[AT] Tractor Blues... Gone. My Jubilee is up and running.

[WF Smith]

I think my only contribution to this list is sharing my mistakes, so here is
my submission. To save yourself some time, if time is of the essence, the
two most important points of this post are enclosed thusly:  >>>>>>helpful
tips<<<<<<

A couple weeks ago I decided to do something about the starter cable on my
Jubilee. Although the tractor always started faithfully, all the insulation
had rotted off and the risk of a bad short right below the carb and fuel
line was worrisome. Additionally, the proofmeter never worked since I bought
the tractor, (needle had fallen off and it sounded full of gravel), there
was no panel light, the ammeter was full of water and the temp gauge never
registered. The oil pressure gauge registered *sometimes* and was fogged.

So, I ordered a new starter cable and an instrument set from Yesterdays
Tractors and got out my set of 12 and 10 ga. wire and connectors and set
about replacing the mess under the hood one wire at a time. I had to replace
the headlight switch and rewire the headlights as that had all been messed
up and non functional as well.

No one gave an answer when I asked ATIS how to remove the starter from a
Jubilee, and if it required removal of the oil filter. That was because when
I removed the cable it sheared off the lug and I had to take the starter to
a rebuild shop to have the lug replaced. At this shop they repaired the lug
with an extension, cleaned the starter, checked the brushes and bench tested
it. Everything was fine. At this point I'd like to thank "Soundguy", who I
contacted directly via email regarding starter removal, because google
turned up a thread he had posted in on YT's forums about having his Jubilee
starter rebuilt. So, combining his experience with mine, I am going to type
this for the benefit of google and other search engines to come:

>>>>>Ford Jubilee Ford NAA starter removal. If you have the original
cartridge type oil filter you must remove it to remove the starter. If you
allow the engine to cool and drain down you will lose about a half pint of
motor oil. If you have installed the spin on adaptor you will not have to
remove the oil filter.<<<<<

The new gauges are in, the headlights and instrument lights are working, and
I have a supposedly good starter.

OK, that's part one of the story.

Part two is, I re-installed the starter and cleaned the battery terminals. I
hit the starter button and only got a "knock" out of the very old solenoid.
I have 12.2 volts out of the battery, and pressing the starter button sends
12 volts to the starter but still just a knock. At this point I charged the
battery overnight and tried again with the same result. I emailed George
Willer with the readers digest version of the story and he replied maybe the
solenoid was bad. I shorted the solenoid terminals and still got nothing so
I figured that was it. Off to NAPA I went and the counterman was an antique
tractor fan and spent a lot of time flipping those books and keying his
computer. He wanted to know if it had been converted to 12v and so on. He
came up with a 3 terminal solenoid he thought would work for about 10 bucks.
Well, it wouldn't. I installed the new solenoid and couldn't get any
response. I began prodding it with my voltage and continuity meter and just
got more and more confused. So...I called a good friend and neighbor and he
came by to help me check it out.

Here's the deal- NAPA gave me the wrong solenoid. It was an easy mistake for
them to make and it is an easy one to work around if you are in a pinch.
Here's how.

>>>>>On this tractor, you should have continuity from the small solenoid
switch terminal to the larger battery terminal. Pressing the starter switch
on the transmission cover (with the tractor in neutral) should send "ground"
to the small solenoid terminal. You do not want continuity between the small
terminal and the mounting bracket. If you have continuity between the
mounting bracket and any of the small terminals you will have to make some
unsafe changes I'd rather not describe to make that solenoid function, as it
requires bypassing the transmission/neutral interlock feature and using a
different ignition switch other than the original "on-off". If you wind up
with a 4-terminal solenoid, with two large terminals and two smaller
terminals, but no continuity between the small terminals and mounting
bracket you can use it by installing a jumper wire from the "I" Ignition
terminal to the Battery terminal of the solenoid, and wire the starter
button to the "S" Starter terminal on the solenoid. It will work the same
and preserve the neutral interlock. If you are in a bind for a solenoid, and
especially if the tractor has been converted from original to 12v and so
forth- take your multi-meter to the parts store and you will be able to find
a solenoid that works.<<<<<<<

Here is where I made my mistakes earlier... My new solenoid was wrong, my
old one tested right, so based on my friends conviction I re-installed the
old one. We tested it, got the "knock" and got flashes of 12+ volts to the
starter. He said "Your battery is bad". I flipped on and off on the
headlights to show him it worked, then we jumped the solenoid terminals and
got a groan from the starter and he said "your battery is bad". We cleaned
all the terminals and connections and connected jumper cables post to post
from my truck and got the knock and he said "your battery is bad". He
disconnected the cables from the tractor battery and reconnected them to the
solenoid battery terminal and to the starter body and we pressed the starter
button and "voila", the tractor spun up and started. I realize I may have a
problem in my battery cables and I will check them, but I'm going to take
the battery to be load tested and probably replaced.

Long story short: It's usually something simple and sometimes it's best to
leave well enough alone.

Warren