[Farmall] Fw: Farmall M hard to start

[William Ransom]

Last year, I bought a battery and starter for the Farmall M. I found out seven of the cam followers were stuck, and I got them unstuck. I also filed the points and replaced the condenser, rotor, distributor cap, and spark plug wires. I also replaced the negative battery cable. I still couldn't get it to start until it was pulled with another tractor and then coast-started. The M didn't run very long the first few times it was started last year, but after it had been coast-started, I was able to start it with the starter. At first, the M stalled immediately after it was started, but after the carburetor was taken apart and cleaned out, it would run longer. When I tried to start the M with the starter this year, I couldn't get it to start. I thought the battery might just be weak, so I tried charging it. I still couldn't get it to start with the starter until I had coast-started it. After I coast-started the M this year, I was able to start it with the starter once, and I backed it up the hill to its usual parking space. However, it didn't seem to be running very well then; the engine kept speeding up and slowing down over and over again. After that, I took the carburetor apart and cleaned it out. I blew out the passages in the carburetor with an air compressor and then put the carburetor back together with new gaskets. After that, I tried to start the M with the starter again, and it still wouldn't start. The day before yesterday, I coast-started the M again. It seemed to be running all right, but when I went to back up, I accidentally ran over a fence post with the left back wheel. Backing over the fence post tipped and shook the tractor enough that the exhaust pipe came out of the manifold. The hole in the manifold appears to be threaded, so I think the exhaust pipe was supposed to screw into it, but there are no threads on the exhaust pipe and it can easily be pulled out of the manifold. The tractor was still running with the exhaust pipe out of the manifold, but it didn't sound very good. I stopped the engine and waited for the muffler to cool off enough I could handle it and put the exhaust pipe back in the manifold. After that, I tried to start it with the starter. The starter did seem to be cranking the engine fast enough, and the engine fired a few times (it seemed to be trying to start twice), but I couldn't get it to actually run. Do you have any idea what would cause this problem (not starting with the starter even though it can be coast-started) and what I could do about it? When I crank the engine with the starter, gas comes out the drip hole in the carburetor.