1940 GT electrical questions

I've been working on getting my 1940 GT ready to fire up, and am getting fairly close. I got fairly lucky on my tires, we broke them down today and the tire guy says both are good enough to remount after I clean up the rims a bit. Not good enough to pull with, but with 15-32's, anything that will hold air is a plus, I'm thinking. Just a few other little things, and should be good to go.

Now, to the questions. In the manual it mentions stopping the engine by pulling the magneto ground switch. The whole wiring system on this tractor is shot, so I have to start from scratch, and the manuals aren't much help here. I see a post on the magneto for a wire, does that wire go to a switch on the dash, with the other side of the switch grounding to the tractor frame?

Also, is this tractor like most older Minnie's in that it's a positive ground? And, last electrical question, I would assume there should be a voltage regulator on the generator, does anybody have a part number for it? The generator is present, but no voltage regulator.

While I'm at it with the questions, one thing I find odd with this tractor is that the rear wheels seem to be locked together. No differential action. It rolls forward and backward fairly well and without any funny noises, but I can't get the wheels to turn independently of each other. Should I dig deeper into this before I go much further?

I feel like these are kind of dumb questions, but this tractor is the oldest and rarest I've worked on, and really don't want to mess anything up.

GT had no electrics. All options. . . I have one with cable starter. Mag is grounded by a knife switch on steering column like
other MM's of the time frame. Some had no ringear. Basic was oil pressure on tranny. Battery was stuck wherever. Odd one came with
generator as option. Was a couple in Red Deer area few years ago. My 3 came from Drumheller area.

You're lucky you've got the generator, those gear drive generators are about impossible to find, my 39 is missing the generator an I've been looking for one for 20 years. I'm guessing that the regulator should just be the small cutout like everything else of that vintage. Do you have the factory dash with the battery box together behind the fuel tank? Your differential might just be 80 year old 140 gear oil, I'd get running and see how it drives before I worried about, best of luck and yes, positive ground.

This one is pretty well loaded in the electrical department, as it has lights, starter, and generator. No PTO though.

This one lived quite a large chunk, and possibly all, of its life in the Whitecourt area. Been sitting in a shed for in the vicinity of 30 years, from what we could determine.

I'll keep my eyes open when we get to digging through some of the back sheds on the place this tractor came from. There is a 1939 parts GT that was part of the same deal that I have to pick up at a later date. The previous owner figures most of the engine parts from that tractor are in one the back sheds on the place. Never know, may be a generator in there.

The 1940 does have the factory dash with the battery box between it and the fuel tank, just like you described. Only piece missing is the lid, but that should be easy enough to build. The oil felt like 140 when I drained it, but wasn't aged to the point of being tarry. The more I dig into this tractor, the more I get the feeling it was worked hard, but well maintained. I'm going to fill the rear end with diesel when I fire it up, and try to flush the last of the old oil out. See what happens, I guess.

Serial number? Had a line on generator and couple oF GT's through fellow collector Was a guy west of EDmonton buying them up but
was years ago.

1940 GTS is number 160874
1939 GT for parts is number 160408

My GTS is 808 on 32 inch rubber. My parts one has no tag. Also have 42 GTA on full steel. A fellow from Stony Plain bought up some
GTa here.

I wonder how many came out on full steel, never seen one in person, only pictures. Truth be told, GT's and GTA's seem to be rather elusive nowadays, I have yet to see one at any of the shows in Central Alberta. There's a GTA up for auction on August 7 near Mundare, east of Edmonton. That's the first one I've seen come up for sale here in Alberta.

That being said, my experience is somewhat limited, being only 30.

We have GTS # 766 that came out of Ontario. It has full factory electrics and original hand crank. We have a battery box lid if you need some dimensions.

(quoted from post at 15:41:55 07/30/19) We have GTS # 766 that came out of Ontario. It has full factory electrics and original hand crank. We have a battery box lid if you need some dimensions.

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Awesome, when I get to that point, I'll take you up on that! So on yours, does the mag ground wire run up to a switch in the dash? I have 3 switches on my dash, so I'm wondering if one is for the mag, and maybe 2 for lights?

Cant help you with the electrical questions, but are you coming down to the mundare auction? be in my neck of the woods....

There is several variations of dashes. Sames as U. There was no wiring diagrams for either. Have several 38-41. Nothing is
common. Saw 1 real early 1938 GT on steel. Have original electrical add on kit for a ZTS. Has round style dash like my 42 GTA.

To a certain degree, I'll just have to wing it. Not a big deal, I've rebuilt the wiring on a couple of my other old ones. I'll take some more pictures when I get it running.

Tom, I'm definitely thinking about it. It's not really that far a drive, and I wouldn't mind taking a bunch of pictures of that GTA. Should I bring my trailer to help you haul tractors back to your place? Lol

GTA at sale has the rare pto option. If someone going. I could use some closeup of pto setup from back. Looks like it has a
hydraulic pump mounted on pto same as mine. Pto originated with the 17-28 then 21-32 and FTA,GT GTA. GT is just a FTA with
different tin. GTA has different motor,hood,front axle than GT.

The center toggle on ours was meant for a mag kill switch. There are what appear to be 2 light switches, one on either side of the mag kill switch but I'd need to look closer to verify if that is the case or something different. Below that line of switches is the starter button on the bottom left and choke cable on bottom right.

Gt's have a cable pull on starter like on a choke cable

Lyndon, u gonna have it at the pulls in sangudo??

Not our 1940.

Really odd what used. One original GT flywheel I have doesn't even have ring gear.

George, I won't be pulling with it this year, first going to work all the bugs out of it. I won't be in Sangudo anyway, its the same weekend as Strathcona's pull, and I try my best to make that one every year. I've known some of the crew there for a long time, great bunch.

I have been thinking to show up there also. like to see if its any better now. Leduc was kind of a gong show with some tractors newer than 1960 and were not built in 1959 either. yet the flagman squacking about 1/4 " over height on hitches and cant use your own pin and clevis or shackle. but let some tractors pull without a drawbar pulling on the horseshoe. not too impressed at that track.

Yeah, I've watched at Leduc a few times, but feel no real inclination to pull there. Strathcona's pull is still a competition pull, but is still about having fun. Plus, they allow 20 inch drawbar height.