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cub is finiky in colder weather

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 8:59 am
by ad356
so its getting cold here. i noticed when i start my cub in the cold weather the starter gear likes to kick in before the engine has a chance to start. it took me quite a few tries today to get it started. once it is warm it is not an issue. i start with full choke doesnt matter if you come off the choke the starter still likes to kick out. is there something wrong with the starter; my starting technique, or does it need something else like ignition work. tractor runs fine once it is started and has no problems with restarts the rest of the day.

Re: cub is finiky in colder weather

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 9:42 am
by lazyuniondriver
Assuming you are tuned and adjusted, I would not touch a thing until I varied my starting technique.

As you described the symptoms, I would bet the engine is firing but not enough to continue to run.

I have had great success in starting my tractors in cold weather by using no choke at all until they start. When they start they usually stall immediately at which point I restart it again, this time working the choke in and out to keep it running, but only as much choke as is needed. About 30 seconds of warm up time is needed to allow the engine to be operated at curb or fast idle without stalling or hesitation.

I had a kick start American made motorcycle that took me about 4 years to figure out the sweet spot to fire it up in the first half dozen kicks. The first few years spent watching gas drip from the carb instead of riding.

Re: cub is finiky in colder weather

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 3:10 pm
by Matt Kirsch
Now that you mention it, I just realized that my Super A doesn't kick out anymore, since I made a slight adjustment to the timing.

I fiddled with the timing because of a slight miss, not because of the starting. The miss sounded like a retarded timing miss, not a skip.

What I did was adjusted by ear, and ended up turning the distributor ever so slightly clockwise as viewed from the seat. IIRC that's advancing the timing slightly. As soon as the miss disappeared, I tightened down the distributor and gave it the "rev test." Seems ok, though the governor needs some work now.