Continuein' Magneto Saga

Some of You that have kept up with or read My posts about this A with a Wico Magneto, I have another question...Hope this one winds it up. I bought a H4 mag from Gene Bender to replace the Wico, then got the feelin' I had chickened out on the Wico, called Steve at Mainly Magnetos, got some intell and a condenser, rotor, and gasket. I've got the Mag back on the tractor, number 1 cly. up, both valves closed, Rotor pointin' at the window, got good fire but the Carb. is junk. My question is ....I know there is supposed to be timein' marks on the flywheel but how do You find them, I've looked thru the hole on the side of the housein'and the hole at the bottom of the housein', all I see is dirt, grease, gumbo, dirt doober nest....May not be a good idea but the only way I'll ever find any marks on that flywheel is to turn a pressure washer loose up thru the holes....What am I lookin' for and what do Yaw'll do in a case like this.....If I ever find the marks and get them lined up You can bet I'll take a file to the front pully and get some marks I can find from now on.....If I can't get to it with a file I'll pull the pulley and cut a grove on My millin' machine.....I like a Farmall A, Super A, so on, but I can't see why They didn't put the timein' marks in a place easier to find.
Thanks, Wild Bill

aint there a little pointer on the timing cover ? if so pull # 1 plug get it on top dead center then look on your pulley there should be a notch like you said might have to really clean the fire out of it though. you know ive never used the timing marks to set the timing just get #1 up on compression and pointer tward #1 plug wire

LOL! BTDT.

The mark you're looking for is a line that runs fore and aft across the flywheel from the back edge or ring gear to the front edge. It's marked TC 14. And it can be a bear to find, and IH didn't seem to put a whole lot of gumption into marking it.

Myself, I've had the motors on both my tractors out and while each was apart I cleaned up the flywheel and masked off and painted that line with whatever garish color of paint I had laying around at the time.

It can be easier to find if you remove (two small bolts) the lower cover at the bottom front of the torque tube, that cast piece that looks like about a third of a circle. That will help immensely in getting some light in there and can be done without splitting the tractor.

For the purpose of finding that mark, get yourself as close to TDC as you can with the old tried and true method of pulling your plugs and turning the engine by hand until you see the piston coming up to the top of #1 or #4. For this purpose, it makes no differenc whether the piston is on compression or exhaust -- that will be important when you actually go to time your mag. When either #1 or #4 looks to be pretty near the top you can rock it back and forth using the fan (assumes good belt tension) to get the piston at top. Sometimes it's useful to fashion a piece of stiff wire to serve as an indicator. Rest one end on top of the piston with the other end sticking out the plug hole. When the wire on the outside is at its lowest point the piston is at its highest.

At that point, the elusive mark should be very near the bottom of the flywheel. You can try looking through the hole on the bottom while shining a light in from where the cover plate was. Or you can shine a light in from the hole on the underside and do your looking from the front where the cover plate was. A little mild sandpaper is useful here for knocking off the grime to have a hope of finding it (just a light scuffing should do it).

When you find it, spray the brake cleaner on it to clean it up and mark it with paint. Iff you can't get the whole line done, mark at least the back and front ends of the line. The mark at the back will be easier to see from the hand-hole underneath when next you go to look for TDC. The paint mark at the front will then be easier to see as it lines up at TDC with the little nub on the inside of the cover you took off. That nub should be cleaned and painted as well and the cover reinstalled.

HTH and happy hunting! ;8^)

Scotty.....Terry, Thank Yaw'll....I had already timed the engine as Yaw'll advised. As You say "Tried and True Method".....Has worked Hundreds of times before...One time it didn't was 1960 or close, workin' on a Internation Two Ton truck (or Bigger)Big V8....We had pulled the distributor and put it back in so many times We were at Our Roads End ,so to speak, Shop owners wife said You got a new motors manuel in the other day, Why don't You see what it has to say about timein' that engine? Ed told Her "I think We know what We are doin', Why don't You go put the cornbread on" She walked over to the bench, was lookin' in the book, walked over to the door with the book in Her hand, said, "that engine times with #8 up, stead of #1"....Book ricocheted off the truck fender....She said "There's Your Cornbread"
Terry there is no timein' marks on the cover. Till I got a book on As and Super As I didn't think Farmalls put timein marks on them
Thanks
Wild Bill