240U wouldn't start to clear snow

A while back I posted about my 240U not starting when it was real cold. Never got around to trying due to all the cold and hurting my shoulder and couldn't lift anything for a while or do much at all. Anyway, after a couple weeks of pain pills, prednisone and now therapy, I finally got around to looking at the tractor in 60+ weather. Made sure the battery was fully charged, hit the starter and "click". So either the solenoid isn't making connection, or the starter is already engaged and can't turn, or the starter is bad already. Didn't have time right then to drag tools out and work on it, so hope to get out in a while and try some things. Maybe try by-passing the solenoid with a jumper cable, then pull the starter to see if the drive is "out" and has been engaged, then if all else fails, take it back to the auto-electric shop. Had it rebuilt 1 1/2 or 2 years ago, but has not been used much.

I would take a jumper cable and go from the battery to the starter it self and see if the engine spins over. By doing that you take out the major parts of the system so you then know if it is the starter or something between the battery and the starter

If it is just the starter stuck and you are able to rock it with tractor in gear it may kick out

Old....That was the first thing I tried and it arced like crazy and didn't turn over. Loosened the bolts on the starter and as the second one was about 1/4" out, I heard/felt the drive snap back. Re-tightened the bolts and it fired right off. Ran about 2-3 seconds a died. Forgot to shut the valve off on the sediment bowl and lost my gas. Dumped 5 gal in and she started and ran like she was supposed to. Cycled the loader and 3 point hydraulics and shut her down... did remember to shut the valve off this time.
Glad I didn't have to take it clear off because I don't know if I could have wrestled it out from behind the loader with this bum shoulder.

I understand the bum shoulder I have one of those plus bad back and bad knee. I have learned ways around bad body parts with neat tools I have or have built to do the heavy lifting. If I where you I would double check the oil and make sure some of that gas is not in the oil or your going to have bigger problems. Seen to many tractor with gas in the oil due to gas not being shut off then run and blows the engine

(quoted from post at 14:42:44 03/10/14) I understand the bum shoulder I have one of those plus bad back and bad knee. I have learned ways around bad body parts with neat tools I have or have built to do the heavy lifting. If I where you I would double check the oil and make sure some of that gas is not in the oil or your going to have bigger problems. Seen to many tractor with gas in the oil due to gas not being shut off then run and blows the engine

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Good idea, I'll check the dipstick, There was probably 7 or 8 gal. in the tank, so it should show there. I need an oil change anyway. Got the oil last fall, but need a filter... not sure the ones at TSC are right until I take out the old one.
Also noticed there is a leak in the hydraulics that was not there before, somewhere under the gas tank or dash, but the 3 point worked, so the level must not have dropped much.

Remove the starter first its locked up. Drive mite need to have a shot ov wd 40 to clean the Bendix.

(quoted from post at 12:42:44 03/10/14) I understand the bum shoulder I have one of those plus bad back and bad knee. I have learned ways around bad body parts with neat tools I have or have built to do the heavy lifting. If I where you I would double check the oil and make sure some of that gas is not in the oil or your going to have bigger problems. Seen to many tractor with gas in the oil due to gas not being shut off then run and blows the engine

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How would the gas get into the oil?

It's an updraft carburetor, several inches below any intake/exhaust ports, with a drain hole for excess gas.

Even if that hole is plugged, excess gas will leak out around the air intake hose.

Even if the air intake were perfectly sealed, the entire carburetor, air intake, and manifold would have to fill with gasoline before any would get into the engine. On startup this would be VERY obvious. A large slug of gasoline would cause instant hydrolock, or in a cartoon physics world, you would get a shower of raw gasoline from out of the muffler!

(quoted from post at 04:43:26 03/11/14) Remove the starter first its locked up. Drive mite need to have a shot ov wd 40 to clean the Bendix.

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Gene,
Once the starter drive "kicked back" from loosening the bolts, everything works fine. This was my first inclination and it turned out to be true. as mentioned, I did try to jump around the solenoid with a jumper cable just to see if it might be the solenoid, but since it was new when the starter was rebuilt not that long ago, I figured it should be okay. Next was the bolt loosening try and that worked. As soon as the starter could be "bent" away from the starter ring a little, I heard and felt the starter drive spring back in place. Again, the "Bendix" was also new not long ago, but that does not mean it could not be dirty or bad.

Seen it in many tractors like one I worked on last summer a Ford 9N if had gal of gas in the oil. Gas fills the air cleaner tube and then keeps filling till if get into the one or 2 open intake valves and then up and down past the rings into the oil and that means big trouble. Seen it in all the brands

Ring gear teeth get burrs on them and that is part of what locks the bendex to the flywheel. Some times you can take a file and clean them up

I also forgot one other way gas ends up in the oil and that is the condensation effect. Gas turns to a vapor and then condensates back to a liquid once it has gone up and intro and open intake valve and down into the oil

(quoted from post at 11:04:52 03/11/14) Ring gear teeth get burrs on them and that is part of what locks the bendex to the flywheel. Some times you can take a file and clean them up

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My 240U had been switched to 12v before I bought it. I almost always had trouble with it not engaging properly every time. When the starter finally "gave up the ghost", I took it to the reputable local auto-electric shop for re-build. When I mentioned the way it has always acted since I bought it, he said he could install 6 V field windings in it and that would correct that problem. It not only corrected it, but the engine also fired off quicker...not sure if that has to do with some voltage drop in the 12 volt system, or what, but it has never started better.
Yes, the starter ring is "burred up" somewhat from a long time starting with the starter spinning too fast before engaging, and it may have had something to do with the drive sticking in the ring gear. Still, this is the first time that has happened, so unless it becomes a habit, I'm not going to worry.
BTW, off topic, I talked to an old friend I haven't seen in a while and found he has restored a '49 Cub and a low s/n '39 A recently... gotta' go see him.

You mean something like this

(quoted from post at 20:01:28 03/11/14) You mean something like this

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Didn't ask if his has Touch-Control, but probably close to that. Dad bought one new, I think in '47 (got a picture of me sitting on it as a 5 year old the day it was delivered), sold it to a guy in Minn. and bought a C in '49. He then always had a C or Super C until he passed in '84 and Mom had the last one until she left the farm in the late '90s.

That was one we did in my shop about 10 years ago. Sure did not look like that when it rolled in