Magneto Setup

Ben Baun · Dec 31, 2011

i recently purchased and 1948 Farmall A. the guy before me rigged something up that made the tractor run from the battery and not the magneto. i tried to switch it over to 12v and ran good for awhile, then it wouldnt run. i got into the magneto and had no clue what to do. I want to get the tractor back to 6v and run off the magneto without the battery. what do i have to do to get it running?

gene bender · Dec 31, 2011

Did he use an external coil on the mag. If so the mags coil under the cap needs to be disconnected as you do not run batt voltage to a mag without external coil. Sounds like you have a mess. You can get a new internal coil for the mag then it wont need external coil.

Ben Baun · Dec 31, 2011

yes, it had a 6 volt coil connected to the center connection on the cap when it ran off the battery. to get it going by itself i just need the internal coil that fits in the mag?

gene bender · Jan 1, 2012

Theres a reason they added the external coil. Maybe they just didnt understand how to fix it or wanted to spend the 50bucks for the new coil. You see lots of this being done. If you would like to send it to me i can make it work like new again. You should be able to find someone locally but sometimes thats not just easy as some just dont like mags.

Nebraska Cowman · Jan 1, 2012

Either your 6 volt coil failed by being fed 12 volts or the pints are burned and pitted. If you want to revert to the stock magneto the best thing would be to send your magneto to someone to rebuild it. It's probably going to need a new coil and freshened up. I always recommend tearing them down so you can clean everything up and grease the bearings. Then it should be trouble free a long time. Nebraska Kirk does good mag work.
Kirks mag store

El Toro · Jan 1, 2012

When your mag was converted the wire from the mag's coil should've been disconnected at the points. If it wasn't battery voltage was probably fed to the mag's coil. You can look at the points and disconnect the wire that's feeding battery voltage to the points. Reconnect the mag's coil wire if it has been disconnected to the points and see if it will start. You can pull off a plug wire and hold it about 1/4" away from the sparkplug and have a helper try to start the engine. If there's no fire you probably need to have the mag rebuilt as suggested. If you decide to pull the mag make a sketch where your rotor is pointing. This is very important. THEN DON'T MOVE THE ENGINE. When you get your mag back rotate the rotor to the position shown in your sketch and install the mag. You will need the grounding wire connected to the post on your mag so you can shutdown the engine. Hal

Lamar Fudd · Jan 1, 2012

$61.00 for Shipping? Really? While his prices seem reasonable, the shipping is more on a par with some E-bay sellers.

Nebraska Cowman · Jan 1, 2012

He must not have his store shipping matrix set up right. I'll let him know.

Nebraska Cowman · Jan 1, 2012

OH, I see now. Read the description. He adds a refundable core charge.

Tom Fleming · Jan 1, 2012

Nebraska Kirk does excellent work. Prices are VERY reasonable. Don't believe me? Search Mainly Magneto's and look at the prices. Mainly Mag's does all makes and model's of mags and does top notch work. However, you pay top notch $$$ too.

mkirsch · Jan 1, 2012

Long and short of it is, the previous owner bypassed the magneto coil because it failed, and you fried the 6V coil by running it on 12V without a ballast resistor.

Best to remove the magneto and sent it out for service from one of these fine gentlemen.

Magneto Setup

Ben Baun

New User

gene bender

Well-known Member

Ben Baun

New User

gene bender

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Nebraska Cowman

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El Toro

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Lamar Fudd

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Nebraska Cowman

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Nebraska Cowman

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Tom Fleming

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mkirsch

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