Farmall H Starter!!!

Justin M · Jul 17, 2010

I have a 1948 Farmall H that I bought and just rebuilt the motor. I have all new battery cables and clean connections. When I hit the starter button, it would barely even turn over, and now has quit turning over at all. I know the engine is built back correctly, because I have pull started it and it wants to run (fuel issues there). I have a brand new fully charged 6v battery, and even used a fully charged 12v. I think I may have a bad switch, but I even bypassed the switch and no change. Do I have a bad starter?

Justin M · Jul 17, 2010

Anyone????

Clarkbug · Jul 18, 2010

Hi Justin.

You said you just rebuilt the engine on your H. Did you also rebuild or replace the generator/alternator? Im guessing its still 6v positive ground with a generator since you said you had a new 6v battery.

The starter wont care if you hooked it up positive or negative ground, but you should make sure you have things grounded properly just in case.

I have had a similar problem when trying to start one of mine, and the starter bendix got stuck in the flywheel. Didnt matter how good the battery was, it just wouldnt turn over. Try to loosen the starter bolts, and wiggle the starter to see if its stuck. If so, you will hear it snap back.

It could also be your starter got cooked trying to crank over a new tight engine, if it was weak to begin with. Couple that with cranking and cranking (and maybe a 12 v battery on a 6v starter) and you could have let the smoke out of it. (This I also know from experience) Pull the starter and see if it spins when you directly connect to a battery with some jumper cables (CAREFULLY). If she spins, you know the starter works.

Good luck!

Justin M · Jul 18, 2010

I did not rebuild the generator yet, but its not hooked up right now.

As for the starter, it is not stuck. It will turn the engine over maybe once, but it is so slow. I did remove it, and hook up to a battery and it turned, but very weak. Like it had no power what so ever. Now when I used a 12v battery, I just bumped it a few time, never just sat on it for no longer than 5 seconds.

I think I may just go aheand and order a new starter, unless yall think otherwise.

Owen Aaland · Jul 18, 2010

Check the battery cable stud inside the starter. Very easy to crack the solder connection while tightening the nut that hold the cable to the starter.

Justin M · Jul 18, 2010

As a matter of fact, that stud is spinning. Is that a fix I can make?

Clarkbug · Jul 18, 2010

As a matter of fact, that stud is spinning. Is that a fix I can make?

I would say thats a good maybe....

Be careful taking things apart, and it may just need some solder on the inside of the stud to get things going again.

When my starter started going out like that, I just spent the $65 or so and got it completely rebuilt since it was still all original and needed new brushes and bearings anyway.

Justin M · Jul 18, 2010

Well here is another thing I left out.I am so lost with this right now, I keep leaving things out to tell yall. I did take the starter to get rebuilt, and he said it was in good shape, but needed a couple things. Well it came back and did the same thing as it did before, barely anything. So I have a feeling he didnt look at that.

Owen Aaland · Jul 18, 2010

(quoted from post at 13:33:39 07/18/10) [As a matter of fact, that stud is spinning. Is that a fix I can make?

What I do is remove the stud from the starter so I can do a good job of removing the old solder. Remove the solder from the ends of the field coils. Install the stud with only the inside insulator installed on the stud. Reshape the field coil ends to fit into the slot in the stud. Apply flux to the area you want to solder. Resolder the connection. After it cools a bit you can install the remaining insulating washers and reassemble the starter.

gene bender · Jul 19, 2010

If the stud is spinning it is bad they mite be able to re-solder and mite not.

Jason the Red · Jul 19, 2010

You stated you may have a fuel issue also. You may try to start by fixing that. If the engine isn't getting the fuel it needs to start, it doesn't help things. A six volt system typically doesn't spin the starter overly fast anyway, so it may be spinning fast enough to start with a good well charged battery, and proper sized cables (00 gauge) but with all the other problems you have you're just draining the battery causing some of your starter problem. If it were mine, I would fix the fuel problem, then work on the charging system, and worry about the starter last. Hope this helps.

Red Mist · Jul 19, 2010

Probably bad battery cables, too long cables, or bad connections. Clean, replace, shorten.
mike

Owen Aaland · Jul 19, 2010

(quoted from post at 18:06:07 07/18/10)
Well here is another thing I left out.I am so lost with this right now, I keep leaving things out to tell yall. I did take the starter to get rebuilt, and he said it was in good shape, but needed a couple things. Well it came back and did the same thing as it did before, barely anything. So I have a feeling he didnt look at that.

If the solder joint was only cracked and the stud had not turned yet, it is possible that the starter spun pretty well with no load on it.

Once you have worked on a few of those starters you learn to look very closely at that stud for a cracked joint.

Justin M · Jul 19, 2010

I have a fully charged 6v, brand new correct gauge and length battery cables. I bought another starter, so I am going to see if that helps.

But now I am still thinking also I am having magneto issues also. I have timed it correctly, I think. So I dunno. I have been trying to pull start it. But I fixed the fuel issue. There is plenty of fuel getting to the carb.

I am lost!

Jason the Red · Jul 20, 2010

If you think the mag is good and correctly timed, and you are getting gas to and through the carb, you may want to check manifold to make sure it is tightened down well. Manifolds will work themselves loose sometimes.

wfd2 · May 21, 2014

(quoted from post at 18:16:46 07/18/10) Check the battery cable stud inside the starter. Very easy to crack the solder connection while tightening the nut that hold the cable to the starter.

Four years later I'm having the same problem with my '47 H. Sure enough the battery cable stud was the culprit. But, in my case, it was shorting to ground.

Check to see if you have continuity between the battery cable stud and the case. If you do, the stud is cracked and shorted to ground inside the starter.

I took mine apart, straightened out the lug and soldered the connection. Starter works like a charm.

Thanks for the initial diagnoses- spot on!

Farmall H Starter!!!

Justin M

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