Help solve a Super A question

A friend of mine found a super A that had been setting for a couple years and started messing with it. the battery was shot so he got a new one and put it in with out checking how the old one came out. He put it in like all the 12 volt Negative ground that he was use to . I thought that all the 6 volt Farmals were positive ground. It did start and ran for a little bit now it won't start.
I know bouth my 6 volt are positive ground
Thanks Larry

originally it was a 6v pos ground, however, who knows if it was converted to 12 in the past. couple things to look at that may help id it. first, if it has lights, pull the bulb and see if its 6 or 12v. then see if it has a voltage regulator or cut out relay. if a cut out, 2 wire, its a 6v. if a 3 or 4 wire reg could be 12v, there should be some numbers stamped or inked on it, look for 6 or 12v markings. and look at the genny. if its an alternator, its a 12v, if a genny, more than likely its a 6v, however the genny could be a 12v too. the early 60"s gm 12v gennys will fit on the tractor too, i have 3 tractors with 12v gennys on em. one other thing to chek is the coil. look for a ceramic ballast resistor just before the power at the coil. also see if the + side of the coil goes to the distributor or the - goes to the dist. + to distributor is pos ground, - to the dist is neg ground.

Need a little more INFO....If you have fire to the plugs....if You have fuel to the cylinders....and the engine hasn't jumped time then it just about has to run, maybe not run good but good enough to get You a startin' point. I don't think + or + makes much difference, I've got the alternator off one of My A's now, She's runnin' on a 12 volt neg. ground battery (12 volt coil).......Do like Carl Childers always said " see if You've got fire and gas " Anybody else remember Carl Childers?

Wild Bill

UP OH...Should have been....+or-

Wild Bill

Larry,

It doesn't matter.

On old Farmalls, you can hook it up negative or positive ground, and the tractor will start and run.

Why it won't run now could be any of a number of issues. Mice could have gotten into the wiring and the vibration finished it off. Crud could've gotten sucked into the fuel line or carburetor.

Two ways to go at this.

1) If the A was still 6 volt, then it was probably set up for pos ground. Even if your buddy swapped grounds, it wouldn't hurt it as others have said. However, if he didn't repolarize the generator it won't charge the battery, and he'll have run the battery down, mostly from starting it and maybe using the lights. If it has a battery ignition, that will run it down, too though you can run quite a while before the ignition will stop if you're not running lights at the same time. If it's a battery ignition, he should also have reversed the leads on top of the coil. If it's got a magneto, that last point won't be a factor.

If he clapped a 12v battery onto a 6 volt tractor with battery ignition, he may have burned up the coil and the points are probably burnt.

2) If the tractor was 12volt with a generator (unusual) he would still have to polarize the genertor. If 12v with alternator (far more common), then you're down to the usual troubleshooting for anything that won't run. Start by checking the condition of the battery. If it's low, search on here for Bob M's wiring diagrams to make sure everything is hooked up right, and then look for JohnT's troubleshooting sequence to try to isolate the problem.

It is still 6 volt. I'm clear accros two countys from him and can't get over there tell later in the week. To help check all that Will it hurt the battery to try and charge it backwards? that is what hooking it up backwards will try and do right.
Thanks for all the replys
Larry

larry dont try and charge the battery backwards. it will ruin the battery and possibly explode from the hydrogen gasses coming out. i just went thru something like this with my farmall h, 12v pos ground tractor with a genny. neighbor went to borrow it, battery was dead, he jumped it backwards, burned up quite a bit of the wiring harness, along with the genny and voltage regulator. thanks to janicholson here on the board, i got er all back together and charging.

IF it's all standard 6volt wiring, the tractor shouldn't be charging the battery backwards. If the battery is disconnected, the generator will lose its polarity and won't charge the batttery until it is repolarized after the battery is hooked back up, and will only polarize in the correct poplarity. To polarize, you need just a jumper or a short piece of insulated wire (so you don't accidentally ground something out!) with the ends stripped back just enough to give you contact. Withthe battery connected and the tractor off, all it takes is a momentary touch between the BAT and GEN terminals on your relay or regulator, which should give you a small harmless spark. That's all there is to it, and the generator, if everything is working, it will charge the battery with the correct polarity. This needs to be done after any time the genrator, the battery or the relay/regulator has been disconnected.

If the battery is flat and you're asking about whether your buddy should hook up a charger backwards because of the positive ground, the answer is NO!!! just as Glennster said. + to + and - to - between the charger and the battery.

Positive ground from the factory. Does it have a distributor with a coil on top? If it does, look at the wire connected to the terminal on the distributor, the other end of the wire goes onto the coil. If the wire is connected to the negative terminal on the coil, it is negative ground, if it is connected to the positive terminal on the coil, it is positive ground. If the tractor won't run with the battery hooked up correctly, replace the coil. If you have a magneto, you have a different problem. I think if it sat for a couple years, the needle n the carb may be sticking. Check the carb and make sure there is a good flow of fuel into the bowl.

Glen: There are 6 volt alternators. I have a Super A that has been 6 volt alternator 15 plus years. All you need do is change the internal voltage regulator on a GM Delco alternator.

Larry: These guys may have overlooked something. When I bought my 140, still 6 volt positive ground at that time. The previous owner had not been able to get it going in over a decade. What I found; battery was in backwards, and was also toast, regulator was toast and generator was toast. I have no idea what these folks may have done trying to get this tractor started over the years. I could not get it to start until I replaced the AMP gauge. When I bought it all other wiring except battery was correct. I have no idea what may have been tried during that decade, the previous owner told me he had a half dozen mechanics try unsuccessfully to make the 140 work. Right off that told me his mechanics were not exceptionally bright.

I also saw this happen once before on a 6 volt positive ground Farmall 300. Tractor was less than 2 years old, and the factory cigarette lighter was rusted enough it would stick. My grand father bumped the lighter with his knee while baling hay, and didn't notice. After a bit he noticed some smoke, and almost immediately the tractor stopped. We could see the lighter had been very hot. Dad did what he had been planning to do for sometime, disconnect the lighter. The 300 lighter was very close to the AMP gauge. We had to replace the AMP gauge before the tractor started.

I'm not saying this is your problem, however with factory wiring the AMP gauge has to work, don't overlook it.