Success John T

[rrlund]

Today might be the day for me to buy a lottery ticket.
I broke the other screw off and took the top off of that voltage regulator. Danged thing looked like it had been under water for 50 years. So I started going through my electrical parts cabinet opening boxes. I found a 12 volt saddle type regulator painted Oliver green in an old Tractor Supply box. It looked just like new on the inside.
I cleaned up the top of the generator with a wire brush,put the regulator on,polorized it,started the tractor and the needle on the amp guage jumped right up to charge. All at no cost except the $20 I paid for the generator at the flea market.
Maybe I'd better quit for the day while I'm ahead. Gotta love it when things work out like that!

 

[Mike (WA)]

That saddle regulator on the 550 is something the Oliver engineers can be proud of- it sits directly under the drip line from the hood of the tractor! If you have the tractor outside, in a rainy climate, figure on a new one every few years just because of moisture.

Is there any reason a person couldn't just get a conventional VR and mount it somewhere under the hood, out of the rain? Whattya think, John T?

Glad you were able to get yours going again. I don't think I have a spare one lurking around!

 

[Bob Bancroft]

I'm no John T, but YES!
Getting the VR away from the heat and vibration of the gen. is a good idea.

 

[rrlund]

It's not a real problem on the 66 with the side curtain closed. If I hadn't put a new wiring harness on it I probably would have put a flat mount on it and mounted it where I did the one on the 77. I rewired that one myself and put the regulator in under the dash next to the battery.
The 1600 has that one mounted on the side of the block under the generator. Of course that one's a big six cylinder and has more room under there.

 

[larry from md.]

I saw one mounted right under the fuel strainer bowl.Any leak at all and it went right on the vr.

 

[Jon Hagen]

Vibration kills those old mechanical regulators.
IF you can find a spot on the tractor that has little vibration, or find a rubber mounted saddle or flat mount, then yes, mount it somewhere out of the weather.

Best is to replace it with a modern potted solid state regulator. There not likely to get water inside, the voltage control is so much more stable than a mechanical regulator and vibration has little effect on them.

 

[sotxbill]

Thats why I leave mine in the box in the garage.

 

[37chief]

Glad things worked out. I would love going through boxes I haven't gone through for several years. It's like Christmas all over again. Now the time is a few months to go through the same boxes. Still a surprise. Stan

 

[John T]

CONGRATS,,,,,, Im in the RV, wifes driving down I 70 about 60 MPH in Missouri somewhere?????

Yes Mike as long as mounted other places so long as it has a good ground its fine

John T On the road in MO going 60 mph

 

[Mike (WA)]

Gee, what could possibly go wrong there?

We got a notice from Ford that our '95 diesel was being recalled- seems a plastic part in the brake light control (on the master cylinder) could crack and leak brake fluid onto the contacts (one of which is always "live"), creating a fire danger.

We got the notice a few days after the pickup "burned to the ground" in our driveway, in the middle of the night. It was burned so completely that they couldn't figure out the cause.

 

[rrlund]

Yep,I'm sure when I put that in there thirty odd years ago I must have been thinking I might need that some day.

 

[fixerupper]

I could never figure out why a lot of the Waterloo Deere two bangers had the VR right under the red hot exhaust pipe. The VR seems to last a reasonable amount of time nonetheless. Jim

 

[GeneMO]

Well you probably went 7 miles north of my farms. Just south of the 103 Mile marker.

Gene