I am trying to help my Dad get his 1950 H running. It was running okay several years ago when I bought it for him. I drove it several miles from where I purchased it and it was running and idling fine. Then we tore it down to do cosmetic restoration (we did not tear down the engine). It sat for several years while he carefully prepped all the parts and painted them.
He took the magneto off (H4, I think), to have it rebuilt. He also had the carb professionally rebuilt.
When he got the thing back together a couple weeks ago, and tried to start it, it didn"t sound like it was running right. There was an occasional backfire. It chugged, and eventually died, and the carb would leak gas from the drain at the bottom.
He noticed that the spark plugs on cylinders 2 and 3 were fouled.
We thought the timing was wrong, to start with, because he has never had a tractor with a magneto, so he didn"t know how to time it.
So I got my manual out, and we set #1 to TDC, then rotated crank one revolution until the pointer on the gear housing was on the first of the two marks on the pulley. We had the bolts on the mag loose and pulled the mag away from the engine until we heard the impulse coupling snap, and then we immediately tightened the mag down in that position.
Still didn"t seem to help, altough the 2 and 3 plugs didn"t seem to be fouling as bad, and we didn"t seem to have the drip from the carb. But the thing would still chug, require occasional choke to keep running, and then die.
Well, then I found out that when my Dad had the mag off, one of the rotor gears fell out, and he didn"t time it when he put it back in. I found the flat tooth on the pinion (smaller) gear, and I found the teeth marked R and L on the larger gear. I didn"t have the right book handy and initially guessed and put the notched tooth between the R and L. Now I know it needs to be on the R. We plan to do that tomorrow. Will this make a big difference?
Then I got to thinking about the alignment of the magneto gear to the timing gear. I noticed two marks in the magneto gear housing. I read in the archives that magnetos need to be aligned with dots on the timing gear, and that the marks on the timing gear can be found by placing a mirror in the hole where the mag attaches (if you don"t want to take off the gear cover). We stuck the mirror in there and found marks. Should we line these marks up with the marks on the magneto, or is it sufficient to just get the impulse coupling to snap at TDC and leave it at that?
Also, he messed with the governor adjustment at some point. Will the governor adjustment affect how the engine idle? If so, how do we get that set right?
Finally, is it possible that the trouble isn"t with timing or governor at all (or in part)? -- perhaps the valves are sticking for having set so long without being run?
Any help you could give on which procedures we should do and in what order would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks.
Tony
He took the magneto off (H4, I think), to have it rebuilt. He also had the carb professionally rebuilt.
When he got the thing back together a couple weeks ago, and tried to start it, it didn"t sound like it was running right. There was an occasional backfire. It chugged, and eventually died, and the carb would leak gas from the drain at the bottom.
He noticed that the spark plugs on cylinders 2 and 3 were fouled.
We thought the timing was wrong, to start with, because he has never had a tractor with a magneto, so he didn"t know how to time it.
So I got my manual out, and we set #1 to TDC, then rotated crank one revolution until the pointer on the gear housing was on the first of the two marks on the pulley. We had the bolts on the mag loose and pulled the mag away from the engine until we heard the impulse coupling snap, and then we immediately tightened the mag down in that position.
Still didn"t seem to help, altough the 2 and 3 plugs didn"t seem to be fouling as bad, and we didn"t seem to have the drip from the carb. But the thing would still chug, require occasional choke to keep running, and then die.
Well, then I found out that when my Dad had the mag off, one of the rotor gears fell out, and he didn"t time it when he put it back in. I found the flat tooth on the pinion (smaller) gear, and I found the teeth marked R and L on the larger gear. I didn"t have the right book handy and initially guessed and put the notched tooth between the R and L. Now I know it needs to be on the R. We plan to do that tomorrow. Will this make a big difference?
Then I got to thinking about the alignment of the magneto gear to the timing gear. I noticed two marks in the magneto gear housing. I read in the archives that magnetos need to be aligned with dots on the timing gear, and that the marks on the timing gear can be found by placing a mirror in the hole where the mag attaches (if you don"t want to take off the gear cover). We stuck the mirror in there and found marks. Should we line these marks up with the marks on the magneto, or is it sufficient to just get the impulse coupling to snap at TDC and leave it at that?
Also, he messed with the governor adjustment at some point. Will the governor adjustment affect how the engine idle? If so, how do we get that set right?
Finally, is it possible that the trouble isn"t with timing or governor at all (or in part)? -- perhaps the valves are sticking for having set so long without being run?
Any help you could give on which procedures we should do and in what order would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks.
Tony
