Positive or Negative Ground?????

[Mark Pearce]

Hello Guys,

I got a dinger of a question here. I got my dads ole 9N last year and have just bought about a thousand bucks worth or restoration parts for it. I now want to keep it six volt but how or where can I go to see if the tractor was originally negative ground?
Dad had removed most of the wiring and no battery. Does it make a difference if I were to go ahead and make it positive ground even if it was negative ground before. Or will the starter spin backwards?
I have a theory that negative grounded things rust less. So probably why these tractors sheet metal lasted soo long.
Is there a place or website where I can go to find out if my tractor was negative ground from the factory? Thanks!


Mark.

 

[Mark Pearce]

OK went back trough the archives and found some info to help me. Just would like to see what N tractors had positive or negative ground systems. Still lookin and can't find my IT-F04 N book. If I could find a website or somethin that had a chart that would be great. Thanks.


Mark....

 

[Anonymous-0]

The 9N is positive ground.Half the cars and trucks built in 1940 were positive ground.

 

[Bill(Wis)]

Ford cars, trucks and tractors of that day were 6 volt positive ground. No exceptions. Henry Ford new more about electricity than most of today's electrical engineers. He was, at one time, the general manger of Detroit Edison. He had things running so smoothly there that he had time left over to design and build cars. Something his boss, Thomas Alva Edison, encouraged him to do.

 

[LarrySTN]

They were positive ground. The starter will turn the right direction on matter the polarity. Polarity makes no difference on rust.

 

[Anonymous-0]

I have Fords 2n,8n and 4000. All are 6 volt and all are positive ground as is specified in their manuals.

 

[Bruce (VA)]

Yes, it will run backwards, but that is not a problem; it does have a reverse gear, doesn't it? You will have an N w/ 1 forward gear & 3 reverse.

Sorry, I couldn't resist the poor attempt at humor!

Polarity has nothing to do w/ which way the starter turns.

It was positive ground from the factory for a reason: 60 years ago, positive ground allowed for a hotter spark. Today, with advances in materials, it does not matter as much, except that all components in the circuit must observe the same polarity. So, if you have a side mount coil (which you do not) then both the battery AND the coil polarity can be negative ground. But, you have a front coil & there is no practical way to reverse the polarity. So, you would have a negative ground battery & a positive ground coil, and lose spark efficiency as a result.

The short answer to your question is put it back as positive ground.
50 Tips

 

[Bob]

My FO-4 (there are a number of verisons out there) CLEARLY has the (+) and (-) posts on the battery marked in the electrical diagram. How about your's?

 

[old]

ALL N series tractors when new where + ground. Ford didn't switch over the using - ground till some time in the late 50s or early 60s as did almost all companies. As for the starter because of the way there made you can use them + or - ground and they will spin the same way either way.
Hobby farm

 

[teddy52food]

All 6 volt tractors that I know of were positive ground. Negetive came with the 12 volt systems except for John Deere had some 12 v positive ground. Chevvy 6 volt was negetive and Ford (cars) was positive.

 

[BishopNsunset]

Mark,
My 52 8N was 6v negitive ground when I got 10 years ago. I replaced the wiring harness that had been rigged up and install a ford wiring harness that was made for 6V positive ground.
It has worked like that for 10 years now.
The only problem I've had is when I let it set up too long and let the wiring get moist at times, but with a little elbow grease and sandpaper it fires right up.

 

[JMOR]

(quoted from post at 22:43:49 01/18/08) Mark,
My 52 8N was 6v negitive ground when I got 10 years ago. I replaced the wiring harness that had been rigged up and install a ford wiring harness that was made for 6V positive ground.
It has worked like that for 10 years now.
The only problem I've had is when I let it set up too long and let the wiring get moist at times, but with a little elbow grease and sandpaper it fires right up.

I can't fathom any difference in the 'wiring harness' for neg vs pos gnd. Do you wish to elaborate?

 

[Mark Pearce]

Hello,
Found my manual tonight in the bathroom. I can see the diagram has everything I was asking for. I'm just still kinda confused about the generator cutout. I'm wondering if I will still need a voltage regulator?


Mark.

 

[BishopNsunset]

When the 8N was wired for a negitive ground 20-25 years ago the local backyard tractor guy improvised the electrical system wiring to a birdnest of wiring, as if he used a harness from a different make of tractor in his googball attempt. The 8N ran OK but it wasn't factory, and had several wires not nedded and tucked away.
When I bought it 10 ten years ago I replace the make shift job and replaced it with an 8N wiring harness and put the tractor back to original positive ground,