Changing from 6 to 12 volts

[StickMan]

As several have pointed out, starter should be fine, but as Mike states, don't forget about lights.

I converted a Ford 8N from 6 to 12 and everything worked fine. The lights even worked for about 1.2 seconds (really bright, then really dark). Switched them over to 12v, and all was good.

One other thing I did was to replace the ammeter with a voltmeter. When I would start the tractor, the voltmeter showed 12v. Cranking up the RPMs got it to jump up to around 14 - where I thought it should be. Only once had to jump the terminals to reenergize it when it wouldn't start charging on its own.

Eventually had to switch out the ignition switch, but that may have been related to age rather than the 6 to 12v conversion.

 

[Soundguy]

No good reason to switch to a volt meter, unless you don't understand what an ammeter is actually telling you about your electrical system. A battery with a bad cell may require constant high charge rate. your volt meter will happilly show 14v while the machine is running, and then you shut her off and she won't start and volt meter shows low.. like 10v..(severly discharged ).. An ammeter ont e other hand would show you that NET high charge rate, letting you know you needed to fix something.

if I had to have a volt meter ( cuz that's what we have in our cars these days ), then I'dd add it and keep the ammeter. Also note.. that the votl meter is not a drop in replacement for the ammeter, as it sets int he circuit.. a volt meter is a parallel device.. the ammeter is a serial device.

As for needing to rev up to get the alternator charging.. sounds like a yucky 1-wire job.. the 3-wire units are way more prefered.. and will start to charge at a low 400rpm

soundguy