Positive ground

Trying to determine if I should switch back to a negative ground. In a time crunch last year I took my 2N in for some electrical troubleshooting and that shop converted the tractor to positive ground- can't remember the reasoning but it worked last year. This year I'm having some trouble with the new battery holding a charge. I don't really have a reason to suspect the newly switched positive ground but are there known charging issues just associated with the positive ground?

no issues. Either is as good as the other. Most problems arise when folks change from one to the other.

This 2N is a 12V conversion with diodes replaced in the alternator to accept the positive ground-

"are there known charging issues just associated with the positive ground?"

In a word, NO.

Kurtb ,It could be the converted alternator causing the drain on your battery.If the alternator had the diodes changed so it could be positive ground and the voltage regulator wasn't changed that could be the cause of the battery drain.Disconnect the wire or all wires going to the alternator and see if the battery still drains.

2n tractors originally were positive ground. Do you have a six or twelve volt system?

One of the reasons of the 12-volt electrical system is changing the generator out for an alternator. Alternators are designed to work best on 12 VDC NEG GRND. First thing is to take your battery into a trusty local starter/alternator shop who knows old Fords, and forget about the guy/shop who switched yours over to positive ground as he doesn't sound like he knows what he is doing. Your starter shop can test the battery on their equipment as it must withstand a full charge under load. Simply connecting your battery charger to it doesn't mean it is good to go. I'd also invest in a decent brand of battery and avoid the cheaper ones. Some are junk out the door. Do not use a Deep Cycle battery either. Next, while battery is off/disconnected, go through the entire wiring system per WIRING PICTOGRAMS by JMOR; a free download is available at the NTC site. Disconnect the lights for now; you can reconnect later once root cause is established. Find your setup per JMOR's pictograms and verify the wiring is exactly as shown. No deviations. Trace wires thru continuity, not just by a visual 'color-coding' method. Colors don't conduct electrons. Do you still have the round can cutout in the circuit? if so, that is wrong and needs to be removed from the circuit, again reference pictograms. The original FORD electrical systems were 6-volt/positive ground. They incorporated a generator, a voltage regulator or cutout, an ammeter, ignition coil, ballast resistor, and all wired correctly. There's nothing wrong with this setup. To answer your last question, NO, there are no problems with the 6-V/POS GRND system. Preventative maintenance is the key to any system. The 6-volt mantra is: Clean, Bright, and Tight. 6-volt requires heavier battery cables too. You should have the braided ground strap and the large, thick as your thumb negative post cable. With a 12 volt alternator, the battery cables are similar to your car or truck ones, smaller gauge. There's nothing wrong with converting over to 12-volts either, as long as they are both wired up correctly. See, that is the magic word here. Many 2-volt jobs, and many 6-volt jobs fail because hey have been wired incorrectly. Simply switching out the battery from 6VDC to a 12VDC battery does not constitute a 12-volt conversion. Get your I&T F-04 Manual or original Operator's Manual and see what the original 6-volt wiring is supposed to be. Then use the Pictograms to find your setup: 12VDC alternator can be the 1-wire or 3-wire type. Extra parts may also be needed like a diode and a secondary ballast resistor. Is the coil 6V or 12V? Note on Wiring Pictograms, 4th sketch down for 9N/2N 12-volt conversion. When using the 6-volt coil with a 12 volt battery and alternator, you need to add the secondary resistor. With a 12-VDC coil, the secondary resistor is not used. You will need to test the coil to determine what the Ohmage/Resistance is -also see BRUCE(VA)'s 75 Tips for N-Owners. It is listed on the sketch as well. Just switching things back and forth haphazardly with no direction being followed is not any way to proceed troubleshooting any problem. A good concise systematic step-by-step problem solving method is required to determine the root cause/causes to solve any problem. One last bit of advice is to avoid the temptation to just start buying new parts and changing things out. Hope this helps you get going in the right direction.

Tim *PloughNman* Daley(MI)

As others are saying, positive or negative ground doesn't matter as long as the alternator was re-wired correctly. I've had a 6 volt positive ground alternator in my 29 Ford for years.
75 Tips

"This 2N is a 12V conversion with diodes replaced in the alternator to accept the positive ground-"

With this modified alternator the system must stay positive ground