Change To 12-Volts Keeps Old Tractor Running

Change To 12-Volts Keeps Old Tractor Running TRACTORS Antiques 27-2-39 Neil Ohler's Ford Jubilee (9 NNA) tractor is 50 years old this year and still going strong. But Ohler nearly had to retire it for lack of a regulator. "The regulator on the original 6-volt generator went bad and I couldn't find a new one," he says. Then it came to him that he could convert the tractor to a 12-volt electrical system. "I simply removed the tractor's generator and replaced it with an old Delco 12-volt auto generator from a salvage yard," he says. The 12-volt generator was no problem to mount on the tractor. He replaced the 6-volt battery with a new 12-volt one the same size and put on a new 12-volt regulator. Once he had the generator and battery in place, all he had to do was install a 12-volt condenser in the distributor. "Since 6-volt wiring is heavier than 12-volt, I didn't need to make any changes to the wiring or the starter," he says. "I would have had to replace the light bulbs, except the lights on it quit working a long time ago," he notes. "Alternators are easier to find these days than generators so that would probably be a better way to go," he notes. "And while replacing the generator was fairly simple, hooking in a single-wire alternator with a built-in regulator would have been even easier. The problem I had was the alternators I found didn't fit the mountings on the tractor. I was able to find a generator that did, so it saved me from having to make a new mounting bracket." Before he switched over to 12 volts, the tractor's old starter was a little slow, especially on cold days. "It starts better with 12-volts," he says. "Now, you just hit the switch and it's going." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Neil Ohler, Box 127, Stavely, Alberta, Canada T0L 1Z0 (ph 403 549-2480; E-mail: nohler@ telus.net).

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