[Farmall] Starting 340

[Larry L Hardesty]

Mike, Thanks.  I cleaned the connections (tried the jumper cable idea and 
got a quicker start) and then put on a heavier ground cable.  It does 
better now.  I had a pretty heavy cable from the negative to the starter 
(a long distance), but the positive ground cable was not as heavy.  I did 
several things so hard to tell if any one or several of them did the 
trick.

Thanks much.

Larry

Larry Hardesty
Kearney, Nebraska 68849-2240
308-865-8535
308-865-8722 fax
hardestyll at unk.edu



Mike Sloane <msloane at att.net> 
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09/11/2004 01:52 PM
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Larry L Hardesty wrote:

> Folks,  Perhaps you can solve my problem.  My Farmall 340 (gas) has 
always 
> been a reluctant starter.  I had it overhauled a few years ago and have 
> only about 100 hours on it.   It is 6-volt.  Whenever I go to start it, 
it 
> barely turns over and then usually starts.  I put a new battery on it 
> recently, and same problem.  Always acts like it will barely turn over. 
I 
> disconnect the battery whenever I shut it off (have a couple of quick 
> disconnects on it). 
Been there, done that with my 340 (see the archives). I rebuilt the 
starter, but in a brand new battery, and it still cranked slowly. I 
think that the problem centers around the use of a battery mounted about 
as far from the stater as you could put it and still have it attached to 
the tractor. :-) The ground connections are the critical item here, as 
steel (or cast iron, in this case) is a relatively poor conductor of 
electricity. Believe it or not, it would hot hurt to remove several of 
the transmission cover bolts (especially the one used for grounding the 
battery) and clean them thoroughly until they are bright (instead of 
rusty), spray some penetrating oil in the holes, and snut them up tight. 
It also wouldn't hurt to do the same with the bolts/studs attaching the 
transmission to the engine, etc., and also the starter bolts.

OR You could replace the short ground cable with a long one that goes 
directly to the bolt holding the starter to the engine. You need to use 
the extra large size cable with a soldered lug on the starter side and a 
"heavy duty" or copper/brass battery clamp at the other end. Make sure 
the negative cable going to the solenoid is in good shape also (look for 
bulges in the insulation, which indicate corrosion underneath). Finally, 
someone suggested the use of "heavy duty" jumper cables to parallel the 
regular cables; I have never found any jumper cables that are heavy 
enough to do a proper job on 6 volt battery connections.

By the way, I just returned from vacation and discovered that someone 
filled up my "inbox" with a couple of huge image files, so that WorldNet 
started sending out messages to all sendere that they wouldn't accept 
any more messages. I have now dumped the files and apologize to anyone 
who send me messages after 9/9 and had them bounce.

Mike
> 
> Where should I start looking first, second, third, etc.   I think I have 

> fairly heavy duty cables from the battery to the ground, etc. (it is a 
> positive ground system). 
> 
> Thanks in advance.
> 
> Larry Hardesty
> Kearney, Nebraska
> 

-- 
Mike Sloane
Allamuchy NJ
Email: (msloane at att.net)
Website: <http://www.geocities.com/mikesloane>
Blog: <www.mikesloane.blogspot.com
Tractor images: <www.fotki.com/mikesloane>
Work: none - retired

Our elections are free, it's in the results where eventually we pay. 
-Bill Stern, sports announcer (1907-1971)
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