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'59 Won't Crank

Posted: Mon Jun 28, 2004 4:32 pm
by Arizona Mike
The 6v battery went dead in my '59. (6v pos. ground system)

I replaced the battery with an 8v I had from another tractor (the hi crop battery from JP). Cleaned up the terminals and ground connection and it started right up. After mowing for about 10 minutes I ran over a black 1/2" plastic irrigation hose in the yard and choked the mower and engine down. Now it won't crank....PTO is disengaged and hose removed from mower.

When I was trying to start it from the side of the tractor at the starter, I heard a whirring sound like the starter was spinning but not engaging.

Battery is full, headlights are good., but she won't crank. Did that 8v battery cause a problem??

Any ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks

Mike

Posted: Mon Jun 28, 2004 4:42 pm
by Bigdog
Mike, it is very possibly a bad battery cable or as Farmer would say, "CYG" - Check your grounds. Have you tried using a set of jumper cables and going straight to the starter button. A bad starter button is also a possibility on the non-starting problem.

Posted: Mon Jun 28, 2004 4:56 pm
by George Willer
Mike,

From this long distance we'll probably have some conflicting ideas. Here's mine.

The whirring you hear is the starter running normally. The problem is that the Bendix drive isn't engaging. This is usually caused by the Bendix spiral becoming dirty and therefore sluggish to engage. My cure would be to pull the starter and clean the Bendix drive as well as you can. Then replace the starter without any lubrication at all.

Oh yeah... check your grounds, check your grounds,...... :lol:

Posted: Mon Jun 28, 2004 6:03 pm
by Dale51
Starter may not work but how about the hand crank?
I have started many tractors with one.

Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2004 11:01 pm
by Arizona Mike
Pulled the starter yesterday. It was real dirty. Cleaned everything up and bolted it back on this afternoon...She really cranks fast now, and starts right up. Thanks George and BD.

My hand crank would not engage into this tractor. My other two start easily with a couple of turns of the crank. Did IH change the design not to accept the hand crank for '59?

Thanks

Mike

Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2004 7:28 am
by Dale51
mltiema wrote:

My hand crank would not engage into this tractor. My other two start easily with a couple of turns of the crank. Did IH change the design not to accept the hand crank for '59?

Thanks

Mike




I'm not sure about a design change friend has a 61 lowboy & we can crank it.

There are three things that I have seen done so you cuold not crank it.
1. bolt in the end of the crank for some reason (person there before you was afraid pully would fall off).
2.Ears that let the crank engage broken off (don't know how this could be done but I have seen it after the fact).
3. Pully is either a after market or I think some of the newer cubs late 60 to 70's did not have a crank.
john or bigdog might shed more light on this last.