Ford 860 Exhaust Glowing Hot

[sweetskillsrk]

I've been watching this post because I'm curious of the outcome. However, Destroked, I think you just saved me hours more of troubleshooting!

"You said you converted it to 12 volt, I’m assuming a alternator, did you add a light or diode to the exciter wire to keep alternator feed back from powering the coil." So, run that by me again. Not to take over the post or anything, but I've been fighting with my 3000 for a month trying to figure out where I went wrong when I did my alternator conversion in January. I turn the key to the first position and the starter immediately spins to life. Are you saying the alternator can feed voltage back to the starter relay or the ignition coil?

 

[old]

I've been watching this post because I'm curious of the outcome. However, Destroked, I think you just saved me hours more of troubleshooting!

"You said you converted it to 12 volt, I’m assuming a alternator, did you add a light or diode to the exciter wire to keep alternator feed back from powering the coil." So, run that by me again. Not to take over the post or anything, but I've been fighting with my 3000 for a month trying to figure out where I went wrong when I did my alternator conversion in January. I turn the key to the first position and the starter immediately spins to life. Are you saying the alternator can feed voltage back to the starter relay or the ignition coil?

Sounds like you have the key switch wire way wrong or you have the incorrect solenoid for the tractor you have

 

[Sean in PA]

The "Run" position of the key switch should never supply power to the primary of the solenoid on that tractor. Only the "Start" position should do that. It definitely seems like you wired something wrong when you did the conversion.

 

[Destroked 450]

As old and Sean have said the starter should only engage with the key in the start position
Either the key switch is wired incorrectly or the wires are possibly crossed at the relay
The 58 and later tractors have a charge indicator light that is used to excite the Delco alternator when conversions are done, this light prevents ignition feedback to the coil
Earlier tractors had amp gauges and need a indicator light or diode to prevent ignition feed back

How much wiring did you change during the conversion
The only wiring that needed modifications where at the voltage regulator and the prior generator connections
At the regulator the 3 lager wires get splinted together and the 2 small wires are spliced together
Photo shows the alternator connections

 

[Lclear]

Check your exhaust valve lash. If set too tight it will cause your exact symptoms.

I had adjusted the valves to about .016" cold using the procedure outlined in the maintence manual. I did notice that there was no flathead adjustment screw, only a jam nut which I thought was unusual. Some threads suggest that was typical of that year's 172 cu in motor, but I thought it was unusual.

 

[Lclear]

Running lean or with retarded timing will heat up the manifold but it will also heat up the water temperature
We had a 850 from the time I was 7 to 22, when we were doing crops plowing, discing and culverting to ground that 850 got worked a lot
Any time it was working hard the manifold wasn’t red, it was white hot along with the muffler and part of the exhaust elbow, the rest of the elbow and lower part of the vertical exhaust pipe would be red
When the manifold was glowing white under a load we knew the tractor was running at its best

You said you converted it to 12 volt, I’m assuming a alternator, did you add a light or diode to the exciter wire to keep alternator feed back from powering the coil

Thanks for the reply. The tractor temp gauge reads around 190F so I don't suspect the tractor is overheating.

The alternator is a single wire and I have that wire going to the positive side of the battery at the solenoid terminal. The ignition coil is "internally resisted" and I was under the impression I didn't need a resistor/diode. Did I mess that up?

Also while we're on it, the 12V conversion was very confusing for me. The tractor was a mix of 12V negative ground and orignal 6v positive ground components. As it was orignally wired my battery was draining with everything left off overnight. I bypassed the rotary light switch and ammeter for the time being to take those out of the equation.