12 volt conversion??

Dave621955

New User
I assume this subject has been beaten to death but I'm new here so please forgive.. I've got a Ferguson TO20 made I think in 1951. It was my dad's tractor, we had the engine rebuilt about 20 years ago, put oversized rear tires (I'm not sure why he did that) and that has been about it. I'm going to sort of restore it since for some things it's much handier than my Kubota. My question for you is what exactly is the purpose for the 6 volt to 12 volt conversion? This tractor runs great and the generator work fine. It needs the wiring replaced along with the voltage regulator but if it's putting out juice is there any real benefit to the conversion... Thanks Dave
 
No.
6V is just fine as long as it is still working.
12V allows faster cranking and easier starting.
Supposedly. Once you trip down the 12V conversion
road you get to deal with ballast resistors, diodes
and possibly ignition coils along with starter
solenoids. I have domne the 12V conversion and at
times think about going back. Now if the genny goes
south that might be a time to think about it.
 
Bruce you say you have dont the conversion to 12v, what else needs to be converted over? solenoid? starter? anything else?
 
The original starter is 6V. It can survive on 12V
IF,
IF you don't go crazy cranking on it when the
tractor won't start. I have run a 6V starter on
12V for about 80 hours of run time so far and have
had no problems.
When you do a conversion you might desire to use
the starter button to energize an added Ford
starter solenoid. Strater buttons were meant to
live on negative current. Changing to positive
current will shorten the life of the starter
switch. I went with a smaller wire to energize the
stater solenoid and so far has worked well. This
change also allowed me to keep the original safety
feature of not starting in gear.
 
If you have lights they have to be changed. You need a 12 volt regulator. If you want to do it right get a good 12v. coil. TO 20 doesn't have solenoid as Bruce was letting you know.
 
In the early 1980's I bought a TE 20 with the
wiring bad. I took the starter and Generator off
and had them checked and at that tome everything
worked as it should on 6 volt. The guy where I
took it drew me a wiring diagram to change it to
12 V. I bought an altenater at the junk yard and I
needed a new key switch as the old one was bad. I
changed the coil over to 12 V and wired it up. I
added a master shut off under the dash and it has
been running since. I know where they are several
other ones wired the same way with no resister in
them and they work fine. I was told at the time
the 6 volt starter was a heaveyer than a 12 volt
one. I used all the brackets that were on the
tractor. One of my friends has a TO and he bought
a kit. He ended up not using the brackets that
came with the kit
 
I would leave it if the tractor starts and works fine even in cold weather 6 volt will work just fine. however if the system starts to give trouble and it is not an easy fix just convert
 
(quoted from post at 01:57:03 10/06/14) I would leave it if the tractor starts and works fine even in cold weather 6 volt will work just fine. however if the system starts to give trouble and it is not an easy fix just convert

Not an easy fix? It's two pieces. A generator and a voltage regulator. No diodes,no ballast resistors,no changing of coils, no rebuilding of starter because 12 volts damaged it from extended cranking,no making of brackets to hold an alternator,and more. When you sit back and look 6 volt is simple to fix and if you figure in your time of rewiring,trouble shooting,fabricating brackets,etc...it would have been just as cheap to fix your generator if not cheaper.
 

The only benefit I could see is if you are using an electric pump on a sprayer or something that uses 12 volts. I'm going to tell it like it is...6 volts got a bad rap for a few reasons. The biggest reason is poor maintainence and owner neglect. People let their tractors set outside and connections corrode, the sheet metal rusts and then you no longer have a good ground because it's grounded to the dash, people won't replace the battery cables because they refuse to believe that they corrode inside where you can't see,or if they do replace them they buy the cheapest cables they can and expect 6 volts to work with them when the cables aren't even good enough for 12 volts. 12 volt conversions are more for people who neglect their tractors, same with electronic ignition conversions. People go buy a $3.00 set of points and then wonder why they don't last. Must be that points are just bad and the only way to go is electronic ignition. That's not true. They still make good points but lots of people aren't willing to actually look for them. If you use your tractor like I do you won't be happy in the middle of a job when the module goes out and then you either wait for a new module or try to find all your parts to put the points back in. Btw...after 3 years and putting hundreds of hours a year on my TO-20 the points are still good as well as the 6 volt charging system. Even in below freezing weather it cranks fine.
 
You're getting a lot of advice.

If your 6 volt system works well then by all means keep using it. They are not complicated to maintain and are fully adequate.

That said, my TO30 is now 12 volts. This is mostly because my generator died and I couldn't find a local place to rebuild it at a reasonable price. The conversion to 12 volts was fairly cheap and easy with a kit that included wiring harness, all brackets, and the alternator (1 wire which is super simple). My battery was already "well aged" and needed to be replaced no matter what I did. I say "mostly" because the second reason is what Jason mentioned: the 12 volts is handy for running certain things. I haven't yet bought a sprayer with an electric pump, but I do often use an inverter to run my power tools if I'm working on something far from an outlet. Convenient.

But, that said, I've never been totally happy with what feels like a pretty powerful kick when I engage the starter. I liked (what at least felt like) the more gentle cranking of 6 volts.

So this is why I did mine. But I'm not really recommending it. It is simply an option when, if, you are needing options.
 
I am going to side with the 6 volt guys. If all you need is new
wires and a voltage regulator you are talking about $130-150.
No new battery, no new alternator and brackets.

I purchased an engine harness for my TO30 from Agri-corp
the TO20 runs 99.00 and it will be a perfect fit and almost
identical to original, also well labeled for install.

Good luck
 
Thank you for the information. I think I'll stick with the 6 volt system for now. I would like to replace the wiring harness rather than making one but have not had any luck finding Agri-corp on line .. What is the link? And while I'm gathering information where is the best place to order good replacement parts from ignition to brake linings? After almost 60 years I have learned that you get what you pay for. Again thank you all for the information. Dave
 

Here is a link to a list of ignition parts I put together a while back.

http://forums.yesterdaystractors.com/viewtopic.php?t=977618

Now for brakes and other parts you can still get lots of parts from Agco. The Agco parts are usually a little more money but are generally of better quality than the aftermarket stuff. Here is a link to the site to get a well made original style wiring harness.

http://www.wiringharnesses.com/
 

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