The Fordson Tractor Pages Forum

Will a standard 12V automotive battery be adequate for a 1955 Fordson Major Diesel, or should I be looking for something more? Will be used in Northern Minnesota, USA, where temperatures will be below freezing for a good portion of the year. Sometimes, significantly below freezing. It does have a heater installed in the coolant line.

Short answer is yes, but get a larger-sized battery. While the Fordson has a 12 volt system, it originally used two Group-1 six-volt batteries in series to get a large enough cranking capacity from batteries of the time.

Me and my dad like using Group-31 batteries on our farm equipment. Our Case backhoe uses one and it has a lot of capacity for cranking cold or stubborn engines.

For cold weather starting, I would also suggest you look closely at your wiring, particularly the large cables running from the battery, to the solenoid, to the starter. Any corrosion in and around those wire connectors will have an effect on how the starter motor performs.

Also, make sure you have a decent battery charger - you are going to want to make sure the battery is fully charged when it's out in the cold.

Here is a tip for the Fordson Major batteries - you can get batteries from time to time from the vintage battery specialists similar to the originals when they decide to do a production run.

However Varta do a battery which I think is used on a Volvo truck application which is an almost square battery very much like the big square 12 volt battery originally used on Fordson Majors before they went onto two 6 volt batteries wired in series.
This battery fits the Fordson Major battery tray very nicely with very little space all round so that it looks like an original big 12 volt or two 6 volts wired in series - in other words it fills the battery tray up very nicely and it also has a black case. It has a huge amp hour output.

The reference is Varta Promotive Black 635042068, about £230 retail but up to you to negotiate the discount from your suppliers - I get about 45% off.

I have a Varta 12V 100 ah in it, which works fine

Thank you! I very much appreciate all of the advice!

A '643' is relatively cheap to buy (for its size, compared to car-type batteries), fits a Major's battery-tray, and has enough oomph to start a 6-cylinder combine engine in summer, and a Major in a normal Scottish winter: https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from ... y&_sacat=0

A '644' is the same battery but has the terminals the opposite way round, and is the same price..

Hi blackbob and mathias

The point I am making is that this battery from Varta fills the battery tray up and has a black case and is the nearest thing to the originals that you will get in a modern battery. When it is fitted it looks correct, you can fit the 643/644 or the bigger ampage 663/664 batteries, they fit the battery tray in one direction across the tray side to side but leave an annoying gap because they are nowhere near as wide longitudinally as the tray is. For a few quid more you get something that looks right - probably doesn't matter on a working tractor but if you have a good clean original tractor or a high class restoration tractor then it is worth spending that bit more. I have them on all my Majors which are all original low hours tractors. Varta is the only brand I buy for everything I have as I prefer quality to price.

Hi Shepp, I've seen the cheapskate alternative where someone had carefully gutted an old original dead battery and stood a smaller modern one inside the carcase so it looked genuine until you lift the bonnet

Sounds like Varta is getting a few votes for quality.

I put my paperwork and a bottle of water in the gap between battery and fuel tank.

Spanners and wire for bleeding / cleaning fuel lines, (sawdust gets EVERYWHERE) a wire brush and filling funnel between mine Mathias

Have a contact with Interstate Battery, going with the Interstate MTP-65HD. Already have good heavy cables. Thanks for all the advice/responses.
B

oehrick wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 28, 2018 12:36 am

Hi Shepp, I've seen the cheapskate alternative where someone had carefully gutted an old original dead battery and stood a smaller modern one inside the carcase so it looked genuine until you lift the bonnet

Sounds like Varta is getting a few votes for quality.

Do you have a pic of it? It might do if we struggle to find a proper sized one, and our recovery efforts on one of our old ones is completely useless.
Having said that, the first battery in the recovering thread (viewtopic.php?f=7&t=8361) is still available from it's manufacturer (Tudor 165Ah), and although I'm not sure if it's a good quality buy by normal standards (our one was dry and sat out in the weather for over 10 years, having already been used), I think it's good as I think after another charge it might start something (during the last charge the electrolyte seemed water, but it's now pretty acid after sitting for a week or two). The Varta one suggested earlier looks good, our only experience with one of their batteries was very brief as it's the one Super Billy got just before the big end got totally finished (the battery was then dumped in the barn), it's our only old battery with clean poles, as the others all have deposits on them.
Sandy

I've just found pics of what might be original batteries.
https://www.picclickimg.com/d/l400/pict ... r-With.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlNjL2R ... rdLassfolk
Sandy