I don't want to be taken wrong either. I have many old tractors and crawlers with their original 6 volt systems. With any so-called "advance" in technology, there is a "loss" to go along with it. I like old tractors and don't need them all to act like newer ones.
My point is . . . there are many gains to be had with 12 volt systems and 12 volt ignition systems - on tractors of any era or age.
Whether somebody needs or wants those gains, is a totally different issue. My point was, and is - just as I've stated. Modern 12 volt equipment can be easily, reliably, and cheaply retrofitted to older tractors and cars. Just because a few jerks cannot do it correctly, doen't mean others can't.
Even just 30 years ago, there were two starter and generator shops in my area, on carburetor shop, a crankshaft shop, and a magneto shop. The mag shop also reubuilt poured babbit rods, rebuild pistons, etc. If you had an older 6 volt system, generator, magneto, starter, etc. you get what ever you wanted, locally. Not any more. At present, quality parts for the old stuff are very expensive - as compared to what you get with modern equipment.
It's easy to find a good working Delco 10SI or 12SI alternator for $25 or less. How easy can you find a 1940s-1950s generator and regulator - when you need it - for $25? I can buy a new Delco internal regulator for $12 and it's apt to last forever if not abused. Show me a mechanical regulator for $12 that's worth even installing. It's difficult to find one worth using even at three times that price.
Tractors with 6 volt systems, working exactly as designed, do not crank near as well as most 12 volt systems in extreme cold. Tractors with 6 or 12 volt generators don't charge near as well as any tractor with an rectified-alternator. If you want a machine that starts reliably in extreme cold, and can run several bright lights at moderate to low engine speeds, using a 12 system with an alternator offers a huge advantage.
At present, I have two original 6 volt machines that I use once in awhile in extreme cold. A Case VAC for moving large round hay bales, and an Oliver HG bulldozer for clearing snow paths in my fields. When it's zero F out or colder, it's a total crap shoot if either will start and both crank around 100 RPM. That is the way they were designed new. But, I usually unhook the 6 volt charging system and stick 12 volt batteries in them for winter starting. They then start great. I keep them charged with a battery mainainter. When winter is over, I stick the 6 volt batteries back in and hook up the charging systems again. I've been doing that for 30 years. It would make more sense to just convert them to 12 volt and alternators, but I like them as they are and get by fine.
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Today's Featured Article - A Lifetime of David Brown - by Samuel Kennedy. I was born in 1950 and reared on my family’s 100 acre farm. It was a fairly typical Northern Ireland farm where the main enterprise was dairying but some pigs, poultry and sheep were also kept. Potatoes were grown for sale and oats were grown to be used for cattle and horse feeding. Up to about 1958 the dairy cows were fed hay with some turnips and after that grass silage was the main winter feed. That same year was the last in which flax was grown on the farm. Flax provided the fibre which w
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