Stalls in third gear

[Agage1]

Been working the kinks out on this 154 for the past few weeks. The tractor runs good in first and second gear but not so well in third. If I drop the clutch in third it will stall right out. If I ease the clutch out I can keep it running but if I'm going up any kind of alight incline I have to ride the clutch to keep it from stalling. I keep thinking it's a timing issue. My timing light is broken so I've just been making small adjustments rotating the distributor but haven't found a sweet spot yet. When I static time it it will start just won't run in third gear. When I try to rotate the distributor just a little to advance or retard timing I can't get the thing to fire. It's got new points and condenser and I've rechecked the gap. Could it be the carb? I swapped the broken international carb for a zenith off a 184. Im getting short on ideas. It runs great in second gear but I sure would like to try it third.

[Larry B]

You will never be able to drop the clutch in 3rd gear. You have to slip the clutch some. You have to remember on its best day the tractor had the equivalent of about 3 and a half Briggs 5HP engines. After 40 years probably a little less. Some things to check.
Is the distributor mechanical advance working? Take off the dist cap and twist the rotor. Does it turn slightly then spring back?
With the engine running at idle if you slightly turn the distributor does the engine speed up or slow down? You really need a timing light.
Have you done a compression test?
Do you have a tach? Is the the engine running at proper RPM at wide open throttle?
Is the engine properly warmed up? Engine won't have full pwer till at proper temp.

[Rick Spivey]

Is it magneto or battery ignition? I've had a weak coil on a magneto give the same symptoms.

[outdoors4evr]

Here are a couple things to try:
Sounds like the governor is not responding to the changing load. Lubricate the connections between the governor and the carb.

Does the engine stumble when you suddenly add a load like engaging a mower deck? If it does stumble, might be timing or carb adjustment issue.

How does the transition from idle to wide open do? Do you have to do this transition slowly or does the engine respond quickly to your throttle position change? If it tries to die during this transition, then I would look closer at the carb setting.

[Agage1]

Throttle response is fine. It is the coil that came with the tractor so not sure. Thought about the governor which could be a possibility. Just not that familiar with the cub governor set up yet.

[Agage1]

The throttle response is fine in first and second gear. It stumbles in third and unless I really ride the clutch it will stall. It will run in third wide open throttle down hill but if I come to even the slightest incline even at full speed it will start to bog down and stall

[outdoors4evr]

Sounds like you are down to the governor.
Check the governor to carburetor rockshaft for play. If it has play in the woodruff key area, clean and apply JB Weld.
http://www.farmallcub.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=64634&p=527250&hilit=governor+glue#p527250

Otherwise, you may have a worn out governor spring or need some other attention with the governor. Here is a link to a governor rebuild how-to.
http://www.farmallcub.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=141&t=44139

[tbear]

Just throw some new plugs in it. I've had the same problem. New plugs-no problem.

[Eugene]

Have you done a compression test?

[SONNY]

Mine stumbles in third take off,---but then I never use third so it's no problem, UNLESS your trying to make a rat rod and do burnouts with it.----Both my 185's are slow taking off in third too. thanks; sonny

[Frankiedd]

Check the engine cylinder compression. If they are low that would equal low power. I had that same problem on one that I owned.

[Mortgaged]

I had an identical issue with my 184 when I first bought it. After chasing lots of other things: timing, plugs, carb, etc. I finally got out the manual and followed the directions to set the governor. I found it was out quite a bit and required some definite adjustment 3/4 turn? to get it right.

Afterwards, I quickly learned that what I thought was running fine in 1st and 2nd wasn't very good after all. The governor adjustments made the tractor run MUCH better overall and I didn't even realize what was going on in the lower gears.

Regardless, as mentioned previously, you can never drop the clutch in 3rd and expect it to go. Generous Slipping is the norm here, especially when starting on an incline. It should however transition to full power when transitioning into an incline. My tractor produces enough power to slip the clutch on steep inclines if I transition into them, which pretty much forces me to downshift.

Let us know what you find!

[460ford]

I had the same type of problems with my 52 farmall cub. It acted like there was nothing wrong until you started driving it around. It would stall out in third or going up hill in any gear. I figured out that once the governor opened up the throttle for maybe 5-10 seconds it was running out of fuel. I replaced carb with one of the 28$ Ebay jobs and it runs like a champ now