|
Robert..... ..this is a FAQ, you might want to check the "archives" All N-tractors were designed for 6 volt postitive ground. There are several real reasons for this including: electron flow therory; battery terminal corrosion reduction; longer sparkplug life which is somewhat "moot" with todays modern sparkplug material and design; Henry Ford's friendship with Tommas Edison; Ford Lawyers getting around GM patents which used negative ground. Ignition coil polarity and battery polarity should "match", mis-matched polarity can loose about 25% to 33% available sparkplug voltage. Front mount ignition coils are designed for positive ground and no way to change polarity and are generally considered to be just addiquate at best, a 25% loss of sparkies could be a marginally running tractor. Side mount ignition coils generally have molded polarity indicators so that plus on the coil goes to ground thru the points, if it is a positive ground battery. You can change polarity by reversing the wiring to the coil terminals. But you got to know what and why you are doing it. Unfortunately, with all modern cars using 12 volt negative ground systems, there are un-informed shade tree mechanics that think "all" electrical systems should be negative ground and therefore change your N-tractor from positive to negative ground to meet modern automotive convention. Now then, to further muddy the electrons, if your N-tractor has been converted from 6 volts to 12 volts, your 12 volt alternator requires a negative ground, its the solid state diodes and voltage regulator built into the alternator. Fortunately, your starter doesn't care positive or negative ground. As to having to "reverse" the wire direction going thru the "sense" loop on the back of the amp meter to make it show a charge. You did exactly what you have to do do. To understand why goes into electromagnitic theory, for which I am un-prepaired to expound upon. If you 8N is truely a 6 volt machine and you wish to be "electrically correct", you can change to positive ground and you MUST "re-polarize" your 6 volt generator/regulator before you start it. I am not going to tell you how to polarize your generator/regulator, I want you to "look it up" because that is what I would have to do to (I can never remember). If you feel unconfortable doing this, then you might have to "hire" a real mechanic. (grin) Bottom line: you have to determine if you tractor is a 12 volt alternator conversion, or is a "mis-grounded" 6 volter. Then determine if it is "broke", if it is not broke, don't fix it. Hope this helps..... .Dell
| 
