to-35 has no spark

Don't know if there is any help for me but I thought I would see since I am not very mechanically inclined.
I have what I believe is a 58 to-35. I guess it was called a to-35 in the late 50's. I have owned it for about 10 years but have used it very little. I left it out in the rain last year and it hasn't started since. I did get it pushed into the shed and removed the distributor cap and dried everything out. Gas was replaced. Removed air tower and soaked in kerosene and replaced the oil in bottom of air filter. Still would not start. Just left it alone until now.
Now I am not getting any spark to plugs. It has a pull knob for the on/off switch. I took that off and tested it with my cheap multimeter and it was bad so I replaced that. Still no fire.
After reading some of the posts on this board, I thought I would look at the coil. The coil says use with external resistor. I do not find one anywhere on the tractor. It has been converted to a 12 volt system. I don't know if it should have ever run with that coil and I was just lucky that it did or if the resistor is hidden somewhere.
I know just throwing parts at it is a bad thing but I did replace the coil with one from Tractor Supply that does not need an external resistor. I still have no sparks to the plugs. I am checking it at the plugs since I am doing this by myself and it is the only place close enough that I can watch and turn the motor over.
I don't have a problem with changing this over to an electronic ignition system is anybody feels this would solve my problems.
If I got a voltmeter with clips instead of probes on the end, is there anywhere useful I can test for volts?
Sorry this is so long but I thought I would try to elicit some advice and see where to go from here.
Thanks
John

Coils come 12v or 6v. Assuming you got one that says 12v. If so, likely your problem is in the distributor. Either a bad ground, bad condensor, or the points need adjusting and you might need to run a file over them and remove a glaze that sometimes sits on them when a tractor is sitting a long time. Plugs should be Autolite 3116, but chances are that isn't your immediate problem if you are getting no spark at all anywhere. However, new plugs might be a good idea anyway.

Probes work fine. Make sure you have power from the battery to the key and key to the coil. Also should have power into distributor from key
Through coil. Once that is all checked if you turn the engine over with distributor off and points exposed you should see spark at the point gap. If there is power all the way there but no spark then bad condenser or points.

Post your results please.

Ain't no harm in asking. No spark at the plugs. How about we first try for spark at the points? Yep. Cap off, coil wire grounded, rotor removed and you can crank that engine over and watch the points. If your getting a spark at the points when it's cranking, you should be getting spark at the plugs.
Key on, check the voltage at the points. If the points are open you should see higher voltage on the one side and ground on the other. Higher voltage being what is coming out of the new built in resistor coil that you put in. Got voltage going in? Got ground on the other side? Yep. You found it. Your points are either not closing, ya' did check for that, right? Or they are glazed over. Get the wife's nail file out and hit 'em once or twice. Just trying to break the shine. Not kill them.
Got spark at the points and not at the plugs?
Been there, done that.
It's called a bad distributor rotor that is grounding out or a bad coil wire.
Didj'a know the only difference from a coil wire to a spark plug wire is the length?
Go Play. We will all be here at some time or another...
Wanna see if that dist is grounded to the engine block? Volt meter between the batt and use the dist housing for ground. if the meter reads, the housing is grounded and so should the points be...

I suspect you have a bad/dirty set of points. They may have corroded if moisture got in the distributor, they may have burned from using the old coil without a resistor.

With the ignition switch on, you should have battery voltage at the + terminal of the coil.

With the points OPEN, you should have battery voltage on the - terminal of the coil. If not, the points or wire to the distributor is shorted to ground.

With the points CLOSED you should have 0 volts to ground. If you have any voltage, the points are not making connection or the wire is broken or poorly connected to the points.

Once the points are working, you should have spark from the coil. From there the spark has to pass through the rotor to the proper wire on the cap. If there is any moisture in the cap, or the cap is carbon tracked, or the rotor is carbon tracked, the spark will not go where it need to go or it will short to ground.

You asked about electronic ignition. I personally prefer it over points. A few reasons:

The distributors were prone to wear the shaft bushings. With points, it is impossible to keep the points set with worn bushings, and it doesn't take much wear to cause problems. The electronic kits are very forgiving of worn bushings. (Also, the advance weights tend to rust in place. This will need to be disassembled, freed, and lubed regardless of point use or electronic conversion.)

Today's points and condensers are not the same quality they used to be. Out of the box failure is not uncommon.

Electronic conversions are highly reliable.

P.S. That the tractor spent a year outside, be a good idea to check the transmission/gear case/hydraulic reservoir (all one common case) for water. A common problem on those tractors. Water gets in around the shifter boots and the top link boot under the seat.

Thanks for the replies. I don't want y'all to think that I am being rude or ungrateful for not replying sooner but I got about 5" of rain over the last week and my tractor shed was full of water. Tractor didn't get wet but I have been trying to pump out the water. Standing in mud is bad enough.

With the switch on, I have 12.5 volts all the way from the battery thru the coil and to the moving arm side of the points and nothing on the other side of the points even when cranking the engine. Should the coil have the same voltage on the + and - side?

The arm part of the points moves so they aren't frozen shut. I ran a strip of fine sandpaper through the points a few times to try to clean up both sides. I still don't have any fire.

I guess I am leaning toward a new set of points and a condenser. I will have to get some feeler gauges also. I haven't messed with point in over 30 years when I had an old Suzuki motorcycle.

In looking and testing wires, I noticed that the voltage regulator had all 3 of the wires connected to the "B" post instead of one on each post on the bottom of the regulator. Could that be any of my problems even though it ran like that before? I have been looking over some the wiring diagrams on here and that caught my eye.

Thanks so much for everyone's help.
John

It is amazing what a new coil and new set of points and condenser will do. It cranked twice and fired up. Thanks for all of the help.
John