[AT] 3020 generator -> alternator

[Dean Vinson]

Hello Ken, glad that worked.   Weird that gmail hasn’t been cooperating.   I’m not at all a tech guy but it wouldn’t surprise me if there’s some feature intended to make things easier or faster for the user but which in fact just complicates the process and results in unexpected hassles.  

 

Gmail issues aside, the ATIS list doesn’t get much traffic anymore—pretty common to go for weeks or perhaps months and not see anything.   I’m always glad to see there’s still some other folks signed up.

 

Dean Vinson

Saint Paris, Ohio

 

 

From: AT <at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com> On Behalf Of Ken Knierim
Sent: Thursday, December 26, 2024 8:40 AM
To: Antique Tractor Email Discussion Group <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Subject: Re: [AT] 3020 generator -> alternator

 

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 <mailto: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 <mailto: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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