2002sliverado
Member
I have a 1978 or 1979 IH 86 Hydro. It has the U.S. built diesel engine rather than the German diesel. I really like this tractor for my use as I have a WL-42 Westendorf loader on it and I use it on a 7 foot McKee snowblower. My only criticism of this tractor is that I feel it is rather lacking with respect to the single battery used for the electrical system. I do plug the block heater and the transmission heater in before I need to use it in the winter time. I also use blended fuel with the Power Service anti-gel product mixed in. I have been told the engine on this tractor tends to be rather cold blooded, and I tend to agree with that statement based upon my experience thus far. I have also been told IH did offer, what has been described to me as a "Mickey Mouse" setup, an optional additional battery providing a two battery electrical system. I have looked for this type of extra mounting bracket on-line but have found nothing. I am leaning towards making a shelf type bracket that would allow the use of 2 of the large, long, and narrow type of 6 volt batteries wired in series for this. It looks like I could build this bracket on the left side of the tractor and attach this bracket to the place where a step would be mounted. I would have to have new battery cables made for this, too. Any thoughts by the experts out there?