[Farmall] H Woes

[Michael Miller]

List,

My employer has an H that has been in the family since new.   His son went 
through and rebuilt it a few years ago.   It does not run right.   It seems 
to miss, and doesn't have any power.   Supposedly the Carb has been rebuilt 
and all tuneup parts replaced.   The mechanic isn't much of a gasoline motor 
guy and while he does good work he is short on patience when he tries to 
work on a gasser that has an issue other than it is out of gas.   I have 
tried playing with it a little bit, and some things I've discovered:   
Changing the timing helps the miss, and the power, but it doesn't totally 
cure it.   Changing the timing also makes it impossible to crank start the 
old girl.  You can crank start it easily if the timing is set at one 
specific place.  I am timing by ear, no timing light involved.   I am almost 
tempted to say I think the automatic advance isn't working in the 
distributor.   I really hate to tear the thing apart and make it totally 
inoperable, so I am looking for any advice as far as what to look at and 
what I will find if I do tear that distributor apart.   Worn bushings?   
Worn Gears?   mucked up auto-advance?


Many thanks on ideas on where to start.   I know I haven't given you much 
information but its been a couple weeks since I've messed with her and my 
memory isn't as good as it used to be :-)

Thanks again
Mike