The McKinley's

Yesterday we were able to re-run the battery cable that was keeping us from moving the tractor backwards. Then tonight, we used it to carry fence posts, fence wire and tools as we repaired the pasture. It sure is nice to have that tractor running again. Soon we will be raking hay with it.

I am going to try to post some photos of the wiring in progress. These were taken with my cell phone so the quality is a bit lacking. I should have been taking photos each step of my small rebuild, but I didn’t. Sorry.

Here you can see Jesse’ head. But it is showing the split tube along the top of the engine and a little of the wires on the starter.

Here is the back side of the switches, we used heat shrink tubing to try and protect the conditions, hopefully lengthening the time before we need to rewire.

This photo is from the left side of the tractor looking over the top of the engine. You can see the split tubing, The orange wire for the fuel sending unit and a green wire for the front mounted lights (we added those, not original).

The new regulator. If only I’d started with that. The new generator is at the bottom of the photo.

The new generator from above. You can also see the new wires from the regulator and some of the split tubing.

Another view of the keyswitch and lightswitch. All the wires securely taped up and ready to be stuffed back into the console.

I went to Family Farm and Home today and found a few things I needed.  I was disappointed in their light selection, so I will go to Tractor Supply tomorrow to see what they may have that will work for my goals.  Today I bought:

These should give me a place to run my light wires and keep them out of the wheels and protect the wires from rubbing.

I emailed Jesse late last night and asked him to get some heatshrink tubing and wire wraps.  So he brought those over tonight and we put heatshrink over the terminals on the key switch.  Figured it would help protect those from shorting out.  He grabbed the twist style of wire wrap and I think that the split tube wrap would be better, so we’ll see about getting some of that tomorrow.  We were able to heatshrink the terminals, I bought some paint, so we started painting parts.  So far the console cover and a side shield.  We took the emblems off the hood and we will try to paint that tomorrow night.

We removed the starter, looked things over, turned the flywheel all the way around to see about missing teeth, and we could not figure out why the starter was not hitting every time we turned the key.  We cleaned up the area where the starter mounts and re-installed it.  Well, it must have just been a little off on placement before, because now it hits every time we turn the key.  Weird.

We started to wire in the lights.  We are out of yellow wire, but have a lot of orange left, so we are substituting that for the light wires.  We realized that the fender lights just aren’t going to be sufficient with the loader on the tractor, so we are trying to figure out another location for another set of lights on the loader.  We looked over where to run the wires for the lights.  When my fenders got rebuilt, I lost my wire run tubes.  I’ve seen wire clamps before, I wonder where I can find some.  We ran out of terminal connectors, so we called it a night.

I went back to see Jan at A1.  He looked at my generator and sure enough, it was shot.  He got me a new one, $129.  I mentioned to him that I was going to get a regulator, just to be sure.  He said he had one, $60.  Now if anyone is paying attention, that was three trips to A1 and each trip cost me $189.  How weird is that?  Well, I took the two new parts and installed them this evening.  Then I checked my wiring again, just to be sure.  Connected the batteries back up and noticed that as I was connecting the negative cable on the “B” battery, it did not spark at all.  For as long as I can remember, that cable sparked when it connected. (I had mentioned this to Jan and he said that it should never spark just connecting the batteries with the key “off”.)  I waited a few minutes, listening for the “snaps” the “arcs”, the “boiling”.  Nothing, all was quiet (except for the high winds we had today).  I turned the key and it started right up.  Shut it down, turned the key again, the starter missed the flywheel again.  Tried again, it started right up.  Whew, I am finally on the right track.  I think I am almost there.

I took the cover off both regulators to see what the differences were.  All three of the contacts on my old regulator had corrosion and problems.  All three contacts were open.  On the new one, two were open in the off state and one was closed.  So on my old regulator, the juice was always flowing and that is why my battery terminal would spark as I connected the cable.  Wish I’d just replaced that regulator right away.  It may have saved me several dollars.

I took the battery back to Roeters Farm Equipment and had it tested, it was shot.  They got me a replacement and off I went.  Went back to talk to Jan at A1 Electric, he told me that there has to be something we are missing in our wiring.  He told me to go to John Deere and request a wiring diagram.  So I called them and they sent me their diagram.  It was a little helpful to me, now had I purchased their $550 wiring harness, it would have been perfect.  All their diagram showed was the harness with the colored pig tails coming out.  It did not show me what happened to the wires inside the harness.  I compared the pig tails to the diagram from Gary Wece and they seemed to match, so I figured I had to have done something right.

When I got home I put the new battery on and checked my wiring and turned the key.  The engine started right up.  I shut it down, called Jesse so that he could hear the engine and when I turned the key, the starter missed the flywheel.  What the heck.  I tried again, once again the starter ground on the flywheel.  Now I knew this wasn’t right, so I hung up with Jesse and started to look things over when I heard some crackling.  I looked over top of the engine and saw smoke, ran to the other side and my generator was on fire.  Great, more money.

I disconnected the batteries, quickly.  Waited for the generator to cool and took it off.  Back to A1 Electric tomorrow.

I went back to Jan at A1 Electric today.  Bought a set of custom made battery cables.  Another $189 purchase.  Then I went to Fillmore John Deere in Kent City for a new light switch and key switch.  I really only needed the key switch but figured I was there and they had it in stock.  $90 for the pair.  This sure is adding up again.

Got home and installed the wires.  Turned the key and the starter clicked.  Not enough juice in the batteries.  Grabbed the portable jumper, still not enough juice, just a click on the starter.  But, we got excited because the starter was clicking now.  Gave us hope that we did something right.  We grabbed the battery charger and started charging.  The “A” circuit charged nicely.  The “B” circuit just didn’t seem to act right.  The charger reacted funny, when we tried to start the tractor, the “B” battery would sound like it was boiling.  So we pulled the battery and decided it needed to be tested.  I’ll take it in for testing in the morning.

Jesse and I spent a good three hours rewiring the 3010 today.  What a mess that was.  We’d follow a wire, compare the run to the wiring diagram in the I&T manaul, replace the wire, then move to another one.  I had wires that had been connected at one time, but neither end was connected today.  The generator light wire had a three inch burn/melted part.  That one wasn’t doing its job.  We were able to follow the I&T manual diagram for the “A” circuit very well, but when it came to the “B” circuit, we got a bit lost.  I called my cousin to see if I could go take a look at his 3010 wiring, so off we went.  Well his was not a very good example.  Uncle Dale did some serious “jury rigging” on that wiring, then I turned around and saw that Gy had a very nice wiring diagram for a 4010 sitting there.  I took that and headed back to my shop.  Jesse and I figured out the rest of the wiring using that diagram and finished wiring the starting circuits.  We figured we’d start there and do the lights later.  We tested the starter and nothing.  Still will not start.  I decided that I need to go buy a new starter switch.

I bought my new starter today.  The price wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.  $189 from Jan at A1 Electric in Grant.  I installed it easy enough, just slide it in, tighten down three bolts and then connect the wires up.  Hit the starting key, nothing.  Checked my wires, nothing wrong, hit the key, nothing.  Uh oh, problems.  I hope I can get to this again soon, this tractor is blocking my lawn mower and my yard is a mess.

Today we finally made ourselves clean the barn and the pastures.  Manure can sure pile up over the winter.  We were able to get several spreader loads out to the field, most coming from the pastures.  Bad news, the 3010 starter quit on us.  We were able to pull start the tractor using the 2840, but we just couldn’t stall or shut it down until we were done.  I guess I get to go and see about purchasing a new starter.