The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay 12 v starter or 6v starter

Hi my name is sal and I'm building a 1953 chevy truck with a 235 engine and I'm going to run a 12v system .. My question is should I change the starter over to a 12 v starter or stay with the 6v stater ? I don't know which is better for the ring gear ........ Thxs sal

Sal.

If you use a 12v starter with a 12v flywheel, or a 6v starter with a 6v flywheel, you'll have no problem with the ring gear or teeth on the starter drive (the teeth match).

Using a 6v starter/flywheel with a 12v electrical system will cause the starter to turn faster and might wear out the starter motor if you crank for long periods. Many people do this with no problems.

using 12 volts on a 6 volt starter is common as Tim says, I did have a problem using 36 volts on a 24 volt starter for a big cummins. The shaft was quite long, and would twist, causing the drivegear/bendix assembly to hang up. It was easy enough to fix. I don't know if it was the extra voltage or if the starter was just not really big enough for what it was doing. But we had 3 of those engines that boat, and they all did the same thing. However I have heard of no problems using the 6 volt starter with 12 volts. This is one of the reasons I stick with the 6 volt system. I don't have to worry about any of that stuff, and it has worked without a hitch for the 30 years I have owned it. I even found 6 volt LED's.

Not to change topic, but where did you find 6v led's
Richard

For what application? Dash lights? Tail/Stop lights? Signal lights? There are LEDs available for some applications but not all. I personally have found 6v LEDs to be lacking, little (if any) brighter than the incandescent bulbs they replace. Some swear by them. I've found better results by using halogen 6v dash light bulbs from Bill Hirsch.

What is a 12v fly wheel or 6v fly wheel never heard of it

they have a different number of teeth to match the different starters, if you want to switch to a 12V starter, you'll need to change the ring gear or find a later flywheel .... use 12V on the original 6V starter and you'll be fine

Bill

I've used a 6V starter on 12V for years, just don't lay on it. If it doesn't start right away, there's something else wrong.

The simple/practical answer is:

A 12v flywheel is one that came on a 12v truck.
168 teeth on the flywheel is 12v.

A 6v flywheel is one that came on a 6v truck.
139 teeth on the flywheel is 6v.

Both the 6v and 12v starters have 9 teeth. The difference is in the diameter of the drive-gear on the starters. The second post here has a good explanation/description.

6v LEDs with replacement part numbers

http://www.ledlight.com/s25-24-led-light-6-volt-dc.aspx

Note that most/many LED bulbs are "ground sensitive". Be sure to get positive ground or negative ground LED bulbs, depending on your vehicle's ground (usually, 6v GMC is positive ground and 6v Chevrolet is negative ground).

I bought some of the BA9s in your first link. Dimmer than the stock incandescent bulbs. I'd be interested in seeing what the bulbs in the second link do but not interested enough to buy them. With a tiny bend of the bracket I have a 6v tail light with incandescent bulbs comparable to a modern 12v. My 6v '38 on the left & modern 12v on the right.

On my 46 kept all original 216 bellhousing, flywheel and starter, been running with 12v over 20 years, no problem. But you cannot mix any of this stuff with the later 12 volt parts, not compatable with old stuff. You can go with ALL later items. I kept the old stuff for the foot starter which will never fail like a solinoid will.

Yes, the 1 and 4 LED BA( bulbs are shown to be relatively dim.

I'll be trying the 19 LED 1156 &/or 1157 bulbs this summer.