520H electrical upgrades and other projects

[broken96vr6 22]

Hello all. I've been a long time lurker but this is my first post. As an introduction my life with horses started in 1985 with a 312-8 that my father bought to replace an aging MF tractor. That tractor worked until last year when after years of neglect and rising repair costs we gave it away with 1700 hours and still running. For my middle brother's housewarming gift, my older brother and myself bought him a 1998 520XI with 320 hours that I did a good cleaning and repainting of the tins so that it looks like new (pictured along side the 312 below.

 

Anyhow we bought my Mom a new Snapper rider so that hopefully she would use it instead of the push mower on the 1.5 acres of hillside she lives on, but she doesn't feel comfortable with the wheelie tendencies of the Snapper and the dual stage clutch/brake make the machine accelerate very quickly down hill if you are even touching it. So i decided that since we (the brothers) are going to have to cut the lawn, we're gonna do it in style. So after looking for a while I found a nice 1992 520H about an hour south (missed the one with 410 hours and the loader 10 minutes away from here). It has 520 hours, plow, 42" RD, and 48" SD decks, new Kenda ATV tires, new battery, and overall in really nice condition plus running well and all is working. I decided I was going to clean it up, do some maintenance, replace what needed it, and get it ready for winter. I color sanded and buffed the hood and rear pan, sanded and painted the seat back hardware with POR15 chassis black, ordered all filters/plugs/drive belt/deck belt, touched up the black paint on the hood, removed the decals and ordered some 1988 520H decals from redoyourhorse, ordered Matt's hydro pedal control, and ordered new foot pans and side/belt guards (they were too far gone to save), and polished the hubcaps/air filter cover/ muffler guard. I know I'm forgetting a bunch of stuff but that's not the point of this post anyway.

 

So to the point, I was checking out all the wiring and decided to check the fuses. Like I stated above, all of the lights and gauges work correctly so when I found this I was surprised. I tried to pull the 30A fuse and it wouldn't budge. I noticed it was also very cloudy. I pulled harder and it came out, along with a bunch of the fuse block attached. So I was going to replace the block and the dealer here has one, but decided I wanted sealed automotive fuses instead. Advanced Auto has 30A 10G inline rubber caped fuses in stock so that is my plan. The problem comes in when I look at the bottom of the block at the connections . In the picture below (left to right) are the 15-20-30 amp fuses. See the bridge between the second two. Now what I wanted to do is put individual fuses for each of the 3 connections, but for the 30A there are 2 lead wires and nothing on the other end. So what do I attach two white wires to? It looks almost like they were wired together and stuffed into there instead of even using the fuse. Would I put the fuse in between the two wires that are attached together at the post for the 30A fuse? Thanks!

 

 

 

Aron

[km3h 543]

A new fuse block can be purchased from Dell City Electronics. Part number is 73895. It comes with the inserts. There is a reason these two fuses are tied together. They work in unison with the safety switches I believe. I have replaced a few of them but only on machines that were abused and never cleaned after 20 years of misuse. If you open the hood once in a while and blow out the crud that accumulates around them you will never have that problem again. Make sure you order a few extra inserts, as it is easy to ruin one when crimping these wires. By the way, if you get them from a Toro dealer they do not include the inserts. you have to buy them separately.

 

http://www.delcity.net/store/ATC-&-ATO-4!way-Stackable-Fuse-Block/p_10898

 

Another job for you would be to pull the engine, take off the tins and clean it thoroughly. You will find that especially the rear cylinder cooling fins are probably blocked. If the engine has 500 hours or more on it the valves need adjusting. In most cases the intake valve will be right on but the exhaust valve will be out a bit. Onan recommends De-carbon and valve adjustment be made every 500 hours. Most folks just run them till the rear valve seat pops out. Proper maintenance will most likely prevent this. Proper cooling is paramount to keeping these engines going. There should b e a ring around the oil filter. Lots of folks leave this out when doing an oil change. If you don't have one in there, make sure you get one and use it. It is there to force air around inside the cover.  

 

You may know all this but if not please follow my advice. 

Edited October 23, 2014 by km3h

[broken96vr6 22]

Thanks, but I can't use a fuse block anymore. It might be hard to see but the white wires for the 30A fuse are burned and the insulation is falling off. I'll have to cut those wires to get to good copper and that won't leave me with enough left to reach the block. I've been looking at the wiring diagram and looking at the tractor so I think what I'll have to do is take the wire that is bridged at the block and put in a Y connection, then run both the white wires to one side of the Y and the other red wire to another side of the Y with fuses between the white/red connection and red/red connection. I think this is correct (I'll solder and shrink-wrap everything together) but let me know if I'm wrong. Electrical is my Achilles heel.

 

 

Aron

[km3h 543]

Aaron

 

Don't use solder. No matter how good you are at it, solder won't hold up in this environment. And don't connect those two wires and tie them into one. By doing this you are asking that single wire to carry the load of the other two in tandem. By doing this you are creating an unwanted Fuse Link. The single wire will act like a fuse and, get hot and blow just like a regular fuse because it is carrying too much amperage.

 

My best advice to you is to use good marine grade crimping connectors. If the wires are to short then using connectors lengthen them. I don't know why you can't get enough wire from that string to do this. I never had that trouble. Look around to where the bundle is attached to the frame. you might have to free it up some.      

[broken96vr6 22]

I wanted to make sure we are talking about the same thing. In the picture below, the bridge is on both the 20A and 30A fuses. There are two white wires that are already connected together and inserted into one side of the 30A fuse and the bridge on the other side of the 30A fuse. The red wire is connected to one half of the 20A fuse with the other side of the fuse connected to the bridged wire. What I'm planning on doing is doing a Y split for the bridge then connecting one side of that bridge to the two white wires then the other side of the bridge to the red wire, not connect the two white wires and the red wire then running them together to the connection that is bridged like in the illustration below the picture. It will still be set up the same way with fuses inline instead of the fuse block. I'm going to go to a local car stereo store and pick up some nice 10G connectors and a splitter for the Y connection. I hope I'm making sense.

 

I forgot to add that I don't have a 9 pin connector. I'm guessing the PO had issues with it and replaced it with individual encased spade connectors so that took up most of the slack that I would have had. You can see them in the background of the first fuse box picture showing the fuses themselves.

 

Aron

 

 

 

Edited October 23, 2014 by broken96vr6

[Save Old Iron 1,563]

I wanted to make sure we are talking about the same thing. In the picture below, the bridge is on both the 20A and 30A fuses. There are two white wires that are already connected together and inserted into one side of the 30A fuse and the bridge on the other side of the 30A fuse. The red wire is connected to one half of the 20A fuse with the other side of the fuse connected to the bridged wire. What I'm planning on doing is doing a Y split for the bridge then connecting one side of that bridge to the two white wires then the other side of the bridge to the red wire, not connect the two white wires and the red wire then running them together to the connection that is bridged like in the illustration below the picture. It will still be set up the same way with fuses inline instead of the fuse block. I'm going to go to a local car stereo store and pick up some nice 10G connectors and a splitter for the Y connection. I hope I'm making sense.

 

I forgot to add that I don't have a 9 pin connector. I'm guessing the PO had issues with it and replaced it with individual encased spade connectors so that took up most of the slack that I would have had. You can see them in the background of the first fuse box picture showing the fuses themselves.

 

Aron

 

 

 

fuses.png

 

 

Not sure your drawing correctly clearly depicts the feeds.

 

The top red wire on the center fuse is fused to 30 amps [probably leads to the ignition switch].

 

The bottom red? wire on the center fuse would be fused to 20 amps.

 

The 15 amp is a no brainer as it is electrically independent of the other two fuses.

Edited October 23, 2014 by Save Old Iron

[Save Old Iron 1,563]

my impression of what you would like

 

 

[broken96vr6 22]

Yes. That is exactly what I'm thinking. A splitter instead of the bridged connection. Is that advised though?

 

Aron

[Save Old Iron 1,563]

ELECTRICALLY, the circuits are identical.

 

The quality of the parts used and the quality of your workmanship will determine if the repair is better or worse than the original circuit.

 

Use adhesive lined crimp connectors and / or adhesive lined heatshrink tubing.

Edited October 24, 2014 by Save Old Iron

[broken96vr6 22]

Thanks. I got 3 10G 30A capable sealed automotive fuse holders, weatherproof butt connectors (which I'll also shrink wrap around after), and a roll of 10G wire today. I'm going to mount them using the holes where the fuse block used to be on Saturday. I'll post up some pictures after with how it worked out. Thanks again SOI and km3h. I'm going to do a valve adjustment and de-carb in the spring as you suggested.

 

Aron

[bmsgaffer 2,043]

DANG those are the tires I am going to buy, I thought i would be the first! Kenda K502's? They look like it in the pickup anyway.

 

Can you post some more pics of your 520?

[broken96vr6 22]

I'll get some better ones next weekend when it's all back together and on the ground, but for now here are some showing the tires better before I started to really work on it. I'm not sure which Kenda model they are but I'll check tomorrow.

 

Aron

 

 

 

[bmsgaffer 2,043]

That is them for sure! Thanks for the pictures.

 

When you get her moving you will have to let me know how you like them.

[broken96vr6 22]

You are correct bmsgaffer, they are Kenda Terra-Trac K502-003 in 23x10.5x12.

 

Aron

[broken96vr6 22]

I installed the fuses in the way that SOI drew and everything works fine. Two problems I found were that one of the tail lights isn't lighting up (I'll play with that tomorrow) and I'm getting throttle surge at all RPMs but that does clear up when the choke is applied 1/4 way. I found a few good threads here on RS and it looks like that is a common problem (especially with a tractor that had 30 hours put on it in 12 years) so I'm going to clean it tomorrow. Put on the NOS 1996 foot tins and both side covers after buffing them quickly. Also replaced the fuel line from the tank to the fuel pump. I used clear HDPE instead of Buta-N rubber because I like being able to see if there is a fueling issue. PE is light hydrocarbon resistant, I'd have liked to use LDPE for more flexibility but stores around here only have PCV which isn't fuel resistant and HDPE tubing. Overall looks great now, it's a nice worker rather than a show restore. My 89 520H hood decals will be here tomorrow but Matt's foot pedal and the 1996 foot rest covers won't be here until the beginning of next week. I'm picking up new Sears wheel weights on Thursday on my way pack to my Moms place along with a really nice condition 42" tall chute single stage snow thrower outside of Loch Haven. I'll update as the rest of the parts get put on.

 

Aron

 

 

 

[broken96vr6 22]

I finished replacing the fuel lines all the way to the carb after just replacing the one from the tank to the pump. All of the hose ends were leaking to some degree and it looks like I was getting air in the fuel supply. I also cleaned the carb by removing the top and spraying all passages until I got good flow along with removing the idle jet and cleaning it out good. The float and bowl had some dirt in it so I made sure it was all clean and buttoned it back together (the gasket was like new so I just cleaned it off). Started right up, idled at low rpm with no choke, and the surging is gone! The tail light is another issue. I replaced both bulbs and switched out the leads under the seat but the right one still isn't lighting up. I'm going to order a new one when I order the stuff to do the valve adjustment and head cleaning in the spring. The decals came in and I put those on, they look great.

 

Aron

 

 

[km3h 543]

Use a star washer on the light that doesn't work. The lights on my tractor gets ground from being attached to the seat pan. After I painted my tractor I had no ground for the tail lights. I had to use sand paper to thin the paint and then put a star washer on it. Worked!!!!!

[cheesegrader 433]

The tail light is 3" center to center mount.  Same as standard boat trailer lights.

You should be able to get a replacement for a few dollars at any marine dealer.

[broken96vr6 22]

Thanks guys, I'm going to try the washer first since the problem is probably the ground and if that doesn't work Sohar's has new ones for cheap.

 

Aron

[km3h 543]

^{You can prove  the ground the ground by removing the lens, using a jumper from any bolt on the seat pan to the light post that does not have a wire on it. Of course the key must be on and the light switch must be on also.} 

[broken96vr6 22]

Alrighty! Got the tractor home and did some more work to it. I changed the transmission and engine oil, installed the wheel weights and tire chains, removed the mower and installed the snowblower (which is like new), and installed Matt's foot pedal hydro. I won't be fixing the one rear light being out but it is a ground issue, after using a jumper it worked but I don't want to take the tins off again until spring when I do the valve adjustment and carbon cleaning. I noticed a problem with the brakes when I was taking it off the back of the truck, there was no return tension which made it hard to get it in gear and I found the return spring was missing so I grabbed one at the local Toro dealer and that is working correctly now. I also installed a battery tender Jr and the foot rest covers. It's pretty much done for now. There was a small issue with the foot pedal but Matt was quick to reply and we figured out the problem quickly. Anyway it looks and runs great.

 

If someone could help me real quick, the 48" deck shell I got is like new but it doesn't have blades/rollers/wheel/belt. I started looking into it and it seems as though it's from the 60's or 70s and I've seen it on Charger and GT 14 models using google image search. It's very solid, almost new except for the paint being worn and some surface rust. Would this fit on the 520 or should I just sell it to someone restoring an older tractor? Thanks!

 

And here's some updated pictures of the 520.

 

[km3h 543]

That is one fine looking Horse.

[ericj 1,576]

loookin gooood. nice tractor

 

 

 

eric j

[bmsgaffer 2,043]

Loving that...

 

Still leave me wondering what tires to get . I like the way they look but they arent as aggressive as I thought they would be...

[broken96vr6 22]

Thanks guys. I'm probably going to repaint the engine fan and shroud when I take it apart for the valves. I really can't tell you about the tires Brandon, it had no problems going up the hills in the yard and they might be fine for plowing without chains, but I didn't want to take a chance that they weren't and have to put them on when they were stuck in the snow. I like the tread and I just ordered a set for the front since both of them have a slow leak from http://www.greaterclevelandtire.com/servlet/the-Mower-Tires/s/100/Categories They have the 23x10.5x12 for $133.

 

Aron