[AT] cold Farmall

[Ron Cook]

Charlie, Charlie, Mike, Mike, Len, Gene and all.
     You are very right about the cables needing to be heavy.  I work on 
starters and generators, etc. and make cables for even my 12 volt stuff 
as anything readily available is just light or coarse wire strands or 
just plain a waste of money.  Good copper cable and swaged on terminals 
are really expensive anymore, but once you have the tools to put it 
together, you have most of the battle won.  Cables will then last for years.
     Many years ago, perhaps 30, maybe more, a schoolteacher friend of 
mine came by a spool of silver coated main buss wire used in the B-17.  
Must have been at least 500 feet of cable, maybe more.  Surplus stuff 
given to the school right after WWII and was headed for the dump.  He 
made many sets of jumper cables for folks, replaced the cables in his 
Ford pickup and Buick car, wired a hangar, and used that cable 
everywhere for years.  I certainly wish I had that spool today.  I got 
enough from him to replace the main cable in my Howard DGA, but that is 
all.  The Howard isn't rebuilt yet, but I am not using up that cable!
     I probably will put a tank heater on the H as I have one lying 
around.  That is only better for the engine, though.  Really does not 
fix the problem.  It cranks okay.  Just has no or practically no 
starting spark.  Myself and others on the list suspect the problem lies 
in the impulse coupling.  This theory was further advanced yesterday 
when the farm's hired hand that did all the grain hauling for the last 
30 years told me that he always, ALWAYS, jumped the H with the semi to 
start it in the mornings.  Well,  that spins it fast enough that the 
impulse is not even in play.  I said,  " that isn't right".  His reply 
was, "it works".
     Last winter I drained the grease out of the engine and put in light 
oil.  Yes I said  "grease".  That is the best description.  Sorry state 
of affairs.
     I could write volumes on this family and family farm, but that is 
not the subject at hand.  The good folks on this list have given me some 
very good ideas of where to look for the problem.  The electric and 
lubrication have previously been addressed.  I found out day before 
yesterday that if I played some heat(Knipco heater) on the magneto area 
for 10 minutes when 10 degrees, the old girl pops off immediately upon 
hitting the starter.
     The poor spark when cranking was determined by using one of Mike 
Sloane's expensive spark test tools.

Ron Cook
Salix, IA

On 1/19/2012 5:05 AM, charlie hill wrote:
> Ron,  6 V systems will work but the cables and all connections have to be
> very good.   Bigger cables always help as they flow more current more
> easily.  It is  hard to find 6 V cables these days.  Everything you see in a
> typical auto parts store is light duty 12 V.   The easiest thing might be to
> put a block heater or heat lamp on the engine to keep it nice and toasty
> warm.  Have you changed the oil in it since last year?   If so did you put
> heavier oil in by any chance?
>
> Charlie
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ron Cook
> Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2012 7:47 PM
> To: Antique tractor email discussion group
> Subject: Re: [AT] cold Farmall
>
> Well, reasonable or not, that old H needs to start so I can get my work
> done.:-)
>
> Cold weather starting was the original reason for removing the
> distributor and installing the magneto, I think.  It is still 6-volt and
> cranking with the starter lowered the voltage enough that it wouldn't
> start, and hand cranking was out of the question.  This old tractor has
> been lacking any basic maintenance for several years.  However, I did
> start it all last winter when I needed to load grain and it was below
> zero part of the time.  So, I figure if it used to work, it should still
> work.  And it will.  I am pretty sure everything is all gunked up with
> old dirty oil deposits.
>
> It was too nice here today , about 40 , so I didn't get anything done to
> the H.  Now the wind is blowing out of the northwest and we are headed
> for zero again tonight with snow.  From 2 below to 40 to zero in 24
> hours....must be Iowa.
>
> Ron Cook
> Salix, IA
>
> On 1/18/2012 6:15 PM, john hall wrote:
>> Cold weather here is in the 20's to upper teens. At that temp I expect a
>> little difficulty cranking some of the old stuff here. I've hand cranked
>> my
>> T-20 several times to go play in ice and snow and have even cranked my
>> 12-20
>> Case when there was snow out. But at temps close to zero, is it reasonable
>> to expect this old stuff to crank reliably?
>>
>> John Hall
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Ron Cook"<rlcook at longlines.com>
>> To: "Antique tractor email discussion group"<at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
>> Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2012 12:19 AM
>> Subject: Re: [AT] cold Farmall
>>
>>
>>> John,
>>>       That is my suspicions, too.  It does have a starter, so cranking
>>> doesn't happen all that much.  It is currently two below zero and there
>>> is no way it would have starting spark were I to venture out and try
>>> it.  I just threw another log in the stove.  I'm gonna stay right where
>>> I am.
>>>
>>> Ron Cook
>>> Salix, IA
>>>