking closer revealed areas of caked-on brush dust. These areas undoubtedly interfered with movement of the brushes. The brush holders and springs were not moving very freely either. Again, attention to detail with a smaller wire brush cleaned these up very nicely. I was thinking that putting even a very small amount of lubricant would just serve to collect brush dust, but I applied a very small amount of 3 in 1 oil anyway, to all the springs. They started to work like they should, very smooth.

For the armature end, I left the pulley attached and just worked on the armature as it is removed from the generator body. I wire brushed all the light rust from the armature and shined up the area where the brushes ride with some light wire brushing. I also used a wire brush to remove loose rust from the generator end. I was concerned that this loose rust might come lose and find its way to a brush and get in the way there.

For the generator body, I brushed the fields the best I could and used a screwdriver to scrap away any loose rust from the areas where the fields meet the generator body. I also used my multimeter to check continuity between the wire coming from the field and the outside posts. I didn't mess with the field wires much because they looked a little fragile. I may replace the fields next time up there.

My Dad said that he remembered a time when the tractor got rained on. The next time he started it, water came out of the generator. I'm sure this was the starting point of all these problems. Of course, after the fact, it all makes sense!