starter seemed to lag, no matter how much battery, some smoke coming from the starter. removed the starter. disassembled the starter, seems at one point the copper strips had been broken from the coils to the bolt for the battery cable, a solder repair was evident, it was failing again. none of the soldering irons got hot enough to resolder the straps, quite short at that point. situation was solved by extending the straps with hammered flat copper wire from an old telephone pole ground wire., small holes drilled, rivets made from romex scraps. both ends hammered into the groove, drilled and pinned. situation cured starter works flawlessly.
an unusual repair method but used what was available on a sunday in the boonies and got the job done. 1948 TE20 lives again!
and most times poverty was the father 
Ive owned lots of te 20s. in fact I still own one with my Cub for company. Its a 1954 TEF 4 cylinder diesel, and those early Fergies were a great wee tractor (I hope my Cub cant read) 
