My Boy Let The Smoke Out......

Howdy All.

My boy has my old '41 9N, 6v, Pos ground. To quote an old sage, everything is clean, bright and tight. He had one of those "smart" (stupid) chargers on it which trickle charged at 6v, attempted to start it with charger still on it and let some unknown smoke out. Now he's got no spark. says he's hot in and out of the ignition switch and distribution block, but not sure what else to check. I'm 2hrs away, plus with the corona viris I'm not enthused to make a trip to the big city.

Any ideas what he should check first? He's got my FO-4.

I would check and clean the breaker points

I mentioned to him to check for hot at the top of the front mount coil, nothing. Unfortunately I'm not there to smack (ie. advise) him....

Is that liquid smoke?(-: I once tried to fix my Studebaker with some from my wife's spice cupboard, didn't do a darn thing.

First thing I'd do is throw away that trickle charger and get a float-style charger like the DELTRAN Battery Jr. A trickle charger will not shut off automatically and you end up with an overcharged battery. Yank battery and take to a trusty starter shop to get tested for specific gravity - must sustain a full charge under load to be effective. While he’s testing battery, use your VOM set to continuity, not a test light. If you have an exact-as-original wiring harness, color coded wires should be the same as in the diagrams, otherwise do not rely on wire colors. Also, don’t assume just because you have a 6V battery it is wired correctly for the OEM POS GRN setup. All 9N & 2N tractors after s/n 12500 were the same basic setup, with just the generator changing a few times. Model year is irrelevant at this point. The 9N-10000-C generator up thru all 2N production used the 11-AMP; 1-Wire/3-Brush generator with the round-can cutout circuit. Generator must have a belt tensioning device – do not rely on the single mounting/pivot bolt. The 9N/2N starter motor is a 1-Wire unit and uses NO SOLENOID. So, by “distribution block” do you mean the OEM Ballast Resistor? Testing a switch isn’t going to prove anything. You may have burnt up the battery, the coil, the points, or all of the above. Get your ESSENTIAL MANUALS out, verify the wiring is all correct BEFORE you connect a good brand battery. If you have lights remove them from the circuit until the root cause problem is determined. Once wiring is verified to be correct, you can connect power but do not activate ignition switch. Set VOM to VDC. Place one probe on the left terminal of Ballast Resistor viewing from behind dash. Place the 2nd probe anywhere on metal ground. Turn key ‘ON’ but DO NOT activate engine. Reading should be battery voltage with points open, half that with points closed. The Resistor terminal is the coil wire. You are testing to see if you are getting power to the resistor. Now repeat method only place 2nd probe on the top of the lone terminal post where the coil wire connects to the previous LH resistor terminal. Got power? No? Problem is most likely in the distributor and points. Time to yank and rebuild distributor. Know how the front mount is timed AND how the unit is mounted on the engine.

FORD N-SERIES TRACTOR FRONT MOUNT DISTRIBUTOR 9N-12250 BALLAST RESISTOR:

FORD 9N-10505-B CUTOUT –USED AFTER S/N 12,500 TO S/N 258504 ON 9N & 2N MODELS ONLY:

FORD 9N-10000-C TRACTOR GENERATOR WITH OPTIONAL BELT TENSIONING BRACKET:


FORD TRACTOR 9N & 2N, AFTER S/N 12500, OEM 6V/POS GRN WIRING:


WIRING PICTOGRAMS by JMOR; OEM 9N & 2N ELECTRICAL SETUP:

FORD 9N/2N ESSENTIAL OWNER/OPERATOR/PARTS/SERVICE MANUALS:



Tim Daley(MI)

Does he have a multi meter? The first thing I would check is that he should have 6 volts at the top of the coil when the points are open and about half of that when they are closed. Of course he can't see the points, but bumping the starter would close them momentarily. An analog multi meter is best. Next have him remove the coil and measure the resistance from the top of the coil to the pig tail. He should see about 1 ohm. Then measure from the top of the coil to the tab (cap contact). He should see around 6 thousand ohms. The ignition switch wasn't left on while the tractor sat was it?
Let us know what he saw.

If he let the smoke out of the starter, he needs a new starter. Don't ask me how I know.