KCMasterpiece
New member
Hello everyone. I hope this is the right category for this post! I recently bought a 1968 Ford 3000 diesel tractor. The generator wasn't charging when I got it. After troubleshooting it and reading tips on here, I decided the voltage regulator was bad. Replacing it didn't fix it. So I took everything to a shop that has a test fixture for this old stuff and he said the generator was in rough shape. It would make some voltage but just wasn't putting out any amps.
So I got a new generator from him and he tested it in combination with my new regulator and said it works. I hooked everything up and the idiot light is still on. Here is what I've done and found so far:
Polarized the generator by momentarily connecting the field terminal (smaller of two) to the Batt terminal on regulator. There was a spark when I did this.
When the tractor is running at 1500 rpm the battery voltage is 12.9v. When I manually hold in the current regulator and cutout relay, the battery voltage goes down to 12.7v
When I jumper the armature tab and field tab on the generator put the red lead on the jumper and black lead on the negative terminal on the battery, I get positive voltage. This should mean the generator is polarized correctly.
It will make 20 volts easily.
The guy at the shop told me to make sure there is voltage on the WL wire. When I checked it I got that
The voltage on the WL wire is 11.5, BUT it reads as -11.5 on my ohmeter, I got that reading by using the red test lead attached to wire and black lead to negative terminal on the battery. This seems odd.
I know that the Field wire and the Armature wire are correctly attached. At the regulator, the batt terminal reads the same voltage as the battery. The ground is also good on the regulator. This is the last problem on this tractor and it's starting to really irritate me. Any help would be appreciated!
So I got a new generator from him and he tested it in combination with my new regulator and said it works. I hooked everything up and the idiot light is still on. Here is what I've done and found so far:
Polarized the generator by momentarily connecting the field terminal (smaller of two) to the Batt terminal on regulator. There was a spark when I did this.
When the tractor is running at 1500 rpm the battery voltage is 12.9v. When I manually hold in the current regulator and cutout relay, the battery voltage goes down to 12.7v
When I jumper the armature tab and field tab on the generator put the red lead on the jumper and black lead on the negative terminal on the battery, I get positive voltage. This should mean the generator is polarized correctly.
It will make 20 volts easily.
The guy at the shop told me to make sure there is voltage on the WL wire. When I checked it I got that
The voltage on the WL wire is 11.5, BUT it reads as -11.5 on my ohmeter, I got that reading by using the red test lead attached to wire and black lead to negative terminal on the battery. This seems odd.
I know that the Field wire and the Armature wire are correctly attached. At the regulator, the batt terminal reads the same voltage as the battery. The ground is also good on the regulator. This is the last problem on this tractor and it's starting to really irritate me. Any help would be appreciated!
