Farmall Cub

Well not so much any more. I put a short piece of vinyl tubing on the starter rod to make it more comfotable to pull. Has always been hard to pull. Some grease on the rod at dash opening and PTFE (teflon) on the plunger helps. Probably need a new starter energizer and a longer starter lever. Took it apart last year and cleaned, but it's back to it's old ways. Willl change to soft rubber vacuum/washer hose if I find some.

http://photos.cubfest.com/displayimage.php?pos=-36094

I'm curious why the starter rod would be so hard to pull. It seems that there should be very little resistance in that linkage. Is the pull ring spread open to the point that it drags against the hole in the dash?

Dan:

You had the url linked to the page that the pic is listed on and didn't have the url pointing to the pic. Right click on the pic and click on the properties. Copy the address and paste it between the img tags. Edit you post and you will see what I mean.

It is not that the rod is hard to pull, it is the saddle switch that is not making good connection and you have to pull the rod harder to make connection.

Dan - most likely the resistance is all in the pushbutton itself. Those short pull rods take a lot more effort than the long ones on the early models. Try a little spray lube up under the outer cap of the pushbutton on the starter itself and see if that doesn't help a bit.

Ditto to what Boss and Bigdog say

That's what I was talking about, spray Teflon on the inside of the starter button. After 50 years, a new one would not hurt.

Not sure how much difference it makes, but you might try re-installing the rod with the curved part adjacent to the dash. Basically, flip it over 180 degrees. That is how mine is installed on the 48 Cub.

The problem that I was having with mine was me pulling too hard ( It will not crank any better by pulling harder ). This caused the starter lever (long one) to bend, because it is too thin. Using the old one as a pattern, I made a new one out of 16 ga. steel. I customized the new one so there is a preload when connected to the rod. Now just a short pull to start.