Mag vs Dist

I have a 1940 H with a wiring problem. How do you tell the dif between a Mag. and a Dist. I'm new to this so help me. This was my father-in- laws first tractor and I'm trying to work on it. Which diagram do I use on Bob's diagram? It's 6 volt with a v/r. What is the cut out switch? Is this the push/pull switch?

Magneto {Makes it's own electricity}
<a href="http://s978.photobucket.com/albums/ae263/nemf/?action=view¤t=fmjmag1mm0.jpg" target="_blank"> </a>

Distriburtor {Get's electricity from the battery}
<a href="http://s978.photobucket.com/albums/ae263/nemf/?action=view¤t=dc_1.jpg" target="_blank"></a>

I'll send you an email on the other questions. Too long to post.

PS: A magneto will only have the same amout of places for plug wires as the number of spark plugs the engine has.
The distributor will have one extra place in the center for the ignition coil wire.

(quoted from post at 14:00:42 06/20/10) PS: A magneto will only have the same amout of places for plug wires as the number of spark plugs the engine has.
The distributor will have one extra place in the center for the ignition coil wire.

Click to expand...

The IH H4 magneto has a separate coil wire that is external to the assembly so counting the wires will not work. The coil is part of the magneto though instead of separate like the distributors.

Your right, That mag has the external coil.
I keep forgetting about that style magneto.

International Harvester H4 Magneto, just to name one that does not conform to that erroneous statement.

Yes Red Dave we know.
How long did it take you to spell erroneous.
I"m sorry I forgot about that magneto.
Please forgive me.

Where have you been must not have seen the I-H mags they only made over a million of them.

Red Dave If you did"t have your head stuck you know where you could have just said Jeff, That doesn"t apply to all magnetos like some IH ones.

I don"t own IH and only work on one every couple of years.
I run all Fairbank Morse FMJ types like in the picture.

Red Dave was only referring to H4 magneto that slipped your mind. That would be the one most commonly installed on Hs. Common enough that I don't know why one would dispense info about an FM (rare on Hs) and then take someone to task for providing info on the FAR more common arrangement.

How about we get back to helping out our new friend Mr. Warringer?

Call me Dave
Ok. It looks like I have A Mag, and sep coil. No points in the Mag. So now wiring is the problem.

Because I already had that magneto and distributor picture on file. But by showing him a magneto picture with a distriburtor picture I"m sure he get"s the picture.

Hey Guys
I have a few photos if someone will e-mail; me at [email protected] i'll send them to comfirm.

Good basic question.

Myself I prefer the distinction between battery vs. magneto igntions. Both involve a distributor.

A battery ignition, which might be more familiar if you've worked on cars, draws the electricity for it's spark from the battery. The step up in voltage takes place in a canister-type coil that is external to the distributor. The distributor itlesf, as it would appear on your H is little but a housing, mounted so that it can rotate for the purpose of timing things up, that is litle more than a geared shaft that gets the rotor that distributes the spark at the proper time to the correct cylinder on the motor.

A magneto is entirely independednt of te battery, and might best be considered as a two-stage affair. On your H it will be one assembly. The magneto portion of it is what generaes the spark. Basically a magnetized shaft spinning inside a magnetized field (hence electricity to generate the spark. The power for the spark is, again, handled by the second part of the assemly, which is nothing but a distributor. On the magneto, the coil is internal.

Both have points and condenser, internal to the distributor on both.

If your tractor has a batery igntion, you should see a distributor and, nearby, a canister that is the coild. There should be a battery supplied wire from your ignition switch to the coil, and between the coil and distributor, one small wire , and the larger familiar one running to the center tower on the distributor cap.

Without descending into the muck of the digression down below, the Internationl H4 distributor is easily identified. It will have the familiar distributor cap -- round, one center wire from the coil and four plug wires surrounding it, with the whole works centered on a rotating neck. The H4 will also have a distributor cap of teh same stayle, but instead of the rotating neck will have a slab sided body, with another roughly rectangular cap made of the same stuff as the distibutor cap, with the coil wire running from the end of it to the center of the distributor cap.

HTH

Dave to save you alot of time if you want a company that will rebuild that magneto to like new with all new parts send me an email.

I should say external coil cover before someone goes nuts.

Some of you can calm down now because it turns out he has a distributor.

I go out for 1 afternoon, and look at all that i have missed!!!!!!!!

And to think I was going to watch the WWF tonight! :wink:

Bad information is bad information.

Your getting abusive to me doesn't make your bad information become good.

"That doesn"t apply to all magnetos like some IH ones."???
The IH H4 was THE standard IH magneto from 1939 on. Used on nearly everything IH made (but not the Cub). Overlooking the H4 when referring to IH magneto on an H is like overlooking red paint when talking about Farmall tractor colors.

Get over yourself. You used the words first.
It"s not a life and death matter.
Mistakes can be made.
But Im sure you have never made one.

Which makes you madder, the fact that you didn't know a simple thing about magnetos, or that you were called on it and made a fool of yourself by your reaction, in front of the entire internet?

Fight nice kids

Nither. I don"t work on alot of IH and I can"t remember every magneto on every tractor.
I know you can idenify every magneto ever built for every tractor.
If you go way up the posts that was already addressed and then I remembered that style.
You are treating a simple error as a life and death matter.
Get over it. It"s just a tractor.

Owen knows how to make a polite correction.
Something you should learn how to do instead of looking up big words on Google.

I just love know-it-alls with thin skins

Just dry your tears and put on your big boy pants, then go out and play. You'll feel better in no time.