310 lighting issues

[nekovt 0]

Hi Everyone, Thank you for the responses!

That's a good point - I would like a grader blade to start (This house I bought was in VERY bad shape, so I've been jacking up the house, replacing sill plates, rotted wood, etc - I've also dug up part of the basement to repair the wall) so I can smooth out the areas where there big holes filled in.

At some point, I'd love to find a larger tractor and 2 stage snow blower. I'm not sure how good these are at pushing the snow blades, has anyone had any experience with this?

Duff, thanks, I'd like to see if you know about lights - On both of my 310-8s, the lights don't work - I've traced back the wires and found it's not getting 12 volts. The blue wire appears to go back to the alternator. Have you or anyone run in to this?

Steve, Thanks! I got the Mule drive and it works, now I'm back in business!

Thanks!

Brad

[Duff 206]

On both of my 310-8s, the lights don't work - I've traced back the wires and found it's not getting 12 volts. The blue wire appears to go back to the alternator. Have you or anyone run in to this?

Brad, depending on how "original" you want to keep your machines, I simply fed a new power supply wire with an in-line fuse to the light switch directly from the battery, and from the switch straight out to the lights (front and rear). I also didn't like the chassis grounds so I ran an extra wire for grounding from the battery neutral out to the headlights and tail lights.

I understand the rebuilding a house thing - the wife and I bought a "handyman special" back in the late '80's and I'm still trying to bring it back to 100%. Aaahhh-the joys of home ownership!

Duff :hide:

[nekovt 0]

Hi, I was starting to wonder if I should run a wire directly to the battery.

Was there a special part of the alternator that ran the lights or something? I've been trying to figure out why they did that!

Did you find that the ground on the chassis wasn't good enough to make it not function right? I was wondering why I was getting 2 Volts, but I think I may have tested off the battery.

I don't mind running new wires at all.

Do you know of a good place to get new light bulbs? Are they a special kind or are they easy to find?

Thanks!

BRad

[nekovt 0]

Hi Duff & All,

I was able to get the lights working on both of my 310-8s. Aside from needing new light bulbs, I found the I had to trace back all the wires and clean all the connections really well. The biggest problem connection was the big one that connects very close to the alternator, that one was very dirty on both tractors.

I also did some testing and found that the lights run off from AC and not DC. That really messed me up for a while, but I notice that when you turn the tractor off the lights will stay on as the engine speed slows down. So there must be a seperate generator in there?

Now that all the lights are working, I have to figure out why the lights on one tractor are so much dimmer than the other. On the older 310, the lights are very bright, but the newer one, you really have to rev up the engine to get the lights to be bright. I'm guessing the generator brushes or something are getting weak. Has anyone ever seen this?

Thanks!Brad

[bitten 134]

Brad

Are you sure it has a generator? I have never seen one on a 310-8. My 85' 310-8 (the first year they came out)has a stator on it. I would like to see some pics of what you got as I have not seen one that puts out A/C power.

The head lights I replace with a 4411 bulb. They are 35 watts and about all I want to try and push because the 85' 310-8 only puts out 3 amps. I dont want to brain my battery.

Check to see if there is a wire going from the frame to the hood, you cant trust the hinge to give a good ground.

Hope you get nice and bright lights for your evening snow adventures.

P.J.

[nekovt 0]

Hi PJ, Thank you for the info. I'm not sure that I have the term right. What is the difference between a generator and a Stator?

You are right, there is a ground wire on the hood. I cleaned that one as well.

I put my volt meter on the lights and got 14 V AC but not DC. That's what confused me, and it looks like I might be getting a small amount of AC on the battery as well.

Is there a Rectifier somewhere in that Stator?

Thanks!

Brad

[Duff 206]

Hi, Brad!

Engine electrics are not my strength (to say the least), so I'm going to sit back and watch this thread in the hope of learning something. I've got three M-12 Kohlers - one running, one in reassembly, and one in pieces, so the timing of this couldn't be better! Experts, we await your wisdom!

BTW, Brad, when I rebuilt 312-8 #1 I ran the ground wire for the headlights all the way back to the battery negative post. Just my own method - not necessarily the "right" way!

Duff

EDIT: Moderators, should we move this discussion over to the "work in progress" section?

Editx2: Wow!That was quick!

[TT-(Moderator) 1,162]

Brad:

I split this topic so it wouldn't get lost in the "wanted" section. I couldn't do a "clean split", so each topic might look a little odd since your dozer blade request bled into the lighting questions.

Now.... without getting all technical, your 310 (and several other mid 80's models) had a dual circuit alternator consisting of several magnets glued to the inside of the flywheel and a stator bolted to the bearing plate mounted under the flywheel. The magnets revolve around the stationary stator and create electricity when the engine is running.

There is a 3 amp non-regulated / diode-rectified circuit used to maintain the charge in the battery and is designed to replace the power required to operate the ignition coil to make the spark at the plug.

The other part of the stator is a 70 watt A.C. circuit which powers the lights. As engine speed increases so does the output, resulting in brighter lights at higher rpm.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

@ Duff:

Your Magnums should all have the "more conventional" 15 amp A.C. stator and the matching three terminal rectifier/regulator. (two A.C. inputs and one D.C. output)