[AT] When Lost How do You Find It

[John Widener]

1) Make an indicator using a jar of light oil, a old spark plug and a clear 
plastic tubing. Put the plastic tubing on the end of the spark plug after 
you break up the spark plug to make it air tight.

2) Take all the spark plugs out of the engine. Turn the engine with your 
thumb in the number one spark plug hole until you feel pressure on your 
thumb. The top of this stroke is the top dead center, or the compression 
stroke. You can use the starter to turn the engine over, but if you feel 
more comfortable with the battery cable unhooked, you can use a wrench on 
the alternator to turn it. You can also use a wrench on the crankshaft 
pulley.

3)  Put the spark plug with the plastic tubing in the number one spark plug 
hole. Place the other end of the tubing into the jar of light oil. As you 
keep turning the motor, bubbles will be blown into the oil until the piston 
reaches the top. When the piston starts back down, the oil will be sucked 
into the tube. Stop and mark the engine body and the crank pulley. Also mark 
the tube where the oil stopped.

4) Turn the engine backwards and the oil will go back into the jar. Keep 
turning the motor until the oil is sucked back into the tube. Stop at the 
mark and the pulley should line up with the first mark you made. Make 
another mark on the crank pulley and the midpoint between the marks should 
be top dead center.



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "charliehill" <charliehill at embarqmail.com>
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Monday, March 29, 2010 5:45 AM
Subject: Re: [AT] When Lost How do You Find It


> Dudley,  the way we always did it was put our finger over the spark plug
> hole on number one and spin the engine slowly until it blows our finger 
> off
> the hole.  It will only do that on the compression stroke.  If you do it
> slowly, when you feel the whoosh push your finger off you should be close
> enough to TDC to get it to run and fine tune it from there.
>
> I'm glad it's you and not me.  No good deed goes unpunished.  grins
>
> charlie
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: <drupert at seanet.com>
> To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" 
> <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
> Sent: Monday, March 29, 2010 3:30 AM
> Subject: [AT] When Lost How do You Find It
>
>
>>> 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
>>
>>
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