Farmall Cub

i have a 55 cub that was converted to 12 volt, i am in the process of restoring it and it has been running great. the other day it developed a starting problem , i have thhe hood off and the ballast resistor is hanging, does it need to be bolted to something for a ground? it would start but run for a few seconds and quit, i bought a new resistor and now it runs but the resistor is smoking. can someone please help me with this.
thanks

The ballast resistor does not have to be grounded. Your new one probably has some grease/oil on the resistor coil. It will smoke until the oil burns off.

thank you mr. becker, i hope that is all it is