Ford 2000 charging issue

[martinautry]

Got a gas ford 2000 that the generator died on. I replaced the generator and all seemed well. A few days later it appeared the generator died again ( field voltage but no output). I replaced both the regulator and generator, all seemed well again. Now I see the generator light flickering on and off and the output to the battery is at nominal 12v, so appears not to be charging again. The battery was recently replaced and is new. I am out of ideas of what is killing this charging system.

 

[Sean in PA]

New regulators these are just as likely to have problems as the old one. Get a service manual and follow the procedure to test and adjust the VR. If the new one can't be adjusted, hopefully you still have the old one and can reinstall that one and adjust it properly.

 

[Mike(NEOhio)]

Mine was not charging well, seemed the light was always on, so I got a new regulator from Brillman. Got the import that looked just like the original Lucas. Three years later more not charging again. Someone here provided a Lucas service manual and I went through all the checks and couldn't find any problem. I tried the original reg and it's been working fine again.

 

[martinautry]

Thanks for the feedback. I do still have the original but needs some cleanup and it has a rattle inside so have to crack it open. Think I will try to get one from Brillman also to try and get stable again.

 

[Mike(NEOhio)]

This may help.

 

[sweetskillsrk]

Just do an alternator conversion. They are not that expensive and pretty straightforward to install. My original Lucas generator never had enough juice to run the headlights, it would kill the engine (no crazy headlights, just 3 incandescent lights like the tractor originally had). I swapped to an alternator and no more problems. After fiddling with a voltage regulator and a generator like you have, just be done with it. However, that being said, I still have my original generator and voltage regulator. If you're interested, shoot me a message.

 

[martinautry]

Thanks for the info. I have a couple of generators and regulators collected now so will try those first. I like to keep old stuff as authentic as I can even though I must admit this tractor was definitely not built for serviceability.