[AT] Update for a Quiet List

[szabelski at wildblue.net]

Not really that big of a jolt. Try reaching into an engine compartment to check the starter connections while wearing a metal watch band, and come into contact with a starter relay coil while somebody decides to start the vehicle without telling you. Not one of the smarter guys I’ve ever worked with on a car.

The blisters only lasted a few days before I wound up breaking them all doing other things.

Carl


----- Original Message -----
From: Dean Vinson <dean at vinsonfarm.net>
To: 'Antique Tractor Email Discussion Group' <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Wed, 03 Jun 2020 15:15:27 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: [AT] Update for a Quiet List

"I could tell we had some spark by grabbing the end of the plug when we
cranked..." said a more experienced, and perhaps braver, man than me.  :)

 

Great update and story, Steve Allen!

 

Dean Vinson

Saint Paris, Ohio

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: AT [mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com] On Behalf Of STEVE
ALLEN
Sent: Tuesday, June 2, 2020 9:19 PM
To: at at lists.antique-tractor.com
Subject: [AT] Update for a Quiet List

 

The list has been quiet for a few days, so I thought I'd throw a kind of an
update at you.

 

This is on the '51 A; you will remember we got a great deal of work done
with it by hanging a lawnmower gas tank on it till I can attend to the real
one.

 

This past Saturday, we had to have my son's dog put down; the poor guy had
cancer in his ear and it was spreading throughout his head.  Well, in *this*
ground, you don't dig a grave for a 150+ lb Great Pyrenees by hand, oh no!
I asked my neighbor with the JD backhoe to come down and do it, and he came
down Friday night and told us to call him after we had the dog covered with
a layer of dirt.  (As an aside, I lost count of the head-sized rocks he
pulled out of that hole.)

 

When he came back down to finish filling in the grave, he asked if we were
going to finish clearing out the creek bottom, and I said we are, but it is
slow going with chainsaw and hand tools even though we now had a brushhog
working again.  He asked if I'd mind if he scraped some of the brush away,
and I said not at all.  Long story short, 20 minutes later, and a month of
hand work was done.  Nifty!

 

So we brought the brushhog back down to clean up on Sunday afternoon.  Did a
great job and even pushed back some blackberry patches that weren't worth
using the backhoe on.  After we finished, and my son headed up the hill
toward the house, the A started running slower, like a watch winding down.
About a quarter of the way up, it died.  It would not restart.  I checked
the plugs and touched up the points--I could tell we had some spark by
grabbing the end of the plug when we cranked, but it felt weak, and I didn't
jump the plug gap.  It was getting late, so I went and got a chain and my
pickup and towed the rig the rest of the way up the hill (I even tried
pull-starting, without success).  

 

Today after work, we went out and went through everything again.  This time,
I thought to check the point gap.  That's odd:  it looked like it was too
wide.  Used a feeler gauge, and by golly, it was too wide.  A *lot* too
wide.  How'd *that* happen?  So I grabbed a screw'em-up driver to loosen the
hold down screw to adjust, and I then discovered it already *was* loose; in
fact, it was almost falling out of the hole.  Set the points, tightened the
screw, and Bingo! he started right up!  Funny how that works, huh?  So we
went and cleaned up some other odds and ends patches.

 

Anyway, I need to be on the lookout for that screw getting loose (yes, lots
of people accuse me of having a screw loose, and I guess they are right!).
Now, question:  would that screw be a good application for some Locktite?
If so, what flavor?

 

Always somethin'!

 

The "original" Steve Allen

 

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