Diode cutout failure?
 

Just curious, what happens if and when a diode cutout goes south, with a stock third brush generator, as witnessed by the ammeter:confused:

Or, do you do a voltage check on the cutout and figure it from there? Thanks from a guy that loaned out his Fluke meter never to see it again, Need to get to Farm King and at least buy a $20 volt meter................

Re: Diode cutout failure?
 

Never mind this post..... I was just over at the Auto Zone and got a nice DC Voltmeter no more 'stumbling in the dark' with only a test light. Oh, and three tubes of John Deere Corn Head Grease from the local JD dealership to pack the steering boxes on the Model A and the '36 pickup. The 600W runs out of the pickup as fast as you can pour it in, and it was supposedly rebuilt!

Deere is running some great deals on riding mower equipment check them out. JD is the best (coming from a JD retiree;) ) Hard working people who do care. Honest. Deere is a top rate organization. Pluck will attest to that!

New Garden tractors have some pretty hefty warranties. My GT 275 is 20 years old this month and runs like it was still new. 17HP Kawasaki engine. Great mower.

Thanks all.

Re: Diode cutout failure?
 

What do you mean John Deere is the best? :confused:

I'm pretty sure International is the best. Why even my original Cub Cadet can move a house. :D

Re: Diode cutout failure?
 

Heh, Tom, is that your second home, or home away from home?

Re: Diode cutout failure?
 

When I visited Germany in 1987 I saw a guy with a farm tractor pulling a gypsy wagon around on the roads. That was his mobile home for vacations. BTW, Germany sure is a beautiful country.

I just finished this dog house this morning and will use it to store my Delco light plant and a Model A engine in. I'll post more about it later.

Re: Diode cutout failure?
 

That's his "Tiny House", they're all the rage.:D

Re: Diode cutout failure?
 

Over the years a number of us neighbors had loaned tools to an old coot that seldom returned them and could never seem to find them in his messy shop. After his death, his well organized wife held a yard sale in which all the missing tools appeared on display.

Re: Diode cutout failure?
 

Cub Cadets are the second best pieces of equipment!! An IH guy told me in the early 70's that Cub Cadets used a Ford rear end, not sure if that's true or not but sure made an impression on me! I'm sure the new ones are made by probably Toro, and are no way near as tough as the one in Tom's photo.

Yes have worked and lived in Germany myself. For JD:) plus vacation time visiting WWII battle sites and battle sites in France, Belguim, and Luxembourg and the American Military Cemeteries that put any golf course to shame, beautiful places for our veterans who didn't make it out.

Southern Germany is the best, you can't beat Bavaria. I have family living still in Zweibrucken and farming around Reifenberg, (the Saar and extreme western Bayern areas) and others up in the Rhineland. Nice people. The Germans are hard working, clean, thrifty and well organized and punctual people. Didn't see much antique car activity but a lot of pretty neat BMW's and Mercedes! The area around Friedrichshofen and the Bodensee is pretty neat, and off towards the Austrian border NeuSchwansteinschloss and such.

Gotta run got some neat tools from Ursus' neighbor's yard sale on the cheap, anxious to go try them out!

Re: Diode cutout failure?
 

To the OP's original question... diodes generally fail in one of two modes: a dead short, or an open. So either like a stock cutout was stuck in the closed position, or in the open position.

Re: Diode cutout failure?
 

Just a caution regarding diode cutouts for your Model A. Current only flows one way in a diode. The Model T is negative ground, the Model A is positive ground. Each requires a different current directional diode, so do not buy one from a Model T parts dealer, and one on a flea market vendors table is often unknown which type it is, so beware.

Re: Diode cutout failure?
 

In general, you just turn the diode around the other way...

Re: Diode cutout failure?
 

In the past 25 years and 30k miles I've had two diode cutouts fail. In both cases they failed by leaking in the reverse direction ie... with everything turned off the ammeter showed a discharge of about two amps.

Re: Diode cutout failure?
 

lindy that's good to know. I see that nothing is perfect.

I went back to original recently, no particular reason if not for Tom telling me not to run a diode cutout with his EVR unless I snip the little green wire that comes off it. I think I'll just let it be. Why fool with the work of a master Model A mechanic?

Re: Diode cutout failure?
 

I love old cub cadetes like tom posted - new new ones as in the last 2 years are all made by MTD now I think - aka stamped sheetmetal junk. I have a 73 simplicity riding mower and a late 70's allis chalmers. Absolutely love them for riding mowers.

I do like john deere mowers - hate paying for their parts but they do make a robust mower. I too prefer anything pre 1990 when it comes to mowers - still built to last 20+ years.

Re: Diode cutout failure?
 

Farm King used to sell 'Yardmaster' brand riding mowers. Maybe they still do. Anyway a woman that lived outside of town bought one years ago, and crowed to me how they 'look just like a John Deere and a fraction of the price'?? They tried to imitate JD with a goofy looking green/yellow paint scheme. JD has patent rights on their colors for equipment.

Two seasons later I saw her on a different mower and asked 'Where's your Yardmaster?' She said 'That piece of junk, I pushed it over the ravine for it to rot a slow death. I got tired of having it worked on and breaking down."

Re: Diode cutout failure?
 

Yep, junk is junk no matter how you try to disguise it. When I got out of the Army I wanted a riding lawn mower, and my neighbor told me about one that had electric start, lights, and even a cigarette lighter. Within a couple months I removed the hood and left it off to make it easier to work on. The transmission was a rubber wheel that rode 90 degrees to an aluminum disc. You'd slide the rubber wheel to one side for reverse, and different locations on the other side of center for different speeds. This piece of junk was a Polaron built in Michigan City, Indiana, which went out of business right after I bought the slightly used machine. I called it my "fix and mow" because I had to fix for 6 hours for every 3 hours I mowed.