One Man Pull Starting

Michago-John

New User
Has anyone perfected this? I normally work alone, and sometimes I just need to pull start a tractor. Usually one of my MF65s, but the process would be similar for any. I'm thinking about this: First, tie the tractor steering straight. Then use a short rope between the truck and the tractor. Next, use a spring or bungee cord to pull and hold the tractor clutch pedal down, (disengaged) then attach a rope against the bungee to allow the engaging of the tractor clutch from the driver's seat of the pickup truck while pulling the tractor, get up to speed and engage the clutch, when I hear it start, release the rope, and the bungee will return the clutch to disengage, and I stop the pulling truck, now with the tractor engine running. Has anyone tried this? Or am I nuts? How about an electric servo on the clutch with a remote control? I know that others have thought of trying this! Admit it! Anyone done it?
 

Might work but could get seriously injured or killed. If you do not care about yourself think about your family. It makes more since to have tractor in good stating condition. That is not too complicated ,is it?
 
Don't you have a hill or barn ramp to park your tractor on???? Perhaps Jumper cables would be a better option., or get your starter fixed, or just give the tractor a tow, and use your PU to stop it, and then start all over. Be sure to shoot some video during your process. I'm sure it will make one of those U-Tube Tractor Mishaps..
Loren
 
I was to pick up two Ms in my local town back in the 60s. It was after hours and no one around and dark. I got one running and chained around the front axle of the other that would not start. Main street was pretty wide and no traffic. I wired the steering wheel on the front one and put the back one in 5th with the switch off. Got started down main, jumped off the front one and got on the back one then turned the switch on. After the second try of that I finally got the speed and choke right and it started. I took it out of gear and turned the front one around and lead the back one to the truck. The ground was pretty level except around the dock. I wouldn't want to try that today because I couldn't catch the front tractor like in those days.

Otherwise get it on a hill and let it roll.
 
do it all the time .DO NOT BE IN A HURRAY... Even pull my semi out when stuck by myself. I always put the pulling tractor in low gear, jump out or off Carefully as you can not afford to slip. Front tractor gets tied strait or slight curve. Depends on how much room you have and where you are. Get on the not running tractor put in clutch ,jam in gear and pop the clutch. once tractor is running put in neutral and get off and jog to pulling rig. If it can stall the front tractor with brakes I always apply then get off.

If you use a pickup truck to pull. same thing just stay on the tractor and apply the brakes and the truck will usually power out and die.

I have a auto shift semi and the clutch would not apply the clutch brake. I was on a BIG field. I put the truck in gear but it doesn't actually go in. Got out and pushed it with the tractor. I did tie the semi steering with the seat belt in a small curve. Once the gears meshed it was in first gear and drove away on its own. I parked the tractor ,caught up to the semi (not hard as it drives very slow) undid the belt and drove 2 hours home so I could fix the clutch.
 
Too many chances for something to go wrong. I have always thought of rigging up a PTO to PTO reversing gearbox type of a setup. I've never done it though.
 
I have done it but not that way . I had a big open field and started towing the stubborn tractor . Once I got headed the right direction I got off the pulling tractor and then got on the pulled tractor and did the pull start . Once it smothed out I took it out of gear and then got off it and walked up the the front tractor and got on it and turned the pair around and started heading for home . This was all done in low gears and not very fast . Some times you can run into more trouble when you get help that dosnt know what they are doing or panic . I heard about a couple of volunteer's at a local museum that tried to tow start a old McCormick deering 15-30 . They towed it and got it to start but for some reason the clutch didn't disengage when he shoved the pedal down -- the front guy stopped and the guy on the 15-30 tried to steer around him but the lugs on the steel wheel caught on the back of the front tractor -- it climbed up on the back of the tractor with one wheel and almost flipped sideways . About then the clutch disengaged -- or he pulled the gear shift to neutral -- or the motor stalled --- some thing saved them . This is why I put electric start on my 15-30 . I put a ring gear on the belt pully and mounted a starter under the fuel tank . It is just too big of an ugly cuss to start at times especially when you have back problems . They do start very easily at times but not all the time -- it dosent argue with the electric starter .
 
Did it long ago with a truck. Forget about the clutch mess. Get the tractor ready to fire. Put the rope around the top of the gear lever, put it in a gear which is away(back) from the truck, like 2nd or 4th.

Attach your truck, and leave a little slack in the rope to the gear lever, and run it in the window of the truck. Start pulling, you may have to jerk it a bit to get the engine turning over if the tires are poor. It'll drag some, but eventually it'll crank over. Once it starts, give the gear rope a jerk, and pull it into N. Depending on the shift pattern, try to have it jerk toward a lower gear, like from 2 to 1, or 4 to 3 just in case.

If you are successful jerking it into N, stop the truck, go back to the tractor, and you are all set. If you jerked too hard, and pulled it into the next gear, it's going to whack the back of the truck and stop. Start over, give less jerk on the gear lever rope.

This assures you remain safely in a big metal box until you KNOW the tractor is running, but out of gear. Also, it's always tied to the truck, so it can't run away until you untie it.
 
Friend of mine had a 630 l.p. JD. Notorious bad starter. He would set.brakes on the 630 chain his 4 star MM in front put the Moline in first let it spin. Walked back to 630 unmatched brakes start it then put brakes on again. It would hold the Moline. Then go shut Moline off. 6t
 
Done it a good many times years ago. But that was when I could still run and do so faster then the tractor would go but not now days. We had an A/C B and a JD-B. Both hand start and most of the time the one I needed to use was the on that did not run. So I would tie the steering on the pulling tractor jump off and run back to the other tractor and put it in gear and get it running then take it out of gear and run back up to the pulling tractor and stop it unhook then drive one back to the shed and go out and use the one I needed That was 35 or so years ago
 
Ideas like this will fill up a cemetery..get help or make it start on it's own...
a254680.jpg
 
How about using an electric winch with remote control? At least you have control of the pulling device from the tractor seat.
 
This is why I stick to 2cyl John Deere tractors. I have a short flat belt about 5 or 6 inches wide. Belt from pulley of running tractor, 1 twist to pulley of non starting tractor. Done it hundreds of times.
 
I've tried that before but could never seem to get it just right and the belt would jump off before I got the tractor started so that is why I did the one man run and jump thing in an open field
 
I know a guy that had a JD 70 with loader.used it every morning to feed cows. He would roll it down a hill to start. Once in a while it wouldn't start. Then he would pull start with his pickup. He attached a rope to the clutch lever. Get it rolling and then pull and hold the rope tight to engage clutch.
Once the clutch locked in and almost ran over his pickup. For some reason the tractor died in time.

I think buying a battery would have been much smarter.
 
I think it would be better to just fix the problem in the long run. I've heard of PTO starting where there is a reversible gearbox involved. Even there you need to be extremely careful as guys have lost limbs or lives around PTO shafts even when the shielding is there. If the tractor is that bad off that a starter or battery will not solve the problem and you do not want to go further then I would replace that tractor. I don't try to tempt fate and if I did I would soon think about the couple guys I know that are missing limbs. Then there were the guys who thought they could mow a little further down on the hillside only to be wearing the rear wheel in their lap. Of course they are no longer around to tell anybody that was not such as good idea. Fix the problem or ship the tractor.
 
I've seen belt starting done including some non 2 cylinder JD"s. Still the chance for injury or worse. Know where you are and others are at all times relative to the belt.
 
My brother in law had several methods for getting his two bangers started. I think maybe the safest was jacking up the rear wheel of dead one, backing the running tractor rear wheel pretty tight up against dead one. Then jack the running one up and select appropriate gear in each and have at it.
 
Yep. Might as well go ahead and call 911 right before you attempt that! We've all done some stupid things over the years but I try to be a little more careful as I've gotten older. Those broken bones don't heal as fast as they used to.
 
Can you climb on an MF65 from the back or do you need to get between the front and rear wheels to climb on?
 
Is this one of those here hold my beer things. I would fix what ever needs fixing to crank start it, probably cheaper then what you could end up with wrecked truck and tractor and a funeral.
 
This one is a little different, a 420 JD crawler pushing a doodlebug. The bug got stuck on wet grass after I filled the back with silage out of the trench. I put the crawler behind it a ways and put it in low gear. Hopped in the bug and got it moving. I turned to the right a little and got stuck again. Shoulda stayed where I was and let the crawler go past me but my only thought was to stop the crawler so I opened the door to get out. The blade was so close I couldn"t shut the door. By the time I got to the crawler the door was folded into the fender of the bug. If I had slipped.....
 
I have been told that I think a little different than most people. But why don't you fix the tractor so it starts a little better??????? Then you won't have to pull start it. That is the direction I would go but each to there own.
 
Brother-in-law used to log alone, got the truck stuck coming out with a load of wood. Went and got the JD skidder and hooked it in front, put it in low and went and jumped in the truck. All went well for a few seconds, then he killed the truck and it wouldn't restart. The skidder kept going, did a wheelie, flopped back on the winch arch and stood there with all 4 wheels going around! He hurried up and found a stick to reach the key, got it shut off before it seized up!
 
I work alone also. This would top a very short list of what I wouldn't attempt to do. looking back I have pulled off some stunts.

The very thing that will turn this into a slow motion train wreck you haven't even considered.
 
(quoted from post at 16:21:01 01/23/18) Ideas like this will fill up a cemetery..get help or make it start on it's own...
a254680.jpg
ditto, john PLEASE don't do it, none of us here want to see your name in the obituarys section of your local paper or in the gone but not forgotten section on this forum :cry: FIX the tractor john or at the very least get help to start it.
 
Friend of mine Was baling hay 100 miles from home at his fathers farm.Had one load of round bales to load . Jumped on the old trusty Ford 3400 industrial: dead battery.He was alone. He had just bought a new ford xlt 3/4 pickup first trip hadn't transffered his tool box from old pickup so no jumper cables.Found a chain hooked up to new pickup, put tractor in gear started new pickup put truck in drive.Climbed on the tractor, depressed clutch let tractor/truck get to 5 mph dumped clutch,tractor fired up lurching forward,chain went slack,came unhooked. Truck continued down the road veering off road down in creek totaling a new truck. I told him a trip to town for a battery,battery charge, or a pair of jumper cables would have been a heck of a lot cheaper.
 
Don't shoot the messenger I know the moderators won't be happy either, I'll tell you something here you won't like. if you are stupid enough to try actually doing this, you have absolutely no right running any equipment. This is not a safe option and it would make me question if this didn't kill you when it went south . What else are you doing that is equally as dangerous as this idea ,and you got lucky this far.


What ever you need to do or spend to fix this will be better than the person seeing you when they find you when it went wrong and somebody missed you for a day or so or you didn't turn up when you should, your family having to deal with what happened, and you having to take half a day out for a pine overcoat fitting.

I fixed stuff for a 90 year old that wouldn't quit farming. He lives in town and the farms out in the middle of nowhere, Honestly it scared me going to the farm when he called with a problem and finding him dead of old age or a machinery accident when he messed up. I think he might of quit now I haven't heard anything bad happened but he don't call anymore.
Regards Robert
 
I don't think there is a bungee made that will pull the clutch pedal on a mf65. I would fix what ever is wrong with the tractor so it will start. Better safe than sorry, or should I say better alive than dead!

Steven
 
(quoted from post at 15:47:20 01/23/18) I have done it but not that way . I had a big open field and started towing the stubborn tractor . Once I got headed the right direction I got off the pulling tractor and then got on the pulled tractor and did the pull start . Once it smothed out I took it out of gear and then got off it and walked up the the front tractor and got on it and turned the pair around and started heading for home . This was all done in low gears and not very fast . .

I've done it this way quite a few times. The trick is to go slow and know what you are doing. Always mount the tractor from the rear and have plenty of room. I probably wouldn't do it if my middle name was clutz or I hadn't been around tractors all my life.
 
(quoted from post at 19:00:28 01/23/18) Don't shoot the messenger I know the moderators won't be happy either, I'll tell you something here you won't like. if you are stupid enough to try actually doing this, you have absolutely no right running any equipment. This is not a safe option and it would make me question if this didn't kill you when it went south . What else are you doing that is equally as dangerous as this idea ,and you got lucky this far.


What ever you need to do or spend to fix this will be better than the person seeing you when they find you when it went wrong and somebody missed you for a day or so or you didn't turn up when you should, your family having to deal with what happened, and you having to take half a day out for a pine overcoat fitting.

I fixed stuff for a 90 year old that wouldn't quit farming. He lives in town and the farms out in the middle of nowhere, Honestly it scared me going to the farm when he called with a problem and finding him dead of old age or a machinery accident when he messed up. I think he might of quit now I haven't heard anything bad happened but he don't call anymore.
Regards Robert

I'll guarantee more people have been killed jumping a solenoid than pull starting a tractor....
 
either way you are dead if it happens to go that far wrong, Sometimes it's better to fix the problems. Than be the cause of another rise in
statistics, the government use to punish those of us that don't want to be the recipient of a Darwin award. If you don't know what that award is
please Google it, It's natural selection thinning the heard at it's finest. Regards Robert
 
Definitely not a good idea.

There is a great utube video showing how to "pull start" a tractor by pulling a tow strap wrapped around the slip clutch on a PTO driven mower with another tractor.

You gotta love it.

Dean
 
(quoted from post at 20:51:43 01/23/18) Is this one of those here hold my beer things. I would fix what ever needs fixing to crank start it, probably cheaper then what you could end up with wrecked truck and tractor and a funeral.

If it were a "here hold my beer" things, the beer holder should be big enough to help pull start the tractor!!!

Personally I think the OP is pulling our leg since he has not posted twice in this thread.
 
the recipient of a Darwin award. If you don't know what that award is
please Google it


Robert, how do you know he might qualify for a Darwin Award?

By definition, they are only given to those who die (stupidly) BEFORE having reproduced.

I find no mention in his post about his reproductive status!
 
A local guy had a long muddy lane, and a brand new Ford Pickup. He worked as a section hand on the railroad, and early one morning he got stuck in his lane. He walked back and got what was then a new MF 165. Hooked it to the front of the truck, put tractor in motion, jumped off, ran to the brand new truck to steer it, tractor front wheel caught a rock or something and cut hard left, tractor edged up on a bank and rolled over on it's top right there in front of him, blocking the lane. He missed work that day. The last I saw of the tractor, it was split in two and the engine was hanging from a tree limb in his front yard.

Another local guy had a 3020 JD, and made a tow bar for it. When he tried the tow bar out, he had a back blade attached, so he started the tractor engine and let it run so the blade would stay up. He pulled it with his pickup about a mile to a road intersection where he could make a big circle. When he stepped on the truck brake, he heard the governor kick in on the 3020. It was pushing him, so he decided real quick to roll out on the blacktop road and choke the 3020 down with the truck brakes. It looked like it was gonna work until the 3020 reared up on the tow bar and bred his tailgate. End result - the transmission should have been in "tow" position on the 3020. It was an expensive experiment.

I've pulled my 630 Deere out using a 420 Deere crawler by myself. The crawler will slide the 630 with both brakes locked. I was a young (and stupider) man then.

After writing all that - don't try this idea - it would be an unforgettable memory for whoever found you.
 
Need a SOS Ford, hook up pto shaft between tractors disconnect the rearend in the ford, put pto in ground speed and put tractor in reverse to start other tractor. An Oliver will do it also if you pull the dirt cap off the pto housing and put shaft in there.
 
when possible I belt up between the pulleys. I use a belt from a old 605C vermeer baler. Just the right length. Belting lets me mess with carb etc as I am trying to get it running without the danger of getting run over.
 
well i have pull started one of my tractors with another tractor by pulling by myself. hook up long chain to the pulling tractor and to the one being pulled. put front tractor in 1st gear about 1/2 throttle, jump off run to pulled tractor and put in gear and let out clutch once it starts take out of gear and run to front tractor and stop it. nothing to it , just need a plan. did this in an open field.
be a lot harder with a truck pulling because you would need the rev's with the use of a throttle. i sure would not trust that clutch trick your talking about.
 
Sounds dangerous, even to me. And I've been accused of some dangerous behavior in some of my youtube videos. I have pulled a stuck tractor out of the mud or snow by myself but by using a big tractor as the puller. And leaving the stuck tractor in neutral, or not running. About the worst was pulling a stuck swather out of the mud myself. Got the 2090 and two long tow ropes going in first gear at idle while I ran back to the swather and got the hydro lever in motion before the rope tightened up. Out of the mud with no problem but then I had to run back to the tractor, jump into the cab and stop it. Really dangerous jumping onto that ladder in front of the moving tractor wheel. I was lucky but won't try it again.
 
(quoted from post at 19:05:22 01/23/18)
(quoted from post at 15:47:20 01/23/18) I have done it but not that way . I had a big open field and started towing the stubborn tractor . Once I got headed the right direction I got off the pulling tractor and then got on the pulled tractor and did the pull start . Once it smothed out I took it out of gear and then got off it and walked up the the front tractor and got on it and turned the pair around and started heading for home . This was all done in low gears and not very fast . .

I've done it this way quite a few times. The trick is to go slow and know what you are doing. Always mount the tractor from the rear and have plenty of room. I probably wouldn't do it if my middle name was clutz or I hadn't been around tractors all my life.
Eldon all it takes is one misstep with a muddy boot onto a muddy step, a loud noise or some other distraction at the wrong second, and your under the tractor not on it. I have worked with and on equipment for over 50 years Eldon and I have a very healthy respect for equipment and what it will do to you if something go's wrong. I worked for a pipeline company many years ago Eldon and one of their sideboom operaters parked his sideboom going down hill locked up the park brake, stepped off the deck onto the track, his pant cuff caught the park brake release on his way off, the sideboom started rolling, he spun around to jump back on, his muddy boot slipped on the track pad and his boot went down between the track and the engine housing and pulled him in between the boom winch housing and the trac. when the sideboom stopped at the bottom his left leg and arm where gone. he lived Eldon but spent many years in rehab, and now in a wheelchair. this guy was an experienced and very good operator. all it takes is one misstep, a half second distraction or inattention.
 
If you were to do it some kind of servo for the Clutch and brake would be the only way to do it but that would probably also cost more than just fixing the tractor ? Or I guess if you chained it to a big enough machine with a piece of well casing beteeen the two so if you couldn?t get the tractor your pull starting to stop you could just set the brakes on the bigger machine and it could overpower the smaller tractor and make it kill the engine again ? The closest thing I?ve ever done to a stunt like this was my pickup had a dead battery so I hooked a tractor to it pulled it backwards up a hill just the receiver hitch broke and sent the truck down the hill luckily I was able to get it stopped but it could have been bad really easy .I guess if a guy had to macgyver something to get out of a jamb one time but even then walking is better than dying .
 
WOW! Even when I was young and prone to do stupid things as youth will I was never stupid enough to even think about something like this. Not that I'm much older and prone to still do stupid things...........I still ain't stupid enough to even think about doing something like this.

Rick
 
I'm hoping you're post is a joke; I see you only have four posts total so maybe it is.

But assuming you're serious, consider this: it is remarkably easy to seriously injure yourself trying to get on a rolling tractor. If that happens, there will be no one around to call an ambulance, unless of course you are still able to use your phone and the phone itself isn't crushed.

If you have any sort of incline in your yard, you can drag the tractor up the incline, then roll down the incline to start the tractor. Use a high gear, as the tires will slip in lower gears.
 
Yeah, his post does not quite pass the smell test. For a while I thought a lawyer trying to figure something out on an injury suit but who knows.
 
Do it by yourself if you wish but before you do, cut a good deal with the local funeral home for a price. They'll usually give you a discount if you're still kicking when you phone. I think they call it pre-planning or something like that.
 
I think it'll take longer to get the cockamaime rope-and-bungee contraption working than it would to simply fix the problem.

People do some pretty crazy stuff out of necessity to get the job done, and they usually get away with it. It's those times that they don't that are the problem.
 
Dad and uncle shared an F20 tractor with a mounted picker on it for corn harvest for 20+ years. The F20 was crank start.

You learn pretty quickly a hill is your friend, they probably only hand cranked that tractor 5-6 times a year. Just park on a hill.

Paul
 
There is a scene in the movie "the gods are crazy". where the guy has not brakes on his jeep. He leaves it sit while he gets out, just waits for the jeep to come back once it goes down hill, up next and back.
 
You say you normally work alone.

1 butt 1 tractor what are you trying to do that requires 2 tractors running at the same time?

Not alone = you have a helper, have them get on one.
 
David, I haven't thought of that movie in years!

There were several scenes where he let the truck get away.

Something about no brakes, no starter so he couldn't shut it off!

Once he got it stuck, used the winch to get it out and it ended up winched up in a tree!

Wasn't the truck named Antichrist, Beelzebub, something fitting! LOL
 
pull starting reminds me a when I was around 10 years old. Dad had a construction company, he had parked a 3/4 ton truck with manual transmission all winter in my grandfathers tractor shed come spring he needed it to put a crew in. One Saturday he decided to pull it out of shed with his new 3/4 truck with 454 and auto transmission. I was in old truck to release clutch when we got moving. Ever time he would give the truck with automatic gas he would spin tires, he thought I was not pushing clutch he decided for me to pull him....as he was giving me instructions on how to pull him the trucks took off.... we were standing at the old truck when this happened..... he had not took the truck with automatic out of drive he took off for his new truck and I jumped in the old truck hit the brakes and stopped the whole mess...after that he told me I knew more that he though I would have and we got trucks started....he told the story till he died of how I saved his new truck with the 454 and automatic .....it was a really nice truck for 1972 bucket seats, air conditioner chrome everywhere every option it had it ...wish he had kept it that would be something today
 
While I question the credibility of the OP there are jobs that can involve two tractors but one operator. One would be cleaning animal pens out of a barn. One tractor has the loader and the other is hooked to the manure spreader. Filling an upright silo where one tractor is on the forage blower and the other on the self unloading wagon.
 
We are in hill country,, My Dad always would say "If we moved to flat country, the first thing we would have to do is build a hill to coast start these old tractors"
 
I have belt started 2 cylinder tractors many times,, and as far as keeping the belt on while your doing it...that is a skill that is near forgotten,,lining up a flat belt..
a254715.jpg

a254716.jpg
 
Lot's of folks get a thrill out of trying to cheat death. If that's your goal have fun but leave everyone else out of it. Just remember that sooner of later that one loaded chamber is gonna be lined up with the firing pin & it won't be fun anymore.
 
I did it once just the way you describe in an open hay field, but I tied the steering wheel of the pulling tractor with twine. It worked and I lived to tell about it, but I was probably 25 at the time, wouldn't try it now.
 
I see a high probability of a truck getting hit by a tractor, the grille of the tractor and probably radiator too getting torn up. The truck getting pushed by said tractor into a tree, ditch, etc. And lastly you getting run over by a truck being pushed by a tractor getting out. You being run over by a tractor trying to jump on a moving tractor. Did I miss anything? Your wife and family would be appreciative if you called a neighbor to help...
 
It's his life and equipment. I guess he can do as he pleases. That being said in my younger years I have done that and also brought 2 items up at the same time by letting one go slowly across the field then run the other up ahead faster them park and go back to the first one and redirect it for correct direction till caught up with other vehicle. This might have been a tractor and combine or such.
 
well. this idea can make real good material for 'roadrunner' cartoons. think 'wiley coyote & ACME one-man tractor starting system' LOL
 
Well, the comments are interesting! About 7/8 said not to do it, as it is too dangerous, and it's crazy. And of the 1/8 that said they have done it, most said they were younger then, and wouldn't do it now.
Most interesting is how many people did admit that have thought about doing it!
Lot's of creative ideas were suggested, like using a rope on the gearshift of the towed tractor to pull it out of gear after it starts, or to let the tow vehicle get stuck in soft ground both before and after the second vehicle is started, or the idea of a common reversing driveshaft between PTOs, or a belt to link them together, but the best (in my mind) was to use a stationary tow vehicle with a winch to pull the dead tractor towards the tow vehicle with a remote control to shut the winch off without leaving the seat.
In any case, thanks for the suggestions. No, I'm not a troll. But I do spend a lot of time going back and forth in the fields, and that gives me a lot of time to ponder different ways of getting things done.
I've heard of some newer vehicles which have remote start, I wonder if they also have remote kill....
 

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