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Farmall 400 won't start

A

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member
Greetings!
My 90 year old uncle has decided to stop farming.
I've taken over the responsibilities of caring for his machinery. Last fall, his Farmall 400
(gas engine converted to 12 volts)was running fine. This past winter, I noticed that he had removed the battery from the tractor and set a replacement battery in the box under the seat. The cables were not hooked up. I noticed that he had the new battery in the box "backwards". I removed the battery and installed it correctly
(+ cable to + post, - cable to - post).
I've been trying to get the tractor to come to life without success. The battery is new. I get NOTHING!!! no lights, no starter, NOTHING.
It's as if the cables wern't connected at all. The thing is completely dead! Is it possible that the old guy could have connected the cables backwards (+ to -, - to +) and burnt something up? I did check the fuse on the dash panel, and it is fine. If the alternator is shot, would that keep the starter from spinning??
Any help would be appreciated.
 
Well if it has an alternator on it yes. He smoked the alternator the moment he hooked it up and also the battery would be dead. Now that said did you check to see if the battery is charged??? It could be as simple as a dead battery, but if it sat all winter dead it may also be a junk battery because it may have froze and if it did its most likely no good any more
Hobby farm
 
Hello Dan,
I would bet money it is your cables or conections. I can't remember if a 400 has a soleniod or a push button but the connection at the end of the battery cable is where the tractor gets all of it power. check that connection with a volt meter for power. also check the cable where it bolts to the battery box. A farmer fix would be to hold the key in the start position and wiggle the cables if you get a spark or it starts that is where your problem is.
I don't think you can hurt anything hooking the battery up backwards If there was when you were hooking up the cables it would be like an arc welder. maybe it would blow the diode in the alt. but it would still run.
Good Luck Ed
abcrepairparts
 
You need to see where the + cable is connected. Whether its at the solenoid. Check for battery voltage at the solenoid with a volt meter. If there's voltage there and you see 2 small terminals on the solenoid take a screwdriver and short across those terminals. Make darn sure the tractor is out of gear and the brakes set. If it cranks you don't have any voltage from the starter switch to the solenoid. It may look similar to this pic. Hal
7ysavmf.jpg
 
I have 12 volts at the starter. I did not try
shorting across the solinoid. Does the key need to be un RUN position?
If the alternator is shot, will that keep the tractor from starting?
I checked cables, and I cant find any problems at the battery or battery box (ground).
 
Shorting across the small terminals will do nothing. Short from the large hot terminal to the small one marked S
 
If it has 2 terminals one is hot all the time and the S terminal is only hot when cranking. One that's hot usually feeds the ignition switch. Hal
 
It should crank the whether the switch is off or on by shorting across the solenoid. It may start if the ignition is on. Just be careful. Hal
 
You could also bypass everthing and apply jumpers to the starter itself. Make sure tractor battery is disconnected. Connect positive from jumper on the starters hot termial and negative on a chassis ground. The starter should engage and if nothing else is wrong it should start. As always out of gear with brakes. If it does start test your solenoid as described before. If it checks out check wiring and connections to and from the starter switch.
How long has the tractor sat?
 
You have got that backwards. The S gets hot from the ign switch when cranking. It should have no voltage when the engine is running. The other (I) terminal bypasses the resistor to give full voltage to the coil while cranking. When it is running the I terminal will show the voltage after going through the resistor. An old 6v ford type solonoid will have a hot terminal which is grounded to complete the crank curcuit.
 

12V at the solenoid doesn't tell you much. It could read 12V, but still be a poor connection. Make sure all your connections are Clean, Bright, and Tight. Blue flakes, dark green metal, are indications of poor connections that can't flow the Amps necessary to activate the starter.

You should be getting a click at the solenoid if you apply power to the S terminal. If it's not clicking, then that would be the first thing I'd suspect. Give the solenoid a solid tap with a piece of pipe or a small hammer while trying to start the tractor. We frequently had problems with the solenoid conversion on the old M, and giving it a good smack with the crescent wrench usually freed it up for a few starts. Now that it's got a decent solenoid on it, it works pretty good.
 
A co-worker has suggested to me that the tractor may be a + ground. The old guy did have the battery in the box "backwards". Even if he did a 12 volt conversion, is it possible it could be a + ground system?
 
I saw the old man driving the tractor late last summer (he nearly backed over my truck with it).
Sometime last fall, he backed it into the shed and parked it beside his Famrall 1206 (which i need to figure out how to start also).
He has always braged about how easyly the 400 starts every time!
Could he have converted it to 12 volts (with an alternator) and left it a + ground system?
 
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