Old Farm Tractor the sequel~

( The ground clamp for my hot wire being used as a Battery bolt...sigh)

`This little tractor has been surprisingly easy to maintain.... in the three years I have had it here at my farm, it has only every failed to start a couple of times, had the steering break a couple of times, and overheated once.
Each time I make an incremental repair/upgrade, it sticks..... the amount of effort to keep it running seems to be going down, rather than up.
It really does feel like I am in a conversation with my Dad, every time I work with the thing. There's so much of him wrapped up in the quirks and solutions.......
In the form of an update on both the Tractor, and the employment status.....Turns out there's more wrong than a flat battery with the tractor. I was mowing stuff so tall and thick the motor was bogging down. With all the crud in the radiator, and the bad fan belt, I would not have been able to do that. Adding the new belt and mowing for 4 hours straight was not enough to put a charge on the battery.... as soon as I turned it off, the battery was completely flat again. The tractor ran nice and cool, throughout, tho... that's a big improvement.
That made me break out my fluke multimeter, to get a reading on the battery, then to get one on the running tractor to see if the alternator is generating 14+ volts.... Only, it's been over 6 years since I last put a new battery in the Fluke, so needless to say it doesn't work. Dug around for a 9 V battery, only to find out all the ones we have at the house are waaaayyyyy old. Cases have swollen up and they are completely lifeless.
I think my wife would notice, if I stole one out of one of the smoke detectors, especially since my son is baking me a birthday cake at the moment. :)
Turns out the electrical connection between the cable, and the battery terminal was the problem. Jump starting the tractor with my car allowed juice to get to the glow plugs, and to the starter, but bypassed the battery all together.
I know this, because I could measure the voltage on the jumper cable clamps @ 14.8 VDC, with them clamped onto the cables from the tractor to the battery terminals. Poking the terminal end itself, measured only 12.5 VDC. No juice through the connection.
Taking the cable off the terminal, and sanding the terminal allowed shiny metal to show.... a much better conductor. Sanding the inside of the cable clamp also produced shiny metal.... but the bolt had rotted away, to the point that it would not apply mechanical force to the clamping surface.
I needed a new bolt. Did I mention I live 10 miles from the nearest source?
Now that I have good, direct contact, the Tractor starts right up. :)
Yes, I have bought a new cable, anti corrosion compound, and plan on replacing my 'artwork' at first opportunity. I had to use the bolt to tap the holes on the cable clamp.... I don't know what the metal alloy is in the clamp, but it was soft enough that I could cut threads with the steel bolt. Got pretty hot, but that was allowable. :) I've got a complete circuit. The bronze clamp/tear drop thingy, I could have cut off, and just used the threaded end.... since I planned on buying another cable with new termination, I left it 'normal' so I could use the rod clamp as designed...... I still have one more ground rod I can drive in.
Fence gives you a pretty good whack as it is; I don't really want to increase the effect if I don't need to. :)
So I managed to stop at a local hardware store and bought myself a replacement battery cable for the tractor... along with those felt pads for under the terminals, and a can of spray on preservative to reduce corrosion in the future.
A few days later (yesterday) I managed to get the time to actually pull the old positive cable off the tractor and bolt in my replacement. Dressed it up quite nicely, with the little felt pad, and the purple spray on stuff......
Which made me look at the negative battery cable with some distaste........
"Well, I'll just loosen that up, clean up the connection, add the felt pad, and bolt it back down". Did I mention I live 10 miles from the nearest place I can get replacement parts? Put the wrench on the nut of the bolt clamping that cable on the terminal, and twisted.
Snap! The cable clamp broke right in half. Broke both legs off the 'wishbone' so to speak. No way to bodge that one together..... and there's no way I am going to use my old kludge on the other side of the battery! Now I need to talk the wife into me making a trip to the hardware store to buy the Negative cable.......