Jump Starting Tractor

In the case of my 300 battery had reached end of it's lifespan, rather than poor connections. 3 guys being paid by the hour were going to use that tractor. Hooking a 12 volt boost to a 6 volt tractor is not what blew the battery. It was not the 6 volt battery that blew. In fact at the time the negative terminals were not connected. Positive side of car was connected to the positive ground of tractor. The shiney steel cable the guys had been skidding logs with fell and hit bumper of car. The tractor had already started, and I was removing cables when this happened. Vibration of tractor running is what cause cable to come loose. I agree I was using cables too short thus car was placed too close to tractor. Thankfully, no one or nothing was injured but my pride.

I can think of numerous other situations that could cause a 12 volt dead short, and do exactly same thing. I've seen numerous cars towed it from being involved in accidents, with batteries blown.

As a kid I remember watching an old guy a bunch of us were helping, cut the battery cable with an axe, on his Ford 8N that was on fire. He yelled for us to get water. When done he praised our quick action. He said, " Well done boys we saved a tractor, and no one got hurt." I never did know exactly what caused that short, he sent us on our way and called in a mechanic.

Just 3 years ago when I moved from NS to ON, hired a trucking company to move my Farmalls SA and 130. At the time 130 had an old battery that wouldn't hold charge over night. I installed a new battery, just so movers wouldn't have trouble with it. When tractor arrived from 1300 mile journey, switch was on, battery was dead and never did take a charge, wiring harness was toast, ( fried to a crisp ) alternator was ruined. I don't know what happened along the way. Tractor was moved with front wheels on upper deck of drop deck trailer and rear wheels on lower deck, with items piled around it. Could some metal object have crossed wires? Could wiring harness have been bad? I will never know for sure. I do know the young lad moving my tractor thought the push botton switch of 130 was little more than a kill switch and you could leave it in either position. Why that never caused a fire or explosion, I'll never know. I do know I shoud have left old battery in tractor.

I will say jump starting requires care, if done right it will be sucessful. It's not for the guy that has to question which way to hook up.

I have one right now in a 6 volt Super A, battery is close to 12 years old, 1 guage cables and soldered ends. Must have been a good one as I don't think I ever got over 7-8 years before. This SA does not see a lot of winter starts. I do start it about once per month, let it charge good and warm the engine up good. I try to pick mild days about freezing for that. Tractor warms up better and faster when mild, doesn't hurt my 63 year old carcass either. The battery is now starting to faulter a bit, two weeks and I'm getting out the crank, even in summer. I have a Woods mower and only use SA to mow my 1/2 acre of grass, along with assorted yard work.

I always found with those little C-113 and C-123 engines, you can crank them and have them going faster than you could get the jump cables out.

What I couldn't believe 40 years ago on that Pontiac to 300 start, car was running, blew battery to bits and didn't hurt alternator in car. Car kept running on alternator. I was ahead of 300 rear wheel and had just removed jump cable from solinoid. Logging winch on back of tractor and rear wheel shielded me from the blast. I'll tell you it made me a lot more careful, especially if jumping pos ground systems with neg ground.

I have seen a battery explode. I was bosting Farmall 300 with 63 Pontiac. A steel cable from hitch of 300 slipped and landed on bumper of car. Blew the car battery to bits. So be careful not to allow anything on the two vehicles to touch if ground is one neg and the other pos.