Farmall Cub

Hello to all, new here!!! About 3 weeks ago purchased my first Cub, its a 1948 "barn find" that hasnt run in over 6 yrs!!! The motor was stuck tho not badly, but am in the process of rebuilding the motor!!! I noticed from the start that it had what I thought was a magneto tho further investigation I find it is what they call a Wico distributor (model XB)!! From what I have read they arent very reliable????? What are your thoughts on it????? Thank You By the way this is a VERY GOOD website, have really enjoyed it, very informative!!!!!

I have seen both magneto and distributor made by Wico on cubs. They do work well when setup the right way, but parts are not as easy to find. If you have the distributor type then you will have to make sure that the coil inside is still in good working order. There should be a card on the outside with a wire wound around it, this was used to reduce the voltage to the coil. Good luck with it and I am sure others will help with more know how. Also I have one that is not in use if that helps.

Does it look like this?

Yes it dose! Haven't had a chance to test it yet! Hopefully the coil is ok, if not think will be looking for a distributor set up!!!

Some people use an external coil, so that is always a possibility just to get it running if it turns out you need one.

Thought of that but was wandering how do you hook up the out-put, only four terminals on cap???

Right...... the J-4 mag has 5 terminals and that is what I was thinking of. These are far less common.

If you do have a Wico Magneto then the shop that I would recommend for parts or repair has to be Mainely Magnetos. They are stand up folks and do it right the first time. Their parts were pretty good, a little pricer than , but they also stand behind their stuff. Here are some of the Wico Parts. They are also easy to talk to so giving them a call to find out more would be good.

I think what old red 1950 has is a distributor, they look like the mags that wico made but there are some differances. A pic would let us know for sure

Yes it is a distributor, not a magneto! It has no impulse and tag says XB which is a distributor!!

I wonder if it is an aftermarket installation. A 1948 should have come with a J-4 mag. The IH battery ignition came later along with the vertical Prestolite distributor. No Wico in the IH parts books and Wico reference seem to go to Deere tractors.

Wico XB magnetos are quite common. My first thought was it's a magneto. Bit of reading, found out that Wico made a distributor and a magneto, both using the XB designation.

http://www.tractorshed.com/cgi-bin/gall ... &cc=0&s=ts

Parts for the Wico XB are available. I would clean up the distributor and install it.

Curious. Once installed and tractor running, check the advance with a timing light.

Am going to give it a try as not having too much luck finding an IHC distributor set up!!! If the coil is bad am definately going the IHC set up as the coils are quite expensive as are the rest of the parts for the wico!!! The resistor is ok, that I have tested and cleaned the points, will see how it goes!!! Thanks for the input,,,,,,,,,

Actually Wico coils are a bit cheaper than IH coils. If the coil is faulty, cheaper to buy a replacement coil than to purchase a complete IH distriutor set up.

Not sure there would be a resistor in a distributor or magneto.

bob in CT wrote:... No Wico in the IH parts books and Wico reference seem to go to Deere tractors.

Don't know when IH started using them, but they did use them enough to include them in the TC-37F: