Farmall Cub

I helped my buddy find and buy a Cub. The serial number plate is missing, but I think it's close to a '53 like mine. When we brought it home and unloaded it, it died. Prior to this it was starting great except every once in a while the starter would humm like it wasn't connecting to the flywheel. After it died, I tried to start it but nothing happend. The starter didn't crank (or make any sound). The battery is fully charged. I thought that maybe the manual starter switch went bad, so we put another one on but no help. I took the starter off and found that neither the starter nor the flywheel (tractor) were seized up. I'm thinking that the starter is out. Does anyone have any suggestions on what else it might be, or am I on the right track. I think I will take the starter off of mine and see it if will work on his. I'm not a mechanic, so trial & error is the only way I know to narrow it down. I have researched all the infor on this site, and it's been a great help on other problems. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks. [/b]

First thing to do is make sure the batery terminals are clean, and the ground is good. Get a test light or voltmeter and connect from the battery lead at the starter switch to ground (bolt on starter is a good ground). Watch it when you try to start the cub. If the light goes out, or the voltameter goes down to practically nothing, you have a bad connection or bad battery. If it stays on, you have a starter problem, assuming the drive isn't locking up against the flywheel teeth. If the tractor has been setting for a while, there is a good posibillity that the starter brushes are sticking.

Have you tried bypassing the switch and touching the battery cable directly to the stud on the starter? Did the stud on the starter appear to be burned or melted like the switch was not making good contact? The basic approach is to eliminate any possible common problems such as loose or corroded battery cables & connections. Don't overlook the ground cable as well. A poor ground can cause this problem. You can also take a jumper cable and run from the battery negative to the starter stud (switch removed) to see if the starter spins. With all of the cheap fixes out of the way, you could have a bad spot on the starter armature.

Thanks for the help guys................I'll try these tips Saturday...

Hi Badguy,

All of the previous posts are excellent. I will relate my experience.
I had the same problem on one of mine. I replaced the starter brushes and still the same problem. So I replaced the starter button on top of the
starter. Still the same thing. Well come to find out the retangular metal
plate inside the starter button was turned 90 degrees and would not make
contact. I was told by the parts man that this happens in shipment a lot.
All you have to do is push in on the button and turn 90 degrees and once
it is mounted it will stay in place.

Hope this helps and good luck.

I found that my starter switch had turned 90 degrees also and wouldn't make contact. Thanks for the help.