[AT] My little tiny tractor runs

[Henry Miller]

He had a coil from his own engine specially for low tension magnetos.
That would be ideal, but I don't think I can find one in an afternoon.
(he also said expect to pay 300 on eBay if you find one) 

Low tension ignitors on a Magento have current all the time, those on a
battery don't. I don't know if they are hard to change over or not.
Something that I need to think about. 

-- 
  Henry Miller
  hank at millerfarm.com

On Sat, Nov 25, 2017, at 07:09 AM, John Hall wrote:
> Glad you got it running. Even more excited your kids are enjoying it!
> 
> I can't recall anyone setting up an ignitor engine on a auto coil, 
> doesn't mean it won't work, I just can't recall seeing it done. Going by 
> memory those low tension mags send current to the ignitor all the time. 
> I wonder how long the ignitor will be able to tolerate that much 
> current? Did he use an auto coil or a Model T buzz box style?
> 
> Regarding your magneto, make sure mechanically it is pretty 
> sound--shaft/bushings/conditon of the housing itself. Mine was really 
> worn and eventually the gears were not meshing well with the engines 
> gear train, it caused the rear shaft and the main magneto housing to get 
> wiped out.
> 
> John Hall
> 
> 
> 
> On 11/24/2017 10:32 PM, Henry Miller wrote:
> > Subject is as my 4 year old says.
> >
> > As you might recall, I have been trying to get 3 tractors that my great
> > uncle made running again. The "John deere" built around a 1.5hp John
> > deere e was today's project.  The Magento magnets were weak so this
> > morning I called Don Petty who has a magnet recharger. He was in the
> > shop so I loaded the tractor on the trailer.
> >
> > I'm getting ahead of the story. When I tried to put my shoes on my
> > daughter (2 years old)  sat on my lap and insisted she wanted to go with
> > daddy. So after the adventure of getting her ready (getting a girl
> > dressed is always an adventure in my experience) I was able to load the
> > trailer up. The magneto was already off, but I was hoping for some
> > assistance.
> >
> > The trip was about 45 minutes, plenty of time for my daughter to fall
> > asleep in the car seat. Charging took longer than it should, the magnet
> > was stuck on tight. Not very long, but enough that Don remarked about it
> > as he pried it off.
> >
> >
> > Then put it all together, this I did myself. About this time my daughter
> > woke up so now I was watching both kids run around.  Turn the crank and
> > got fuel but no fire.  Check the timing and I was off a notch on the
> > gears. This is why I brought the whole tractor with, I wouldn't have
> > though to check, but he heard me and crank and came to check.
> >
> > Next time I put in just enough bolts to hold everything. Crank again and
> > still nothing. Timing seemed right though. He grabbed an ignitor coil
> > and battery and soon the engine was running. As the engine fired I
> > happened to see a huge grin light on my son's face. I grabbed for my
> > camera, but I couldn't get the right angle.
> >
> > I missed this part, but Don told me he tried once the engine was running
> > he tried connecting the Magento again, but that didn't work. It ran only
> > on his coil. I ended up leaving the Magento with him to rebuild.
> > Probably won't get it back before February, but I have plenty of other
> > work to do in the mean time.
> >
> > It was now past lunch time so I left. As I was driving away I did a
> > little thinking. After lunch at a Chinese buffet I went next door to
> > northern tool and bought one of their 1200lbs wagons.
> >
> > Back home I grabbed a starter from my uv4 (utv), the starter didn't seem
> > to work even when I put it on a battery with jumper cables. Off to the
> > auto parts store to have the starter tested, it failed on their machine
> > too. New one will arrive on Tuesday.
> >
> > While there I asked the guy for a 12 ignition coil. It took some work to
> > convince him to just go in back and get him one without looking up
> > anything.
> >
> > Back home, assembled the wagon, put a spare battery in it, connected the
> > trailer to the tractor and a few feet of wire to the ignitor, using just
> > the primary on the coil. That took an hour, but I soon had the tractor
> > running and my son driving it, pulling his sister in the wagon. I don't
> > know who is the happiest about that.
> >   
> > As I put my son to bed he asked me to show him his tractor again, so I
> > got out the video I took of him driving it.
> >
> > If you are still reading I have one question. The coil I got said that
> > you needs an external resistor which I didn't get. I couldn't convince
> > the guy at the store to grab one that would fit, so what do I ask for to
> > get one that they are likely to have in stock?
> >
> > The coil got hot in just a few minutes so I know I need one before I run
> > it again.
> >
> >
> 
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