2N 12v/6v questions

Gantt · Jan 11, 2020

My 2N has a 12v battery, oem style generator and a starter that works for 6 or 12v. I bought it a few weeks ago and started off by tearing it down for paint and repairs. I noticed today it is a positive ground.
Previous owner said he swapped to a 12v battery to help starting.

How do I see if he swapped to 12v the correct way? He did say the lights blew since they was 6v bulbs.
Should I swap back to 6v battery?
I wanted to swap to 12v with a kit later after o get it painted.
Should I just not worry about it since I want to go with a 12v alternator kit later this year? Tractor runs fine. Haven t checked the generator output, I borrowed the tractor last fall to turn my garden over, the guy is honest but may not be 100% on mechanical abilities. I don t want to ask him since I may not get a completely accurate answer. And I also don t want to take a chance of offending him.

Rusty2N · Jan 11, 2020

My thoughts: you are going to have it down anyway so if you can afford it this is the time. I went 12 volt 15 years ago and
have not regretted it once! Should be able to put together a kit and harness for a couple hundred bucks. There are really
good wireing diagrams on the net. 12v assories are cheaper and more common..

R Geiger · Jan 11, 2020

(quoted from post at 21:34:34 01/11/20) My thoughts: you are going to have it down anyway so if you can afford it this is the time. I went 12 volt 15 years ago and
have not regretted it once! Should be able to put together a kit and harness for a couple hundred bucks. There are really
good wireing diagrams on the net. 12v assories are cheaper and more common..

Couple hundred? a bit over 100 for a complete kit here at yt!

Gantt · Jan 12, 2020

A kit is $105 here. I guess I should just swap it over now. I do have a budget but as long as I have her running to run my garden my the first week of April I ll be fine.
I had some play money saved up, between buying the tractor and the parts I ve bought already I am in it somewhere around $2350.
I think I only need about $250 in parts and I ll have it where I want it. I ll add light bulbs later and little odds and ends.

doublebass73 · Jan 12, 2020

Since Bubba already put a 12V battery in it and you want to switch to an alternator anyway then it makes sense to do the conversion now.

Jim L WA · Jan 12, 2020

Before doing anything you need to check out that generator. I can't for the life of me, to think someone would put a 12 volt battery in and expect it to stay charged with the OEM 6 volt 3 brush generator. I can see from the photos on you later post that the cut out relay is still there, but can't tell if it is wired in or not. I know that there are 12 volt alternators made in the form of a generator to keep an original look for the old car/truck crowd. But if this guy went to that expense, I'm sure he would have changed the light bulbs too.

Gantt · Jan 12, 2020

He said the generator was still seemed to be charging the battery

I don t think he did any conversions. Just the 12v battery. I ve got a conversion kit on my list of parts to buy.

Leroy · Jan 13, 2020

No reason in this wourld to want to go to 12 volt on any N series tractor Unless you are planning on having a new radio on it. The 6 volt is plenty good and starts easy. If starting problems make sure it has the correct manifold on it and not an aftermarket one. That will make hard starting. Running problems the 6 volt to 4.8 volt reduser. Normally a 8 volt was put in to over come the hard starting problems that reducer made and took no change to generator. And bulbs are rated for 6-8 volt or 12 volt. He probably did not know what a 8 volt battery was.

Gantt · Jan 13, 2020

for the price of a conversion kit, i cant beat it. not to mention the generator is surely damaged from 12v battery.
i like to keep things close to original, but i dont mind making what i consider improvements along the way.

Leroy · Jan 13, 2020

If the generator is bad it is from before the 12 volt battery. And I don't consider an alternator an improvement. Had more alternator problems than I ever had generator problems. That generator is even if not working is worth money.

doublebass73 · Jan 13, 2020

(quoted from post at 08:45:18 01/13/20)
for the price of a conversion kit, i cant beat it. not to mention the generator is surely damaged from 12v battery.
i like to keep things close to original, but i dont mind making what i consider improvements along the way.

Actually the conversion kit isn't necessarily the cheapest option. If that generator is still good you could probably find a 6V battery cheaper than what the conversion kit costs. Here's one for example:
https://www.batteriesplus.com/product-details/truck;-hd-equip/battery/duracell-ultra/sli1

Naturally that depends on whether the generator is still good. If it's good, it's cheaper and easier to keep it 6V. If it's bad it's cheaper to go with the conversion kit because you already have the 12V battery. It's still more work though.

Gantt · Jan 13, 2020

I ll price a battery. I know a fellow that has a family run battery supply company and I always get the wholesale prices.

The generator is missing a bracket. There was a wooden wedge between the manifold and generator holding the belt tight.

doublebass73 · Jan 14, 2020

(quoted from post at 16:02:01 01/13/20)
I ll price a battery. I know a fellow that has a family run battery supply company and I always get the wholesale prices.

The generator is missing a bracket. There was a wooden wedge between the manifold and generator holding the belt tight.

The bracket is nice to have but you can probably get away without it. My '39 never had the bracket, they didn't add it until later on. I usually wedge a piece of wood in just to get it tight but then I pull the wood back out. It does loosen over time, I usually have to tighten it a couple times a year.

Gantt · Jan 14, 2020

well that is odd. i figured mine was missing a piece. i'm going with a 12v conversion. i am not interested in period correct, and if i ever need to jump it off i will be in a jam. and i could always use it to jump another vehicle if needed if it was 12v. a battery is 80 bucks, i can get a 12v conversion for less than $30 more than a 6v battery.

doublebass73 · Jan 14, 2020

(quoted from post at 12:54:13 01/14/20)
well that is odd. i figured mine was missing a piece. i'm going with a 12v conversion. i am not interested in period correct, and if i ever need to jump it off i will be in a jam. and i could always use it to jump another vehicle if needed if it was 12v. a battery is 80 bucks, i can get a 12v conversion for less than $30 more than a 6v battery.

Yours is most likely missing the tensioning bracket, I think all 2Ns had those.

You can still jump it off a 12V battery even with the 6V battery in it, you just jump it straight to the starter.

For $30 bucks you could go either way, that was kind of why I originally suggested going with the conversion since you already had a newer 12V battery. Plus the cost of a tensioning bracket would probably make it a wash. I'd recommend changing the battery cables while you're in there too.

2N 12v/6v questions

Gantt

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doublebass73

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Jim L WA

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