tractor running and starting awesome

[ad356]

that new battery made all of the difference. i came home today to 6 inches of slushy, heavy wet snow, so i had to plow the driveway. that little red cub spun over faster then it ever did last winter, i had an instant "light off" and had zero starting problems. i think the engine has to be spinning fast enough to draw the fuel/air charge into the cylinders. i take back everything i said about this tractor being cold blooded. i still dont understand HOW people started these machines back in the day without an electrical system, of course that's with an engine that doesnt have an untold number of hours on it. im glad i didnt go through the aggervation of converting it to 12v, because it probably isnt necessary.the 6 volt system migh be primitive but it was probably pretty well engineered, i think IH had some of the best engineers in the world at the time designing these tractors. since i have owned it i literally have had no major problems with tractor besides cold weather starting, and that seems to have been resolved. i mowed 2 acres with it all summer and the only thing i ever did to it was grease and oil.

i did have a question about the 4 position switch. how does it work and why was it setup this way. you have low charge, high charge, low headlights, bright headlights. is this system automatically regulated or do you have to manually regulate it. i usually left the switch in high charge unless i was mowing the lawn for an hour or more. when i use the headlights for snowplowing i would run them on the bright setting. why the 2 position charge selector? i never had a problem with this system so im not 100% how it works.

[havoc1482]

If I remember correctly, the generator is grounded through 4 pos switch. In L (low) it grounds through a resistor and puts the generator at a low output. In H (high charge) it grounds the field directly for a higher output. And then you have Dim (High-charge) and Bright (High-charge) lights.

[ad356]

so there is no regulator. you know like the type that most tractors have, start out at high charge and automatically regulate the charge reducing charge rate to prevent cooking the battery. why didnt they use a regulator and is it possible to add one?

[Boss Hog]

They had a cut out, later they used a regulator

[ad356]

does anybody change the cubs with cutouts to regulators? is there any advantage to doing so or should i leave it original. im guesing i dont want to leave it on high charge all of the time, how do i know when its fully charged. im surprised IH didnt have a voltage meter on the dash so you at least knew the charge condition of the battery if you have to "regulate" the charge manually.

[Don McCombs]

Read this page from the early operator's manual.

http://www.cleancomputes.com/Cub/Cub%20 ... age-34.jpg

[Xperimental]

I have had enough problems with regulators that I am thinking about changing my 1961 Cub from a regulator to the older cutout system. My 61 will be used to do work around the farm. The problem has been the quality of replacement regulators. After a few regulator adventures, the old school simplicity of the cutout system is looking pretty good too me.

[Scrivet]

I have had enough problems with regulators that I am thinking about changing my 1961 Cub from a regulator to the older cutout system. My 61 will be used to do work around the farm. The problem has been the quality of replacement regulators. After a few regulator adventures, the old school simplicity of the cutout system is looking pretty good too me.

You do realize that half of what's inside a regulator is a cutout? A new cutout may not be any better than a new regulator.

The cutout becomes a regulator when the second coil is added to automatically regulate the voltage being sent to the battery instead of you having to manually select H or L with the light switch.

[Xperimental]

You do realize that half of what's inside a regulator is a cutout? A new cutout may not be any better than a new regulator.

The cutout becomes a regulator when the second coil is added to automatically regulate the voltage being sent to the battery instead of you having to manually select H or L with the light switch.

I am thinking that by using just the one coil of a conventional cutout, I would reduce the probability of failure. But I am leaning towards an electronic cutout unit in order to avoid the problems associated with the coil and points arrangement.

[Dusti Snider]

I have found with the occasional use that mine gets I have no problems running it on high charge most all the time. If I run it more than an hour or so, then I flip it back to low charge. My original cutout worked well for the first few months after I got Otis, but it eventually failed. Rather than convert it to a regulator I gutted the cutout and added a diode inside the cutout relay can. There's a thread on here somewhere with pictures and everything...

[Buzzard Wing]

If a Cub is correctly tuned (with good wiring connections) it should start right up. Even 6V and even in the cold.

For a longer battery life, it's a good idea to have it fully charged. Especially if it's going to sit for a while. An automatic (electronic) charger on it every once in a while seems to work well, especially with a cut-out, as you really don't know the 'state' of the battery.