[AT] 3020 generator -> alternator

[Ken Knierim]

whoa! this worked! I finally got a message from my favorite tractor group
again!

hope to hear more soon.

(been teaching myself and my son car restoration in the meantime. he's
turned into a serious gearhead and it sucked me in too..)

Ken in AZ

On Wed, Dec 25, 2024 at 8:53 PM Mogrits <mogrits at gmail.com> wrote:

> For some reason, after about 4 years this message showed up in my gmail.
> Not by my choice mind you. So I'm going to reply in hopes gmail will fix
> its problem between the antique tractor list and my account.
>
> Merry Christmas to All
>
> Warren
>
> On Mon, Dec 9, 2024 at 7:31 PM Stuart Harner <stuart at harnerfarm.net>
> wrote:
>
>> Good work Dean,
>>
>> That sounds like the best solution all the way around, except for the
>> cash outlay, which really didn't sound that out of line.
>>
>> Extra kudos for 1: knowing the local shop teacher. 2: He sounds like a
>> good instructor. 3: Your willingness to help in the education of the
>> students.
>>
>> This is the kind of thing we did when I was in high school more than 50
>> years ago. Glad to see it still going on in at least some places.
>>
>> You won't regret the alternator upgrade.
>>
>> Thanks for posting.
>>
>> Stuart
>> On 12/9/24 16:21, Dean Vinson wrote:
>>
>> Well, after several months of on-and-off tinkering with the charging
>> system on my recently-acquired JD 3020, with occasional brief periods of
>> apparent success followed by intervals of “Okay, now what?”, I decided to
>> replace the generator with an alternator.   For a while I’d been content
>> with just hooking up a battery tender trickle charger now and then, but the
>> typically short duty cycles of how I use the tractor (lots of startups and
>> brief trips, few periods of sustained use) made for a lot of charging.
>> And the red “GEN” light kept glaring disapprovingly at me.
>>
>>
>>
>> So the alternator route appealed to me for its high likelihood of success
>> as well as the higher-amp charging rate.   Cost ended up being fairly
>> significant, probably $250 between the alternator, a new mounting bracket,
>> wire, various heat-shrink terminals, and miscellaneous bolts and nuts.
>> And of course getting everything aligned just right took some fiddling and
>> a bit of head-scratching and foul language application.  But the finished
>> product looks pretty good and seems to work as it should:   GEN light comes
>> on when I turn the key but goes off when the engine starts, and a voltmeter
>> shows about 13.8V at the battery when the engine is at idle and about 14.7V
>> at higher RPMs.   I’ll be curious to see whether the battery keeps up now
>> or still needs the charger now and then.    While I had the cowling and
>> hood off I noticed the back of the 3020’s dashboard is already prepped with
>> space and mounting brackets for two additional gauges, so I could
>> theoretically add an ammeter and voltmeter if I feel the need to tinker
>> further.
>>
>>
>>
>> One particularly fun moment happened when I was trying to get the
>> mounting bracket sorted out.   It’s a heavy-duty thing from All States Ag
>> Parts, specifically for 3010-4020 tractors, but according to their website
>> the slots for the mounting bolts are “Bored for early models with 3/8"
>> bolts” and “Will work for late models with 7/16" bolts but will need to be
>> drilled out to fit.”   I needed them reamed out but quickly realized my
>> little hand-held drill and twist bits weren’t up to the task, so I went to
>> the local mom-and-pop hardware store to see what they had that might
>> help—and by chance had picked the exact moment when the high school shop
>> teacher was also in line at the cashier.   Turns out the shop class likes
>> to do little real-world projects now and then so the kids get the practical
>> experience, so he took the bracket and got the slots reamed out a little
>> for me in just a couple of days.    Small-town life for the win.  :)
>>
>>
>>
>> I also talked with him about another potential project, boring out and
>> installing a bushing in the clutch pedal of my Super M to tighten it up
>> where the pedal rotates around the shaft.  He thought that’d be a
>> particularly good one since the students are always interested in tractors
>> and trucks and such, and because it’d be a good exercise for them to look
>> at the tractor, talk with me about the problem, brainstorm solutions,
>> figure out materials and processes, etc.   One of his focus areas, in
>> addition to the shop curriculum, is helping students learn to interact
>> constructively face-to-face with customers—which he says is usually hard
>> for them, since they’re so used to everything being sent to them via text
>> or on their laptops or whatever.   I’ll get back in touch with him about
>> that early next spring.
>>
>>
>>
>> Meanwhile, the 3020 seems happy and I’m hoping this task is no-kidding
>> finished.
>>
>>
>>
>> Dean Vinson
>>
>> Saint Paris, Ohio
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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