Before I go too far, I want to make it clear I have not contacted YT yet with a complaint. Anytime in the past when I've had any problem with new parts from this place, they have been great. Just want to make it clear this is not a YT Tractor complaint. It is, however about this kit I just got from them.
I have never bought a 12 volt change-over kit before. I have done many 12 volt conversions and just used easily found parts or what I had on-hand. But - now adays - finding cheap suitable alternators at the local wrecking yard is near impossible. Things have gotten too modern.
So in sort of a weak-moment - since the price seemed very fair - I bought a kit here for a Ford NAA I am working on. For less then $100, kit comes with a brand-new Delco 10SI clone alternator from China, mounting brackets, wiring harness, and ballast resistor for the ignition coil. I just sort-of got done installing this kit. I pity the poor person who buys one of these kits and does not have skills (mechanical and electrical). The new wiring harness makes NO sense and much of it is useless. I ended up making my own harness. And the steel mounting brackets? Belt was all the way to the end of its adjustment and metal 10SI type fan on the alternator rubbed on the bracket. I at first thought my belt was longer then OEM. NOPE. Has a Ford OEM belt and it measures exactly what a new one does. So I had to weld some extra steel on the new bracket and heat it and bend it to make it fit. Now - I figured I was finally done and started it up. Amp meter showed good charge right away so I figured at LEAST the Chinese alternator was good. I then put a voltmeter on it and go basically no reading. I thought maybe my cheap HF meter went bad and I tried another, and then yet another. None could read any voltage. When I turned the engine off the battery read fine at around 12.9 to 13 volts. But as soon as I start the engine, no voltage reading plus my shop radio turns to pure static. NOTE - it is on an FM station and I have never had any alternator in my shop affect it in FM mode. So, this is where I am at. I am guessing that the DC power is so bad from this alternator it pulses somewhat like AC power and a cheap meter cannot get a reading off of it. I will note that I took a high-end $200 test meter and with that - I read 14.2 volts when the alternator is charging. I can take any of my cheap meters and get a steady DC reading on any other machine I have with a charging system. I don't recall ever having this happen before. Especially the way it knocks out a strong FM channel on the radio. I am assuming this alternator is what is technically known as a "piece of junk" with either bad rectifiers - and/or a crazy regulator (if that is possible).
Anybody ever experienced anything like this? I am going to call YT Tractor soon and tell them about this. If I don't, how will they know there are these kind of issues? I am truly amazed at just how bad this entire "kit" is.
I have never bought a 12 volt change-over kit before. I have done many 12 volt conversions and just used easily found parts or what I had on-hand. But - now adays - finding cheap suitable alternators at the local wrecking yard is near impossible. Things have gotten too modern.
So in sort of a weak-moment - since the price seemed very fair - I bought a kit here for a Ford NAA I am working on. For less then $100, kit comes with a brand-new Delco 10SI clone alternator from China, mounting brackets, wiring harness, and ballast resistor for the ignition coil. I just sort-of got done installing this kit. I pity the poor person who buys one of these kits and does not have skills (mechanical and electrical). The new wiring harness makes NO sense and much of it is useless. I ended up making my own harness. And the steel mounting brackets? Belt was all the way to the end of its adjustment and metal 10SI type fan on the alternator rubbed on the bracket. I at first thought my belt was longer then OEM. NOPE. Has a Ford OEM belt and it measures exactly what a new one does. So I had to weld some extra steel on the new bracket and heat it and bend it to make it fit. Now - I figured I was finally done and started it up. Amp meter showed good charge right away so I figured at LEAST the Chinese alternator was good. I then put a voltmeter on it and go basically no reading. I thought maybe my cheap HF meter went bad and I tried another, and then yet another. None could read any voltage. When I turned the engine off the battery read fine at around 12.9 to 13 volts. But as soon as I start the engine, no voltage reading plus my shop radio turns to pure static. NOTE - it is on an FM station and I have never had any alternator in my shop affect it in FM mode. So, this is where I am at. I am guessing that the DC power is so bad from this alternator it pulses somewhat like AC power and a cheap meter cannot get a reading off of it. I will note that I took a high-end $200 test meter and with that - I read 14.2 volts when the alternator is charging. I can take any of my cheap meters and get a steady DC reading on any other machine I have with a charging system. I don't recall ever having this happen before. Especially the way it knocks out a strong FM channel on the radio. I am assuming this alternator is what is technically known as a "piece of junk" with either bad rectifiers - and/or a crazy regulator (if that is possible).
Anybody ever experienced anything like this? I am going to call YT Tractor soon and tell them about this. If I don't, how will they know there are these kind of issues? I am truly amazed at just how bad this entire "kit" is.
