Factory Starter Color 65-73 Ford 2000, 3000, 4000 series

sweep

Member
I have a tech question. What factory color were the starters on the 65-73 Ford 2000, 3000, 4000 series tractors?

I always thought they were painted blue on the assembly line but I have noticed many people when restoring are painting them black with bare aluminum drives that bolt up to the block.

I also have a factory starter the owner swears was original, never rebuilt and there is not a shred of blue anywhere on it-just rusty black paint.

Thanks
 
Just replaced what I am pretty sure was the factory starter on my 71 3000. It was blue and doesn't look like it has ever been repainted.
 
The tractors came from the factory with blue starters - both gas and diesel.
Here are some photos of a couple of school tractors I've owned. They were all blue.
100_1970.jpg

100_03201.jpg

100_1842.jpg
 
Thanks Jerry
I have seen maybe 5-6 different part numbers for 66-1973 Ford tractors gas 2000 series.. Are all the starter for those tractors the same even though they had a different part number? All those different part numbers but everywhere I look they say all 65-73 starters were the same.

The one on my tractor is I believe D7NN11001A but the paper tag is very faded but have seen other part numbers and they also say they fit 1973 2000 series gas..all 10 spoke gears.
 
The starters for the 3 cylinder 65-74 thousand series gas engine tractors were all basically the same, in that they were interchangeable, but they did come out with newer revisions over time.

The letter at the beginning of the part number designates the decade and the first number after the letter designates the year within the decade, that a particular part number was first used. C is the 1960's and D is the 1970's. So the fact that the part number for yours starts with D7 means that part number was first used in 1977, so it was a design revision that came out after the thousand series was no longer being made.

The part number for the very first starter for the 1965-1974 thousand series should have started with C5 or maybe C4, as it would have been designed and started being used right when they started making that series in 1965, or a little before in 1964.
 
I had visited the assembly line numerous times while at Ford tractor. The reason manifolds, crabs, gennys and starters were all painted is that all engines were run on the test stand prior to installation. Once the main frame was complete it was painted. Ford Tractor used the assembly line concept and there was no dissembling anywhere so all items were painted shades of red, blue or yellow as required.
 
Sean the only two numbers I found for 1970's is D1NN11001a and D7NN1101A so I guess to be accurate my '73 would need a D1NN though they all look the same on the outside.
 
(quoted from post at 17:26:05 08/03/16) Sean the only two numbers I found for 1970's is D1NN11001a and D7NN1101A so I guess to be accurate my '73 would need a D1NN though they all look the same on the outside.

As I said they made revisions over time. Many of the revisions were to fix design flaws. Why would you want a design that has been superseded by a newer revision? The New Holland part site will tell you what the current part number is that is recommended for your tractor. According to the parts site, they list 3 part numbers for a gasoline 3 cylinder thousand series, and they all start with D7NN10001, and they only vary by the trailing letters:

D7NN10001A - Starter motor and drive assembly, 12 volt - but this has been superseded by D7NN10001R, the "rebuilt" version below
D7NN10001R - Starter motor and drive assembly, rebuilt
D7NN10001AGV - Starter motor, value, which is a less expensive version, probably made in India or China.

This means that the latest revision of the original starter is no longer available new, only as a rebuild.

There are lots of people selling aftermarket starters out there as well and most of them list one or more Ford part numbers that they are supposedly a direct replacement for. There's not much difference between them. Most are probably made by the same folks over in the far east that make the New Holland "Value" starter.
 

I like the contrast of a black starter and black generator... but hate painted lug nuts... Guess it takes all kinds...
 

The reason that so many are black is that starters and generators at some point have to be removed for repair and usually go to an automotive electric shop. These guys may do a good job repairing the starters, but the jerks just have no interest in stocking the correct color paint for everyone's piece of equipment. Thus they all get painted black, the same as those on cars and trucks. Many guys repainting an old tractor notice that so many are black, so they think that they are supposed to be, so black it is. And yes, I can appreciate that on a one color tractor like Farmalls or ACs, a black starter is pleasing to the eye, but to those guys my answer is to get a Ford. When it comes down to it though, we do know that tractors could not have had black starters from the factory because they would not have started.
 

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