[AT] Case DH Christmas present

[Ken Knierim]

Hi Gene,
    I had the mag apart during the buildup process and the clock
spring was in good shape. The impulse is still working and you can
hear it snapping nicely. The problem is that no spark comes out. When
I advanced and retarded the timing a few times, the spark came back
(using a spark plug as a tester). That leads me to believe it's
something in the points section of the mag. I need to get in there and
clean it up again and make sure I didn't get some dust or something on
the points... and maybe threaten it with a multimeter just to be sure.
    I added the inline generator between the mag and the mag drive
like they used on the early DC's so this piece of the tractor has seen
more than its fair share of my time. The generator and magneto drive
couplers were shot so we had to weld the lugs on them up and machine
them back down. We also made new brass couplers to go between the
drive and driven lugs. During the work yesterday we broke one of the
new brass couplers we made. This is when I found out that it lost
spark the first time... I couldn't get spark when manually rolling the
mag over the impulse when I was trying to time it back up. Thought it
was an abnormality at the time.  Since we had found a steel coupler
recently we installed that yesterday where the new one broke and that
seemed to at least get everything driving properly again at that
point. It quit again later and did NOT want to start.
   If all else fails, I have a spare mag off a parts tractor but I
have to finish putting that one back together yet. The drive end is
still apart from when we welded and machined the lugs on it too.
Shouldn't take long to put in there if I keep having troubles with
this one. I can tell you that pulling on the crank DOES tend to make a
person stop and think of what might be causing trouble. It also makes
a person want to FIX it too. I don't have a battery or cables or
starter switch for this beast yet. I DID get it to start on the second
pull after letting it set for a while yesterday though. That was
inspiring. This is fun... at least I'm not out in a snowdrift fighting
with it!

Thanks for the help!

Ken in AZ




On Fri, Dec 26, 2008 at 9:30 AM, Gene Dotson <gdotsly at watchtv.net> wrote:
>    Ken;
>    If it gives trouble when starting, it is likely a sticking impulse
> drive. Probably have to pull the mag and clean the impulse. While you have
> it off, check to see if it has a broken clock spring. They will sometimes
> break and still have enough internal friction to still snap the impulse, but
> will keep retarding the timing till it won't start or run.
>
>                        Gene
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Ken Knierim" <ken.knierim at gmail.com>
> To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
> Sent: Friday, December 26, 2008 10:58 AM
> Subject: [AT] Case DH Christmas present
>
>
>> Folks,
>>   I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! After spending some
>> time with the family for breakfast and opening presents, I went out
>> and took a shot at firing up the DH I've been tinkering on for years.
>> Well, after a relatively short period of time I had it running
>> smoothly. There were a few kinks along the way but after all it's been
>> through, it was good to see the tractor run and drive. I believe the
>> last time this was actually driven was 1981 or thereabouts. I still
>> need to get the correct front end for the tractor (it has a DC front
>> axle on it right now) and some other minor issues but it fired up,
>> drove around the yard a bit and did what it was supposed to. The
>> typical minor issues (a couple leaks found after everything warmed up)
>> coupled with a light drizzling rain (Rain? in Phoenix? on Christmas?
>> naw!) and what looks like an intermittent magneto (something in the
>> timing advance setting cause it to loose fire sometimes, especially
>> when you want to start it up) caused me to park it back in the shop
>> and wait for better weather.
>>
>> It was one of my many great Christmas presents. I hope everyone else
>> had nearly as good a Christmas day as we had here.
>>
>> Ken in AZ
>> _______________________________________________
>> AT mailing list
>> http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
> No virus found in this incoming message.
> Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com
> Version: 8.0.176 / Virus Database: 270.10.0/1864 - Release Date: 12/25/2008
> 9:40 AM
>
> _______________________________________________
> AT mailing list
> http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at
>