[AT] Make repairs or payments

[Spencer Yost]

Sounds like you will be ready for May hay!

I hear you on the electrical gremlins.  I had to recrimp/sand/redo 4-5 connections on the John Deere to keep the voltage drop to the coil acceptable.  I'm still not happy with the generator on the John Deere. It keeps the battery up, but only charges at about 6 1/2 V.   Should be close to 7V.  Since it keeps the battery up, I have moved it to last priority. But I am going to have to tackle that one.

My job after the county was to program network routers. These were special purpose routers that were used to communicate to ground sensors. The ground sensors had  cables  that were buried in the dirt.   No conduit, or nothing. They had to be "tight and right" as the installers used to say.   Wire entry into the connector had to be formed on site, and the connection between male and female had 3 O-rings and a special type of ATV sealant/caulk that didn't completely harden, and they were taped up with a special tape. In the whole time I worked there none of them never went bad. I often thought of using those specialized connectors and cables on tractors I have to rely on.   Then again I remember buying a batch of connectors for an installation, and I think there were $49 a piece back then :-)

Spencer Yost

> On Jan 28, 2018, at 4:50 PM, John Hall <jtchall at nc.rr.com> wrote:
> 
> I've heard it said before, you are either going to make repairs, or make 
> payments. Applies to anything I suppose, houses, cars, and especially 
> OLD TRACTORS.
> 
> We've got two Farmall Super A's. Both run 15-20 hrs a year. One is on 
> dedicated sickle mower duty (cutting hay), the other spends most of its 
> time hooked to a PTO drive Allis hay rake. The rake tractor has been 
> getting hard to start, so decided it needed a going over this winter. I 
> pulled it in the shop for presumably a new battery and cleaning up some 
> connections--starter would barely turn over. Well the battery is 9 years 
> old and even though it load tested just weak enough to be classed weak, 
> I didn't want to fool around with it so I bought a new one. Before I put 
> in the new battery, I decided to test some voltage readings. I had just 
> over 6 volts on the old battery, 6 at the starter, and 6 at the coil. 
> The moment I engaged the starter, voltage to the coil fell to just over 
> 3 volts. We happened to have a newly rebuilt starter on hand (its been 
> here for a few years actually) so I put it on. I think the old one is 
> drawing too much current. I actually ran a temporary hot wire straight 
> to the coil and it only dropped voltage to around 5.5 when starter was 
> engaged. While I was at it, the hot wire from the starter to the 
> ammeter, and the wire from switch to coil both had bad insulation. The 
> wire to coil actually snapped in half when bent. So I made new wires 
> there, and from the amp to regulator and back and replaced one wire from 
> generator to regulator and wire from coil to distributor. Basically I 
> left one wire from the generator to the back of regulator and the light 
> wires. While I was at it I decided to check the plug wires---good grief 
> the coil wire was practically gone. The end that went in the coil was 
> broke in half and corroded worse than a battery cable. The spark plug 
> wires looked like they had been arcing in the cap. Going to use a plug 
> wire kit and make new wires--I'll take the time to solder the ends on. 
> Going to put in a new cap and rotary button. The points and condenser 
> are less than a year old, I'll leave them. Probably put in new plugs. 
> Hopefully with an oil change this one will be ready to go. I'll check 
> rear end grease levels as well and air up the tires.
> 
> Get this one done and there are only 4 more to go!
> 
> John Hall
> 
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