6 volt vs 12 volt starter

I have a 400 farmall 6 volt with a new battery, clean connections, "00" cables and a second hand starter that will barely turn over unless I jump it with 12 volts. Could it possibly be a starter from a 450? And how do I tell if it is a 12 volt or a 6 volt starter? Thanks for any help.
 
The color of the tag should indicate voltage, steiner sells repro tags look there to see what color is what. I believe black is 6 volt and red is 12 but double check. I am sure others will chime in and give more helpful insight. Jim.
 
Does it still have the ID tag on it? Number 1108038 is a six volt starter. Number 1108173 is a twelve volt starter.
 
Yeah Jim is right,on the color of the tags, but if you got 150-170 lbs of compression, 6 volt isn't going to cut it, And how i see it, The sooner u switch it to 12 volt the sooner u will be happy with it!
 
They barely ground over when they were new. Even with a high amp battery which I don't even know where you would buy today 6 volt is sketchy at best. If you want your 400 to start in all weather I'd convert it to 12 volt.
 
I had a Super W-6 that had the same problem. Normally, I am a purist and will not switch to 12 volts and I don't like to do generator/alternator swaps. In my opinion, it spoils the original look of the tractor. So, out of pure stubbornness, here is what I did:
-Replaced the Super W-6 starter with a WD-6 starter which is 12 volts so it avoids the harsh engagement of using a 6 volt starter with a 12 volt battery.
-Removed the Super W-6 generator, removed the pulley and end plates from the generator. I installed these on a WD-6 generator and then re-installed the WD-6 generator on my Super W-6.
-Replaced the Super W-6 ignition coil with a 12 volt coil from a W-400D.
-Replaced the Super W-6 light bulbs with 12 volt bulbs.
-Swap the 6 volt battery for a 12 volt battery.

This wasn't difficult to do if you have the right parts tractor and a little bit of mechanical/electrical aptitude. It would be the most expensive 12 volts upgrade if you had to buy all of the parts. The end result was fantastic. A tractor that looked original, exempt for the bigger WD-6 starter and the 12 volt battery. It would start easily at -15F without the block heater being plugged in.

Red
 
change it to 12 volts with an alternator and you'll never look back, 6 volts will always have issues,plus the components are ridiculous in price
 
I will agree with you on that. When I came into the IH dealership, the 450's were new on the lot and they were the ones that had just came with 12 volt systems. All the ones sold before I started working there were all 6 volt. Starters repair and complaints were almost an everyday problem. It was during that time period I had to learn and develop my own method of soldering that stud back in the field coils. No where in service manuals or any other mechanics I could get a chance to ask about it were of any help. Those 6 volters would melt that solder right on out even on the 300 models. When you add up the live hydraulic pump drag, the independent pto drag plus the higher compression head. Throw in the four foot long battery cable with a lousy grounding system inside the battery box and you have a very unreliable system. Had the same problems with the combines. Grunt, grunt, grunt. Lucky the engines themselves started really easy. Another story. John Deere used a 6 volt system on their 65 pull type combine with the Hercules engine. The 50 chev powerglide was another joke for starting. Went through more batteries and starters than the things were worth . Thank god for 12 volt electrical systems. Many, many problems solved. Put a cable on as big as your arm and a battery as big as the engine and they still don't compare to simple 12 volt systems. All the military vehicles I worked on were straight 24 volt systems. They proved to be overkill as far as I was concerned and reliability problems.
 

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