I inherited a 1955 Farmall from my father-in-law two year ago. For the last 10 or so years he would use it several times a year. The rest of the time it sat in his pole barn.I replaced some of the electrical equipment right after I got the tractor to get it to start reliably. After the first season I could no longer get it started. I have re-timed it and I there is spark at all of the plugs. Often times when I would try to start it the engine would roll over and fire briefly but immediately stall. Then the carburetor would flood. I did get it to start successfully a few times but when I would attempt to drive forward there was absolutely no power. Even driving up a small incline would cause the engine to drag and die. Any advice for getting it to start and run will be most appreciated. I"m about as mechanically inclined as a stump and I"m running out of ideas. Dave
- Thread starter EagleMI
- Start date
First it sounds like the needle valve in the carburetor is stuck open or the float has a hole in it and is not letting the needle valve close.
Clean the carburetor and install a new needle valve and seat.
Compression may also be low due to stuck rings in the pistons. If you get it running the rings will probably free up.
Clean the carburetor and install a new needle valve and seat.
Compression may also be low due to stuck rings in the pistons. If you get it running the rings will probably free up.
teddy52food
Well-known Member
How old is the gas?
Maybe we can find someone to come over and "play" for an afternoon, to show you a few things. Trying to teach you how to be a tractor mechanic in a text-only format doesn't work well. Where in MI are you located?
You've probably got multiple problems.
First one is, you don't know what model tractor you have. Are there any emblems or decals on the hood that indicate a model? Is there a silver tag (maybe painted over?) somewhere on the tractor that may contain some information? In 1955, they made no fewer than 5 different "Farmall" models: Cub, 100, 200, 300, 400.
If you're going by what someone told you for the year, that could be off by decades. People often get the year wrong because of faulty memory, faulty research, or just plain old lying.
Heck, "Farmall" is kind of like "Kleenex." It's used frequently to describe any red tractor regardless of brand, and sometimes green ones, orange ones, or blue ones, by people who really don't know much about tractors.
Let's figure out what you have first. Do you have the ability to take a picture and post it on the Internet?
You've probably got multiple problems.
First one is, you don't know what model tractor you have. Are there any emblems or decals on the hood that indicate a model? Is there a silver tag (maybe painted over?) somewhere on the tractor that may contain some information? In 1955, they made no fewer than 5 different "Farmall" models: Cub, 100, 200, 300, 400.
If you're going by what someone told you for the year, that could be off by decades. People often get the year wrong because of faulty memory, faulty research, or just plain old lying.
Heck, "Farmall" is kind of like "Kleenex." It's used frequently to describe any red tractor regardless of brand, and sometimes green ones, orange ones, or blue ones, by people who really don't know much about tractors.
Let's figure out what you have first. Do you have the ability to take a picture and post it on the Internet?
On a tractor that has not been consistently run, you can solve a lot of problems by cleaning the carb, putting a new kit in it and adjusting it properly. The starting, dying and flooding are very common problems with the A through 560, the model really doesn't matter as the principle is the same. The stalling after you get it started is a typical lean mixture symptom, perhaps solved by turning the main mixture screw out (the smaller tractors usually don't have one), or by a carb overhaul.
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