wiring harnesses

should'vestayedonthefarm · Apr 23, 2016

Hello everyone it's been a long time since I have been on here and I apologize for that, but I just got a 1951 ford 8N And my question is; Does it matter on a late model ford 8N (with the side mount dist), if the wiring harness is made for the 6V or the 12V system?; As long as the wiring harness is made for that particular tractor?, I mean I know they make them specifically for each the 6V and the 12V systems but; (what is the difference) in the two harnesses if any, Other than possibly some routing and or some jumper wires, but essentially is the wiring harnesses the same on either one? or does the wire diameter differ?, in another words can you use a "new" wiring harness made for a 6 volt system on a 12 volt converted system with out complications?, And if the ignition coil has been changed to 12 volt and the resister block has been bypassed will it harm the existing 6V points and condenser set up? Or will it harm any of the other 6V components such as the ignition switch, starter button, starter solenoid or starter? and should I use a 12 V starter solenoid? the tractor already had a conversion done to it but the alternator was bad and the pulley was broken; However it came with a new 6V wiring harness and a new GM 10si 12V alternator but if I can use that wiring harness for the 6V system that it came with then the pulley should be the only thing I need right?

old · Apr 23, 2016

A 6 volt wiring will in fact be different then a 12 volt since the 12 volt system is likely to have an alternator with a built in V.R. so fewer wires needed and going different places. That said when I do 12 volt conversions I make up my own which is pretty simple to do

should'vestayedonthefarm · Apr 23, 2016

Right I understand that it will need some modifications, but can it (for the most part) be used in conjunction with these mods, as I don't have both the harnesses in front of me and cannot tell if there is a difference in the wire size used to make up the harness itself.

sotxbill · Apr 24, 2016

(quoted from post at 22:27:40 04/23/16) Hello everyone it's been a long time since I have been on here and I apologize for that, but I just got a 1951 ford 8N And my question is; Does it matter on a late model ford 8N (with the side mount dist), if the wiring harness is made for the 6V or the 12V system?; As long as the wiring harness is made for that particular tractor?, I mean I know they make them specifically for each the 6V and the 12V systems but; (what is the difference) in the two harnesses if any, Other than possibly some routing and or some jumper wires, but essentially is the wiring harnesses the same on either one? or does the wire diameter differ?, in another words can you use a "new" wiring harness made for a 6 volt system on a 12 volt converted system with out complications?, And if the ignition coil has been changed to 12 volt and the resister block has been bypassed will it harm the existing 6V points and condenser set up? Or will it harm any of the other 6V components such as the ignition switch, starter button, starter solenoid or starter? and should I use a 12 V starter solenoid? the tractor already had a conversion done to it but the alternator was bad and the pulley was broken; However it came with a new 6V wiring harness and a new GM 10si 12V alternator but if I can use that wiring harness for the 6V system that it came with then the pulley should be the only thing I need right?

Yes,,, in most cases the 6 volt harness will work very well on a 12 volt conversion. But a 12 volt wiring harness may not work well on a 6 volt.

The 6 volt harness has to pass more current so the wires must be thicker to carry the higher current.

Yes a 12 volt "one wire charge system" will have the heavy charge wire run directly to the battery via the starter selonoid where the 6 volt will have the heavy charge wire run to the voltage regulator, and then the battery...otherwise everything else will work fine. So other than that one wire, every thing else is correctly... and the 6 volt harness will have the voltage regulator wires that will not be used for the 12 volt system so they can be tape off or disconnected... Also the main battery cables on a 6 volt must be twice as big as on a 12 volt system but will not hurt anything being used on a 12 volt conversion.

Sean in PA · Apr 24, 2016

The 6 volt harness has to pass more current so the wires must be thicker to carry the higher current.

That only applies to the battery cables and the one form the solenoid to the starter. Everything else will have lower current on 6 volts than on 12 volts given the same resistances of the various components. That's why 12 volts will burn out 6 volt headlights in short order, too much current.

souNdguy · Apr 25, 2016

the wire insulation and sizes in a 6v harness should be fine for 12v, more than fine actually.

wiring harnesses

should'vestayedonthefarm

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old

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should'vestayedonthefarm

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sotxbill

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