12 volt conversion question

Tractor Talk had a small discussion on 12 volt conversions. It gave me a question I'll ask here as you guys tend to be more kind and the answer will be Ferguson oriented.

Some claimed that by using a smaller capacity 12 volt battery, or by using small gauge wires, one can reduce the "kick" that 12 volt conversions have and that are hard on the starters and ring gears.

True? Or Bogus? How would I size wires? What other problems might arise if I experiment?

Though I'm no electrician, it would sound bogus to me except that some months ago I was troubleshooting a starting problem. I cleaned up the starter switch connections which were really bad. After doing so the starter certainly seemed to have a lot more aggressive "kick" and to turn the engine with more gusto. I half preferred it starting poorly but with less jolt on everything. Ideally somewhere right in the middle.

[We'll leave aside the "should it have been converted" question as it already is. And I really like the 12 volts so I can run an inverter when I'm working on some project far from the buildings.]

Smaller cables will overheat. Overheat may result in fire. Fire may result in loss of barn, garage,
house...
Smaller battery With large cables. You can experiment with this one by the depths of your pocket.
A smaller CCA battery would tend to kick less. The question then becomes one of how much is the bare
need to kick the engine at 80 versus 32 degrees. Is that engine flooded and needs longer cranking to
clear the cylinders? Is it out of time? Any other potential problems? Yes? Better get that 650 CCA
and call it good. Now if your parked in controlled environment and always in tune, then a smaller
battery might be enough for you.

I think there is "some" truth to the small battery/cables theory.

As far as reducing the starter drive slam, IMHO no, the battery size and cable size will give no advantage.
Reason is, in order for smaller cables or smaller battery to reduce the starter torque, there must be a
sufficient load long enough to heat up the cables and/or load the battery to near it's cranking capacity.
Neither is going to happen in the millisecond it takes for the starter to spin up to speed and engage the
flywheel.

Now, once the starter is engaged, the small cables and low amp battery work together to get the available
voltage to the loaded starter down to a more acceptable level. This will help protect the starter from
overheating if for some reason it is cranked for an extended period of time. If I were going to reduce the
cable size, probably a 6 ga. or 4 ga. would be a good start. Only replace the cable to the starter, leave
the battery cables full size so you keep the voltage to the coil high as possible.

In reality, the only real solution is to leave it 6 volt, or have the starter converted to 12 volt. And a
lot depends on how much the tractor is used, if it's a daily worker or a twice a year parade tractor. A 6
volt starter will typically work for a long time, but there is always a possibility it will break
something!

A thought , if the sudden surge of power from a 12 volt battery is such a problem would running a parallel load at the time of starting help . I am thinking of a pair of headlights or even something with a higher current drain like a second , small ,easily stowed ,uncharged battery connected via a switch when starting .

I would have thought that a 12V supply to a 6V starter motor, regardless of the cable size, will always give a bigger "kick" than a 6V supply.