[Ford-ferguson] Ford 9N Tractor

Al Walker alwalker at gvtel.com
Tue May 9 19:59:57 PDT 2006


Hi Mike,
Oh, how wise you are !!!  You raised some questions that I couldn't 
answer without a trip to the shed.  So I just took the flashlight out to 
the shed for another look.  I was expecting to find a Delco-Remy tag on 
that generator, but no. There is no tag at all.  In fact, the more I 
looked at it, the more I realized that it was shorter in length than a 
12v generator. And larger in diameter.  And the end plate is part of the 
mounting hardware.  I think you hit the nail squarely on the head.  It's 
likely the original.  I do need to pull that generator and the regulator 
and take them in to be tested and checked over.  In this case, 
"converted to 12v" might be similar to "it ran when parked". For a year 
and a half, I thought the 12v battery was old and weak and just not 
holding a charge well. I thought that I wasn't running it very much thus 
the battery just wasn't getting enough charge time. I'd throw the 
charger on it when it wouldn't go, and it would be fine again for a 
while.  I put a new 12v battery in it and shortly thereafter, it burned 
a wire off at the regulator.  The regulator may or may not have gone 
with it.  There are no lights on it yet so I will just have to determine 
the voltage to go with.  I am inclined to keep it 6 volt.  My Ford 860 
is 6 volt and started all winter for snow removal duty. Without being 
plugged in. Although that is an option I have installed on that unit, in 
case it gets to 30 below for an extended period of time.  I've found 
that if I keep the terminals on both ends of the cables clean, and use 
appropriately sized cables, I don't seem to have any major problems. I 
think I may have made at least one assumption too many on this 9N. 
Thanks for re-directing my thinking.

Al in NW MN

Mike Sloane wrote:

> It was very common for the engine on a 9N/2N to be swapped out for a 
> rebuilt 8N engine when the old engine died (frequently because of a 
> bad oil pump or just plain worn out). The fact that you still have a 
> front mounted distributor means that it was a very early 8N engine, 
> which is is interesting but not important.
>
> In theory, it is possible to modify a 6 volt regulator to put out the 
> 13.6 volts needed to properly charge a 12 volt battery, but it is 
> rarely done, except in an emergency. At this point, with the odd 
> assortment of pieces you have, you need to decide whether you want to 
> return to original 6 volts or stay with 12 volts. (Of course you also 
> have to consider the lights too.) Unless you are really savvy with 
> this kind of thing, my inclination is to take the generator and 
> regulator to a local auto electric shop and have them look it all 
> over. Since Ford didn't supply a 12 generator for the 8N, someone 
> either modified the original or just found a later 12 volt generator 
> that fit (or could be made to fit somehow). A common solution to 
> electrical problems back in the '50s and '60s was to just abandon the 
> generator/regulator and throw in a 12 volt battery and charge it up 
> between uses. So it is entirely possible that your generator is still 
> the original one, and all you need is a new regulator and 6 volt 
> battery. There are lots of "unknowns" here that need to be investigated.
>
> Mike

<snip>



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