[AT] cold Farmall

Thu Jan 19 07:43:06 PST 2012

Ron,  sounds like you have a handle on it.   Could it be that you have a 
wire with a broken conductor inside the insulation?  The cold would tend to 
pull the conductor apart and when warm it would touch again maybe?  I had 
that happen once with the wire between the coil and points on my D-14. 
Someone had replaced the wire in years past with a strand of solid copper 
wire like you wire a house with.   The tractor would start and run fine, 
then after a few minutes start to sputter and then get progressively worse 
until it began to back fire and then it would cut off and not start at all. 
I replace the coil, the points, plugs and condenser, rebuilt the carb and 
chased that problem all of one summer and part of another before it occurred 
to me to replace that wire.

Charlie

-----Original Message----- 
From: Ron Cook
Sent: Thursday, January 19, 2012 10:03 AM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: Re: [AT] cold Farmall

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
>>>
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