'49 8N Steering and Charging

1. The front bearing went out of the old style screw on pulley generator. Couldn't find any one to rebuild for less than the newer style keyed pulley 3 brush generator so I got the rebuilt newer unit from Ford plus the new pulley. I polarized it according to the manual and now have lots of juice, which seems to be poorly (maybe not) regulated. My digital multimeter can't keep up with the changing voltage as measured at the battery or the generator, it goes as high as 17 or 18 volts. I have the square type regulator. Seems like it my be bad and a replacement is in order. The wiring on my tractor is in very poor shape and I have ordered a replacement wiring harness and new plug wires. What effects could poor wiring have on the regulation of the generator? What should the ohm reading be on the ballast resistor and what does it do?

2. After a year of ownership I finally had my fill of loose steering and tackled the steering box. I first adjusted the left and right sectors. They are much improved and the front end no longer wobbles in fourth gear. I had no play in the steering wheel as far as up and down but still have some slack when turning the wheel before making contact. Seems that I may have run out of adjustment between the left sector and the steering wheel gear but got most all of the play out from between the left and right sectors. I can live with the current situation, but can the steering box be ok in this adjustment? No oil leaked out of the box when I adjusted the sectors so I am pretty sure it dry/gooey. I can't get the fill plug on the side out to add oil. Can I add oil through the hole exposed when the acorn nut on the steering wheel is removed? I'm not sure if the box leaks or not and am willing to try oil first. I plan to remove the right sector and try to clean it up a little before I add oil. What are the errors in my ways???

Thanks in adavance.

DaveW
Elizabeth, CO

But on the off-chance you got your description tangled and you really didn't put a 3-Brush generator in the answer to your question is DIGITAL VOLTMETERS try to read the noisey hash caused by the brushes on the battery charge line. The field line is "pulsed" or "vibrated" and your volt meter will not be steady there eather. This is characteristic of digital voltmeters, analog meters mechanically filter all that hash with the meter damping coil spring.

The ballast resistor on the backside of the dashpanel is Ford's "better idea" to deal with then inherit weakness of all batterys and tempature. It's nominal resistance is 1.47 ohms and changes with tempature, down to about 0.67 ohms at 0 deg and maybe up to about 3 ohms at 100 degrees. What this means is when it is cold out there, any battery doesn't have much umph, so the cold ballast resistor to your sparkies will get some extra battery power to generate hotter sparkies to ignite cold gas vapor eazier and hopefully eazier starting. Remember the 6 volt mantra: "keep'em clean, bright, and tight"

It is good to replace your dried out and cracked insulation wiring harness with new flexable correctly color coded and sized wiring harness. $15 cheap. Just make certain you get the correct one. Do a side by side replacement and you won't make any mistakes.

Make certain that your replacement sparkplug wires are real copper core stuff. Firing order is 1,2,4,3, CCW. I used "food grade" silicone spray to eaze sliding the wires thru the tube. But you can use any silicone spray or greese you want. Put the distributor ends on after you get 'em thru the tube and cut to length.

I tried the "oil thru the hollow steering shaft" under the acorn nut. It didn't go anywhere except filled the shaft, its still full 10 yrs later. You really need to fill the early 8N steering box's thru the square headed plug. I use outboard motor lower gearbox oil in a pointed plastic tube spout for eaze of doing it..... ..... Dell

• Click here for specs.....

Very informative page. Thanks. Looks like I had either 8N10000 or 8N10000A, which was replaced inservice by 8N10000B. Now the big question is do I need to change regulators from a 8N10505 or 8N10505A to the 8N10505B. I'm not sure given the state of my wiring if the old one is good or not, but assuming it is what are the difference among the different 8N regulators? Cutin and regulated voltages look indentical?

DaveW
Elizabeth, CO

After rereading your post one sentence answers both questions. "The difference in the voltage regulators is the current coil, they must be matched to the generator"

New rules for me, re posts twice before responding.

Thanks
DaveW

Sorry for the confusion. Old generator was screw on pulley, 3 wires, one on the end, two on the side. When I got it back from NAPA after the aborted rebuild the end cap opposite the pulley was off of it and there were three brushes on it. Don't know for sure what I had.....

The new generator is 8N10000B Keyed pulley same 3 wire connection, it is bigger around.

DaveW
Elizabeth, CO

My guess, your NAPA parts guy gave you back the wrong endplate. But as long as you've got a full, complete 8N 6 volt generator to install all you spare parts are just that..... ..Dell