1950 Farmall M won't start

Ok to start off I'm not mechanically inclined in any sense. I have my dad's old Farmall M and this spring I had trouble starting it. My nephew and I replaced all the wiring in it because there was a short somewhere that was draining the battery. We bybassed the light switch and hooked directly to the ampmeter. My nephew (Who was a mechanic in the Army did adjust the jet screws on the carburetor after we completed the rewiring) After that the tractor started great....for about 2 weeks. I had trouble getting it started about 3 days ago but it did start. Today nothing. I thought maybe the jet screws were off so I adjusted to factory settings that I read about on this board. I get alot of gas dripping out of the bottom of the carburetor when I try to start it. I pulled the plugs and noted they were completely dry. When I turn the tractor over I get no smoke from the exhaust so it seems to me the cylinders are getting no gas. The only thing that I had done during the time that it ran great and now was I put in some fresh gas. I called my nephew and he said it might be vapor locked. He suggested I disconnect the gas line that enters the engine block and try to bleed the air out of it. The only tube I saw was the "breather" tube that runs from the carburetor-governor linkage to the block. When I disconnected this, no gas came out at this connection. Any Ideas what to do next? Thank You!

First check to make sure your getting spark to the plugs, pull plug wire off and hold it from plug a little ways and turn key on and try starter, watch for spark to plug. than check for gas flow.

You need to pull off one of the plug wires and hold it about 1/4" away from the plug and have someone make an attempt to start the engine and see if there's good hot fire to the plug. If there's fire to the plug you need to hold your hand over the throat of the carburetor and see if there's good suction on your hand. You need good intake manifold vacuum to suck that fuel into the engine. Make sure the ignition switch is in the on position. If there's no fire to the plugs run a separate wire from the battery to your coil then see if it will start. Hal

It sounds like you need to clean out the carb. It's not as scary as it sounds. The gas you buy today gums up pretty quick. 90% of the time one of the $20 rebuild kits from a farm supply or Napa will do the job. Get a can of carb cleaner too. Take the thing off the tractor, set it on the bench, and start tearing it down. Make notes of where stuff came from as you go. But there are only a few parts inside the old things, so there really isn't much to keep track of. Shoot the carb cleaner through all the passages, and make sure they are all open. Give the float a shake, to make sure it doesn't have gas in it. Make sure the screen in the inlet side of the carb is clean as well. Put it all back together, and back on the tractor.
I can't guarantee that it will do the job, but You'll only have $25 and a couple hours invested, and GENERALLY it will solve the problem.

Good luck.

Ben

What do they do to the gas where you live as sure dont have any problems here in Iowa as i have tractors that set all winter and start in the spring just fine.

Thanks for the replies. I'll try the spark plug tests first. Taking the carb apart, probably not a good thing for me to do.

My M wouldn't start this winter. Finally this spring I did what someone on the board said to do. Took off the cap and dressed the contacts inside the cap. Fired up after that. Next time wouldn't start again. Cleaned the points and reset them. Started up right away. Haven't had any trouble since. The old timers say to turn off the gas every time you shut it off. They know.

That I do because I have a slow leak there

Is the starter spinning the engine over quickly? If it is slow turning over, you may have a weak connection on one (or both) of the battery cables. A weak (dirty) connection will rob juice needed to get a good spark and good starting.
In summary, make sure you have good cables with clean cable connections. Also, if the cables are not of the original style, then make sure your cables are as short as possible, as the longer the cable the more likely they will have more resistance to good current flow.

Nope it"s turning over Ok. I need to check that the spark plugs are getting current though