Cub cadet 73 voltage regulator question
 

I have a 73 that the wiring was shot (mostly bare by generator). So I rewired it. I got it working good and is charging now which before it was not charging at all. But the voltage I have at full throttle is 15v and at idle it’s around 13. Is this normal? Also there is no ground to the case of the regulator right? I would attach some pictures but not sure how....

Figured it out...

Per the Wiring Diagram, the case of the V/R "needs" to be grounded.

:IH Trusted Hand:

I saw that in the diagram but the tractor was grounded there to the frame where the green wire is and also I don’t have a ground wire on the regulator. I thought about that too but couldn’t find anything

Those rubber isolation mounting pads usually have a braided lead from the regulator to the brackets the bolts go into, look to see if it is there.
if not, look to see if they once had witness marks where they were spot welded onto them.
As it shows in the wiring diagram, a ground is necessary for it to function correctly.:bigthink:
Sometimes they are on the inside where you have to remove the reg. to see.

At the risk of plagiarizing the CubCadetMan I will post his drawing that I found very helpful. Here is my understanding of the regulator, but I could be wrong. Feedback welcome. Flame on! I can take it!

The two relays in the regulator serve three functions; one to regulate the generator output voltage, and the other to disconnect the battery from the generator if the generator isn't outputting voltage or if the charge current into the battery is too high.

The leftmost field relay is normally closed, shorting the generator field terminal to ground. When running, this contact is quickly cycling on and off to maintain a proper charge voltage (around 14 volts). The generator charging output can be tested by grounding the field wire momentarily to verify the output voltage jumps to max, about 16 volts.

The rightmost relay has two controlling coils. The lower thin wire coil connects the battery to the generator only when it is outputting charge voltage to prevent draining the battery when parked. The upper heavy wire coil disconnects the battery from the generator if the charge current into the battery is excessive.

Too much time on my hands
 

The regulator on my 149 seems to work fine but it is old and the rubber isolation strips have dry-rotted and split apart. Since I'm cheap and have time to kill, I ground off the rivets holding the rubber strips and riveted in new strips cut from an old rubber bungee cord. It was thicker than the original but worked fine.

It took about an hour, so maybe not worth it. New after-market costs about $25 and US-made is over $60 I think.

Good idea, in my younger days I've used many a tire sidewall strip as an exhaust system hanger on a custom install.
Necessity is the mother of invention :beerchug: