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Maintaining a 6 volt starting system so it works.
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Posted by Gerald J. on August 09, 1999 at 20:54:18 from (208.142.211.200):
First you use large size battery cables, not #6 Toyota 12 volt cables, but real copper cables, #2 minimum. #1 is better. Don't use universal clamp-on battery ends, they don't make a good enough connection to the wire. Then you clean the battery posts with a battery post brush until they shine the color of freshly cut lead; and clean the insides of the battery post connectors with the other end of the brush until they shine. A brush is better than a reamer. You keep the connection good by coating the connector with grease after getting it tight. You need to clean corrosion from starter solenoid cable connections and then make sure they are tight. Same for the battery ground cable. Starter solenoid contacts get roughened and burned with age and sometimes need to be replaced. Same goes for foot operated switches. Batteries need to be charged to 7.1 volts, not 6.5 and not 8. 6.5 doesn't get a full charge, 8 boils away the electrolyte and damages the plates when they are exposed to air. Always refill a battery with distilled water, not tap or well water unless you like to buy batteries. Starters wear their bearings and brushes. When the bearings let the armatures get far enough off center (and the magnetic pull of operation pulls the armature off center if the bearing will allow the motion) to drag on the pole pieces the starter doesn't turn fast. A millionth more bearing wear and it stops. A starter uses brushes in paralleled pairs for greater current handling and each brush often has two flexible leads. When the brushes wear down so there's little pressure on the commutator there's a lot of resistance in the circuit. When the flex leads break there's more resistance in the circuit. With more resistance, there's less current and less torque because of the reduced current. When the ground up brush material shunts the armature, there's less torque produced. I had an 8N that didn't start well. When I did all these things (and the auto electric shop didn't think it needed bearings, but put them in when I insisted) it started fine summer or Iowa winter sitting outside. When my MF-135 starter wore out the brushes it didn't crank in hot weather either (even though it was 12 volts). My first two cars and my first tractor were 6 volt and stayed that way their entire time I had them. The VW beetle was still 6 volts 8 years after I sold it when it had 155,000 miles on it. We (my dad and I) ran dynamotor powered ham radio equipment in that 6 volt Ford with no problems except that starting the transmitter dynamotor pegged the 100 amp ammeter for 5 seconds each time it was started. I estimated the starting current was 300 amps. We did have a LARGE generator and a large (#1A) battery to accommodate that load. So much extra weight we had to add blocks to the front coil springs to hold the front end up... I don't know how long it ran after I sold it with 111,00 miles on it. My dad bought it new. One other thing that makes an older gas engine crank hard is a sticky centrifugal advance in the distributor. My JD 4020 is showing that. My dad had a Ford Torino with that problem, when the distributor fired before top dead center because the distributor stuck advanced, it practically stalled the starter. Gerald J.
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