A simple question that may not matter. What Guage should the wire be from the coil to the distributor. Or does it matter. I am putting the 8n back to original as much as possible to find out why it isn't running right. I know the wire that is on it now isn't original. It burned through 5 or 10 years ago and I replaced it with 16 Guage. Ammeter doesn't work so that has been ordered. Copper conductor in distributor was broken and soldered back together. Those replacement parts are on order. Distributor dust cover is broken in several key points around the edge. That is on order. I have two new sets of points and condenser. Those will be put on when I get the order from this site. My problem is no spark from the coil, with a new coil, but so many parts are compromised already that I have to bring it back up to spec just to start troubleshooting. Thanks for your help. BTW I have had this tractor since July 4th 2001. The same day I bought my little 10 acre horse farm. Another little question. Should the 6 volt coil need an external resistor, or not?
 
Also the space. This site seems to treat all of those variants of "Bob in SD" as being the sae guy. Not sure what's going on.
 
Two guys with similar handles. One joined in 2011 and the other joined in 2014.Look at the post on modern and you can pull up yhe profile.
 
Typical current in the LV primary ignition circuit is around 4 amps more or less so 16 gauge will suffice. Sure bigger is better due to less voltage drop so I've even used used 12 gauge now n then. Id use fine stranded copper wire for its flexibility NOT solid wire.

If its a 6 volt tractor use a 6 volt coil WELL DUH no ballast required (unless Ford specific see note below)

If its a 12 volt tractor you can use EITHER a full 12 volt rated coil no ballast required ORRRRRRRR a 6 volt coil PLUS an external series voltage dropping(12 down to 6) ballast resistor

NOTE CAUTION "SOME" Fords still used "some" ballast on those coils so ask Ford gents about those, the above is more just a generic answer to coils NOT specific FORD advice

John T
John Ts Ignition Troubleshooting
 
John on those Fords I have both a 41 9N and a 44 2N that Dad bought new in May of 44. They had that stupid voltage reducer in them to cut the voltage to the points. You do not need that as it does nothing but make the tractor hard to start. We ran the 8 volt battery in the 2N for 40 years to get enough voltage for it to start and that made it 6.4 volts to points instead of that 4.2 the reduser made. A 6 volt battery would not start the tractor with that reducer so that is why we went to the 8 volt Also used 8 volt in the 1950 International truck. Back a few years the 8 volt went bad so got a 6 volt and put in , tractor hardly started but got by for a while. Then started diying at all times fould after several switches the condensor. But in that time I decided to bypas that resistor and altho the dying continued it started better and run better bypassing that resistor so it has been that way ever since. Finally traced the dying problem to the condensor and go that fixed but no problems with burning points. And the 41 H Farmall and 49 B John Deere converted to distributor, both 6 volt batteries never had a problem with points burning with full 6 volts to system. Anybody with a Ford with that resistor should take it out of the system and starting problems will be over. That resistor being the cause of hard starting is probably why so many are converted over to 12 volt systems while just removing wire from resistor and splicing would take care of the problem. With my starting-dying problem I kept the orignal switch in going thru that resistor as factory. Put a seperate switch in going thru resistor and 3 switch bypassing that resistor. Using the orignal setup or the bypas switch and resistor it would start to miss and soon die but if i would while it was running but missing flip on the switch that bypassed the resistor then it would start running smooth while turning switch going thru resistor off. So for last several years only use switch putting full 6 volt to points and no point burning problems. This 44 tractor pulled the plow and disk for years and also combine on PTO as well as corn picker, Was only tractor Dad had from 44 to 57 when he bought a 38 A John Deere.
 
(quoted from post at 16:12:46 09/13/17) WOW great info. Unfortunately I'm NOT a Ford man but this may help those who are. John T

Not really. You need the factory resistor (the one on the back side of the dash) to keep from melting the innards of the coil. Even with a 12V conversion using the 12V coil. If a 12V system and using a 6V coil you'll likely need the additional resistor to keep from melting the coil. I had the aftermarket ceramic resistor on my 6V 9N when the factory one went bad, and that is too much resistance and it was hard starting. There is a very good reason that old Henry put that resistor in there!

Go over the 9N, 2N, 8N page on this forum and the guys there will give you chapter and verse on resistors.
 
Duh is a comment that usually implies that you think the person you are talking to is an idiot. Not appreciated. There are a lot of things that I know much more about than you ever will.
 

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