[AT] When Lost How do You Find It

[drupert at seanet.com]

> A friend/neighbor has a Ferguson 35 with a Loader hung on it.  Friday he
called saying it just "quit" on him after running fine since the day he
got it which has been quite a few years ago now.  I might add he's done
nothing tune up wise on it.  Anyhow, I went over to see what I could do.
 It appeared that good looking gas ran out of the Carb Bowl Drain when
opened so gas didn't appear to be the problem.  I twisted my arm up in a
pretzel and got the end of it to the Distributor and removed the Cap -
there was definitely a problem there.  I decided it would be easier to
take the Distributor out and repair it at home - I carefully left marks
to aid in the reinstallation.

Unfortunately, when I reinstalled the Distributor Saturday I failed to get
the gear on the bottom properly mated with its' driving Gear on the Cam
Shaft and I turned the engine over a couple of times before realizing
this.  At this point I started getting the feeling that I was falling into
a Big Black Hole.  This engine does not have Timing Marks on the Crank
Pulley but rather has (or is supposed to have) them on the front of the
Flywheel.  An Access Hole is provided in the front of the Bell Housing
below the Starter to view these marks.  Access to this Hole required I now
twist my entire body into a pretzel, crawl up in-between the Loader Frame
and Tractor and, with a flashlight, peer back into this Hole with the
owner running the Starter.  After three complete revolutions of the
Flywheel no Timing Marks were observed.

I now knew for sure I was in a Black Hole and was starting to wonder is
there a way out ... how do you find Top Dead Center of say the Number 1
Cylinder when you have no reference marks to go by?  My number one son
came over this evening and we discussed it - or rather he told me what to
do.  He said that since we could get air out to the tractor to blow the
numbers  2/3 down (thus driving 1 & 4 up) and mark the Crank Pulley and
Timing Cover.  Next, blow number 1 down noting which direction the engine
rotates... if it rotates backwards then number 1 had not reached TDC but
if it rotates forward then it had passed TDC.  Next, blow 2/3 down again
(which drives 1 & 4 back up), then by hand rotate the engine slightly
forward (if it had previously rotated backwards) or slightly backwards (if
it had previously rotated forwards) and put a second mark on the Pulley. 
By this method of successive approximation he thought you could zero in on
TDC.

I would like to know if any of you have tried this method or know why it
won't work or know of a better method.  If the weather is decent this
afternoon (the tractor is outside) we will be  back at  it.

Thanks  -
Dudley
Snohomish, Washington