8n electrical issue

[blucoondawg]

It is likely the points in the VR are burned and sticking, try removing the battery wire from the VR and see if the vampire drain stops.

I had him remove wires from the battery terminal last night and the drain stopped, there were 2 wires on that screw of the regulator, one is the wire which is supposed to be there, the other is power for the headlights they are grabbing from that screw on the vr. The draw is coming from the keyword, not the lights. When I touch the lights wire back to the screw nothing happens, if I touch the other wire, which I believe goes to the junction above the key switch then down to the solenoid, it arches which tells me something at the starter is drawing juice?

 

[blucoondawg]

Thanks for the information guys, it seems the new regulator has fixed the issue. Now we're waiting on a new adjustable side link and we'll be in business

 

[wolc123]

I had electrical issues with my 1951 8n 2 years ago. The tractor just quit like the key was turned off. I could not get spark. I changed the points, condenser, dist cap, rotor, and coil but still nothing. It turned out the distributer was shot.

The best thing about the 8n's is they have the best parts availability of any make/model tractor that was ever produced. A new distributor was relatively cheap and easy to find. Apparently they were not kidding, when they said to lubricate the distributer every 10 hours in the owners manual. I only got 70 years out of my original distributer lubricating it every 100 hours, when I changed the engine oil and filter.

I have a spare tune up kit now in my parts cabinet, next time it needs one
I also picked up a new wire harness for it, but have not installed it yet. My tractor is also still 6 volt, it has 2000 hours on it, and had never had a parasitic draw.

Beware of 12 volt 8n's. That conversion is often done to help weak compression tractors start better. If yours still starts good on 6 you might have a good one.