Solenoid wiring

mholder

New User
i have an 860 ford tractor, sn 69881 I believe this makes it 1955. It has been converted to 12v.

I thought the solenoid was bad and replaced it with one from oreilly auto parts, a 2ss4.

After looking at the threads that popped up searching for solenoid, I believe I have it wired correctly: the 'bottom left' big nut to the starter, the 'top right' big nut to the battery and the wire from the alternator. The wire from the push button starter is wired to the S post. And I get nothing. If I short from the s post to the battery, the tractor will turn over.

I am open to any advise that can be provided.

mholder
saline county mo
 
The push button on the transmission connects to ground. Since shorting from the S post to the battery causes the solenoid to engage it is fairly obvious that connecting the S post to ground is not going to do anything. You have the wrong solenoid for a Ford tractor.
 

Welcome to the board. Why did you replace the solenoid? telling the whole story can help a lot.
 
ok, so here is is the story: the tractor had been sitting out for about a year because of a rear tire that was flat i couldnt afford to fix. so i got some money together but wanted to get it started before i blew a bunch of money on the tire, tube and new rim.
so i put that battery on the charger, hooked it up, hit the start button and solenoid clicked just like it would do in the 1965 ford custom 500 i learned to drive 40 yrs ago when the solenoid went bad. so i went to O'Reilly and said i need a solenoid for a 55 ford 860 tractor and took the one off the tractor with me. they gave me the one above. i replaced it and then nothing when i hit the button (obviously the wrong solenoid as someone mentioned above),
didnt know that yet, so a friend cleaned up the starter for me, put it on and still nothing until i accidentally sorted the s post on the solenoid to the battery post and the starter cranked just fine.
i ended up cutting the rusted screw head off the side of the button and reworked both ends of the wire from the button to the s post on the solenoid and tested it with an ohm meter and that connection reads 0ohms.
SO after the advise above, i put the old solenoid on and hit it, and i'm back to the original clicking solenoid when i hit the button. so tomorrow after work, i will try to hold the bottom of the solenoid up while holding down the button. may take the battery in to get tested, but it was reading 13.4 on the voltmeter after charging.

any additional suggestions would be appreciated.

mholder
saline county mo
 
.
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ok, so here is is the story:

the tractor had been sitting out for about a year

so i put that battery on the charger,

it was reading 13.4 on the voltmeter after charging.


If I read that right, the battery sat out (dead) for a year.

While admittedly, it shows 13+ now after charging,
I suspect it is only a surface charge, and the cold cranking amps (CCA)
will be much less as shown by the correct tester.

Especially if the battery had frozen over that year period.
the plates would have been cracked, fallen apart.
Frozen batteries never come back to (even near) full life.

Nevertheless, test the battery !


,
 
Which battery post are you shorting the "S" port to when you get it to start? If it is the ground post, then the starter switch is likely bad as others have said, if it is the non-ground battery post then you have the wrong solenoid.

The reason I say ground and non-ground is that you never said whether it is configured as positive or negative ground. They were 6 volt positive ground when they left the factory, but you saying the battery reads 13.4 volts after a charge tells me that someone converted (or at least attempted to convert) it to 12 volts, and most 12 volt conversions include a conversion to negative ground, but not always.
 

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