Ford 600 12 volt conversion

[Sailorjim01]

Purchased my 600 a few months back and it was wired 6 volt. I have done a 12 volt conversion and it has only ran one time since and then I had to jump it because I found my neutral safety switch bad. Ordered a new one and found a previous owner had welded the shifter and shaft together making taking it apart a bigger job than I want to do at this time. I bought a momentary switch and mounted and wired it. It is obvious that I have wired some thing wrong. I replaced the 6 volt starter solenoid twice because I burnt it up. Directions say the starter and solenoid at 6 volts should work. I bought a 12 volt starter solenoid and if I understand correctly, 12 volt now needs sent to the S terminal on the solenoid and the grounding is from the mounting bracket. I have wired the coil wire thru the ignition switch. Seemed like a good way to do it. I ve attached a diagram. Not the best as I used my phone as my computer is down.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Hemmjo]

I did a 12 volt positive ground conversion on my 860. I changed the coil, solenoid, swapped the generator for an alternator, swapped the amp meter for a volt meter and kept the 6volt starter.

A couple of things you might consider.

Your 6 volt coil will not last long running on 12 volts and your points will wear more quickly. You can use your coil, but I would add a resistor to limit current through it. Any auto parts store should have one.

My alternator output is 60 amps, the old generator was 30 amps max. The standard wiring and amp meter will not handle that much current. The wiring for a volt meter does not have to carry all of the charging current like an amp meter does. I had a 3 wire alternator on hand so that is what I used. If you have a one wire alternator, just eliminate the extra wires.

I do not know about your 600. On my 800, the starter button, mounted on the transmission, is the safety switch. You cannot press it unless the tractor is in neutral. When you press to start, the button grounds the solenoid. The solenoid is powered from the battery cable.

I cannot take full credit for this drawing. It was drawn for 601/801. I found it on line and modified it to suit my situation. I would give credit to the author, but i do not know who it is.

 

[Sailorjim01]

Thanks for the drawing. I did replace the coil to one with an internal resistor. Going to start over tomorrow and see what happens.

 

[used red MN]

Your drawing looks okay to me, outside of the resistor
for the coil as mentioned. I will attach a generic
diagram I have offered in the past. I prefer routing both
the load and the charge current through the ammeter.
The diagram I am attaching shows how to do that.
What I would change about the diagram I provided
would be to move the power feed for the starter button
from the left side of the ammeter to the right side or
switched side of the ignition switch. Connected this
way it will only crank the engine when the ignition
switch is on. Also if you have a one wire alternator you
can disregard the circuits that come off the 1 and 2
alternator connections. As long as you use 10 gauge
wire from the back of the alternator to the ammeter
and from the other side of the ammeter to the solenoid
battery post the use of an ammeter will be fine. Even
though the alternator puts out 60 amps it will rarely
pump that much current. When you start it with a low
charge in the battery or use it to jump start another
unit with a dead battery and using some quality cables
will be the only time the circuits will be taxed. With that
terminal block Ford uses my diagram may not be clear
enough for you, but I suppose it is every bit as clear as
the one you made up.
Generic 6 to 12 volt wiring diagram

 

[JMOR]

(quoted from post at 17:49:08 11/29/23) Purchased my 600 a few months back and it was wired 6 volt. I have done a 12 volt conversion and it has only ran one time since and then I had to jump it because I found my neutral safety switch bad. Ordered a new one and found a previous owner had welded the shifter and shaft together making taking it apart a bigger job than I want to do at this time. I bought a momentary switch and mounted and wired it. It is obvious that I have wired some thing wrong. I replaced the 6 volt starter solenoid twice because I burnt it up. Directions say the starter and solenoid at 6 volts should work. I bought a 12 volt starter solenoid and if I understand correctly, 12 volt now needs sent to the S terminal on the solenoid and the grounding is from the mounting bracket. I have wired the coil wire thru the ignition switch. Seemed like a good way to do it. I ve attached a diagram. Not the best as I used my phone as my computer is down.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

focus on the solenoid. It will be a different type that functions with 12v being fed to S terminal as you have, than the original which used Ground from the safety neutral switch to the S terminal. Be sure you have correct type.

This post was edited by JMOR on 11/30/2023 at 08:40 am.