Will an 8 volt Battery work well on a 6 volt System

Hello Members

Heard news that putting a Tractor 8volt battery in my 38 1/2 ton will improve my starting problems.

thanks Jeff

 

Yes, that was done years back on some slow starting cars & trucks like Chryslers, and farmers around here did it on the old flatheads. You need to adjust the voltage regulator or have it done by an auto electric shop.

 

Yeah, i run my 53 on an 8 volt for a year or so. It really helped the slow starting. Another thing to try, I dont know if you got room in the 38, is to take a charged up 12 volt with you and just use it for starting the truck.

Hope it helps, Troy

 

It will work but will shorten the life of your light bulbs.

 

Did it for years on old 8n ford tractors.......another thing you can do is wire a ford starter solenoid to the key side of the starter solenoid on the starter..........in other words, make the path the current has to flow as short as possible........if ya don't, the 6 or 8 volts has to travel from the battery, thru the fuse box, thru the ignition switch and then to the starter solenoid.....you can make the ignition switch operate another solenoid that supplies voltage directly to the terminal that normally gets current from the ignition switch.....confused yet?

 

It is an old-timey "quik-fix" for poor ground and worn out parts.
Make sure your electric system is well-grounded, your generator is genning, your regulator is regulating and your 6V battery is charged and stays that way and you'll have no problems. A ground cable from engine block to frame and another from frame to body mounted to clean, paintfree shiny steel works wonders.

 

There's nothing wrong with a 6v system - it was used for many, many years from the beginning to the mid-50's. The main reason the car manufacturers went to 12v, is that cars were beginning to get more and more electrical accessories that required more wiring. A 12v system requires wires only half the size of the 6v system, with a considerable cost savings in material.

If you have the car in tune and have good, shiny grounds and good wiring, including the proper size ground cable off the battery, your car will start without problems.

8v is just a band-aid, IMO. If you want the car to start like a new car, do it right and change it over to 12v.