[AT] tractor electrical question

[Ken Knierim]

John,
    Sorry I didn't get on it sooner.  I learned about that wiring issue
from my Dad 40 years ago and actually had to teach my son about that
ignition wiring as we're building him a '65 Rustang.
OK, I'm learning body work and trying to make it into a Mustang. (Youtube
Fitzee's Fabrications and get yourself a cold drink)

Glad you got it figured out.

Ken in AZ

On Fri, Aug 27, 2021 at 8:27 PM John Hall <jtchall at nc.rr.com> wrote:

> Ken, you summed this situation up perfectly, right down to the pink
> resistor wire. Everything I researched in 2 days you put into 2
> paragraphs, right down to what the wire is made of!
>
> John Hall
>
>
> On 8/27/2021 9:21 PM, Ken Knierim wrote:
> > On the 1960's Ford vehicles (and others, I'm sure) they had a wire in
> > the harness that was specifically resistive which seems to match some
> > of the descriptions given. If wire has 12V on one end and 6V on the
> > other end going into the coil, it's like having the resistor inline.
> > The vehicles had a wire from the solenoid to the coil that would
> > bypass the resistive element in the harness by going straight to the
> > battery for starting purposes, giving full battery voltage (albeit
> > drawn down by the starter) to make the spark hotter (since the battery
> > voltage would drop severely during cranking it made starting hard).
> > The coils were set up to run on 6-8 volts to make this work. If this
> > is the same in your tractor application it could be part of what
> > you're seeing. These wires are generally nichrome wire and have a few
> > ohms to them (should be enough to measure on a DVM if disconnected
> > from the rest of the circuit; it should be similar to a resistor
> > inline as it does the same function). Nichrome wire is pretty
> > resilient to aging but connecting to it (with perhaps a crimp
> > connector or something like that) could be a problem over time.
> >    Since you're able to get the thing to work correctly with a jumper
> > from the battery it seems there is resistance somewhere. I think you
> > mentioned having 12V at the switch but 6V at the coil when sitting
> > still and the points closed. That sounds like a resistive wire in the
> > harness. My thinking would be to run a new wire from the switch,
> > through a regular ballast resistor and to the coil to bypass the
> > potentially bad resistive wire in the harness (it may be heating up
> > and the connections giving you fits).
> >
> > Just my $0.02 but those pink Ford wires hosed a lot of folks over the
> > years.... :)
> >
> > Ken in AZ
> >
>
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