International 240 D electrical system

[Anonymous-0]

I recently bought a 1958 240D with loader and hoe. It was in rough condition with no manual. It had the battery bungie corded to the transmission, so the first thing I did was build a battery box. When I reinstalled the battery, the starter button just clicked, then it sparked. Engine will not turn over. I suspect I installed the battery in backwards. Can anybody tell me if this tractor is a "positive ground". I know, I know, I should have looked before I removed the battery, but it never occurred to me until now. Thanks for any help.

 

[El Toro]

Its probably 6 volts unless it was converted Was the old battery 6 volts? Should only have 3 cells. The ground cable should have the larger hole so it will fit the positive terminal on the battery. Hal

 

[Anonymous-0]

You MAY have installed the battery backwards, but that should have had no effect on the starter.
The starter does not care if you feed it pos or neg ground power, it will work equally well either way.
I suspect your problem may be from disturbing old cables and connections while reworking the battery location.

 

[John T]

I dont know how it was originally grounded (my guess would be neg), Pos or Neg, buttttttttt the first thing I would try is to remove, clean n wire brush, n reattach each n every battery n starter n starter switch n ground cable/connection n try her again. What you describe may well be a bad connection cuz the starter should still turn fine (and the same direction) REGARDLESS. Make sure the battery is charged up also. If the battery is fine and alllllllll conenctions n cables n grounds are okay but it still acts the same, then it could be a starter switch or a starter problem.

Since youre unsure of Pos or Neg ground, Id polarize the genny (if its a genny instead of an alternator, if an alternator, hooked up backwards may have toasted it, most of those are neg ground) at whatever ground you have chosen BEFORE you start her up n then we can deal with polarity issues later.

John T