8N 12v battery shorted out electrical system - Hel

It was the negative battery lead. Actually the wire was fine but it made some nice weld-marks on the connecting ends. Cleaned them up and started right up. (duh!)

Thanks all for your quick replies.

If you are measuring 12V+ on all the electrical components while the other meter lead is on the battery Negative terminal, then I'd say that your Battery Ground cable is burned open, which is a distinct possibility if your battery fliped over and the Positive (ungrounded) post hit the metal frame of the tractor (I'm assuming you have, or had, the negative battery post connected to the tractor frame for ground before this happened). I'd say fix the ground cable. Shorting the battery at its terminals shouldn't affect anything else - although I don't know exactly what might happen to an alternator which is charging, but is suddenly shorted to ground. I wouldn't expect anything else to be affected at all.
My humble opinion...

Good luck...this board has been a TON of help to me and i'm sure these old boys will get you up and running in no time!

All-righty, you claim you can read 12-volts everywhere, so right now were gonna assume your "arc-welding" battery didn't fry yer wiring harness. Most likely suspect is loose battery clamps. Even loose battery clamps will pass enuff volts to run a voltmeter (its a technical thing) but won't power yer solenoid nor starter motor.

REMEMBER the battery MANTRA: "keep'em clean, brite'n'tite".

You may have let the smoke outta yer 12-volt alternator with solid state guttz but we won't know until you gitt'chur tractor engine runnin'. Unless yer paranoid, then take yer alternator into any autoparts store for a "free" check-out, right now. (but I wouldn't 'cuz tractors can run a long time on just a battery)

Also check for any loose wiring connections, wiggle them wires where they are screwed to sumptin'.

After all the simple checks, get back to us with the "gory details" what worked or didn't work and you'll gitt more better educated guesses..... ...Dell, yer self-appointed sparkie-meister

When you flick on the ignition, before cranking, you should see 3 amps or so current flow.

Say on, oh ammeter!

I don't know what to tell you. On the one hand, I think it much easier to diagnose a case like yours with a good working ammeter in the dash board. And anyway, it's a good idea to have a working ammeter so you can monitor the functioning of the voltage regulator/generator.

On the other hand, it is generally a good idea to focus on one thing at a time.

Your call.