[AT] Just a little tractor weekend

[Henry Miller]

I know the weekend is only half over, but we are invited to friends
tomorrow for lunch so it is unlikely that I will get more tractor time. 

Friday I got a call at work. My son wanted to know why my white trailer
was at the bottom of the hill. Not my doing, so I told him I don't know.
He was very concerned about it. So first thing today was start the B.
While pushing it out he asked me to help him find his hat. I figured I
would start it first so it could warm up. Once it was running I went
inside to help him, but he was nowhere to be found. Went back outside
and drove the tractor to the trailer. I shouldn't have been surprised
that he was already waiting for me. I didn't have the wheels blocked, so
the wind must have been enough to start it rolling, all the way to the
fence. Got it back in place easily. 

I spent a little time on the gray tractor. The rear end leaks oil. I've
been trying for months to get get the chain sprocket off so I can get at
the seal. Tried a little heat, but that didn't help. Probably need more
heat. 

Then I pulled his little tiny tractor out. Last weekend I put the
magneto on it and it ran for about 20 feet and died. Never got it
started again, though it fired easily enough many times, but not enough
to run. I checked the timing 4 times, and it seems right. I put the
battery on and it started right up, then switch back to the Magento and
it died. Several times. I gave up eventually. Left the battery on an my
son pulled me around the yard for a while. 

I'm thinking about switching the ignitor to normally open and just
staying with the battery setup. It works that way. It seems that I just
need to switch a spring to do this. I'm just not sure how. I'm a little
scared to try too much, if I dig in I suspect that I will be rebuilding
the ignitor. 

My son would like some lights (I think christmas light style) so a
battery to run then would be useful anyway. I had the probably bad idea
to turn the Magento into a generator to charge the battery and run
lights. I wonder if that could work. 

-- 
  Henry Miller
  hank at millerfarm.com