Hard cranking and lift

My 54 NAA has recently started having lift issues. Even with the lift handle in the down position, it wants to raise to the full up position with out
equipment attached. I can push it back down to attach empliments but it seems to shudder or pulse. It will lift and lower but seems to be slower
than usual with bush hog or harrows attached. I'm due to change the fluid but it doesn't seem t be low.
Issue #2
When at operating temp it's very hard to start, usually have to give it a squirt of starting fluid if it stalls while bushhogging or I shut it down for a
few minutes.
Thanks in advance

1. Air in the system.

2. Low compression.

is the oil in your hyds area wet or dirty? If yes, it can cause some of your problems. See if it looks foamed.. if it does, that could mean air.

if it's been more than 2 years since you serviced the hyds, dump in a quart of atf, a pint of 90% or denatured alcohol, and a quart of diesel, or kerosene, or mineral spirits. Give it a couple passes around the pasture then drain it.

As for the hard start.. what are you running? 6v or 12v? if 12v, is it a 12v coil, or a 6v coil and a resistor? Have you checked your points and other components in the last year?

post back.

okay.. its lifting even when in the down position.. Check to make sure the stud under the seat (the rear bolt holding the seat on...under the seat) is still there and it was not replaced with a common bolt. It has to be the long stud that is needed to engage into a slot in the lift cover.

Next check the eye or turn buckle on the rear of the draft spring that connects to the hydraulic rocker.. If this is too loose, the lift can go up as the rod inside the spring is being pushed or pulled too far out and that activates the lift.

hiccuping is usually due to worn ring on the lift piston, leaky safety valve or scarred lift cyl or a leak somewhere underneath.

I have also seen a loose draft spring as described above do that as well.. It had too much play and the bouncing of the 3pt connected implement would actuate the loose draft spring and make the implement dance all over the place.

assuming it start good cold..... with choking


Hard starting hot.... could be lots of things.

remember its an updraft carb, and gas fumes are heavier that air.. so when cranking hot,, give the choke a quick pull out and back in to make the mixture of fumes get sucked upwards into the engine. It must be quick or you can flood the tractor.

Other reasons... carb is flooding a bit...,

coil or ignition switch is marginal as causing weak spark base on heat and current flow. This can be heat related... or even bump/rough ground related.

fuel problem... where is running out of fuel due to restriction, and letting is sit a bit allows the carb to fill back up..

You indicate it only does it under heavy load????

high speed jet.. clogged, or set too lean, if only under heavy load. so your description of failure is important for trouble shooting.

I believe its called a plunger guide. When missing, any push or pull on the rocker/spring will cause the 3pt to lift. a loose or incorrectly adjusted spring will also cause the same problem. It will give the system "draft feed back to lift", even with not in the draft mode.

Thank you sotxbill. I can't envision where that engages. Some day I may see it.

Thanks for the help, In will check out some of these lift tips when I go back to deer camp.
As for the hard cranking, I switched it over to the high energy ignition severals years ago so I think it may be fuel related. It is 12 volt.
The hard starting is after its been run a while and is fully warmed up.
I will pull the cut off bowl and check the little strainer this week end to make sure its getting good flow from the tank.

Just got finished with one that displayed about every symptom you can describe...

It would start but only idle... then sometimes idle for 5 minutes, or just die, Giving it throttle would kill it, as if the main jets were plugged.. adding choke a bit would help and speed it up a bit,, then adding choke would not help and slow it down a bit... then it would flood, then it would starve for fuel,, then there was no spark, but then there was plenty of spark.. Plugs would be wet, then plugs would be bone dry...


and the symptoms kept changing... every few minutes... I had this one sitting on a trailer and would "pick" at it a few minutes every day, as I had plows and other equipment on the trailer behind it...

turned out.. after going down the yellow brick road.. rebuilding the carb multiple times, rodding out all the ports and passages, checking fuel flow, cleaning all the filters and screens,, bypassing the ignition switch, replacing the coil, measuring the points resistance... that measure zero or near zero... all to no avail.....Measured the resistance from the distributor base plate to ground to make sure the internal ground strap was good..


it was the dangity dang Chinese points... they would work, giving a somewhat good ground to the coil, then change to high resistance, then work again... I changed them out with a new set of "junk" points from a local supplier, and mysteriously all the weird symptoms went away.. suddenly the main jets were good, fuel delivery was good, coil spark was good, the jubilee ran like it was brand new....

and now in a couple of days, couple of weeks, or couple of months,, it will start acting up all over again do to sub standard points.... Got several sets of 'merican points coming in a day or two.. will put that problem to rest.

cleaning the old points did not change anything, light cleaning, then with alcohol, then with rough paper, then even a hard points file, with new surfaces,, did nothing... So.... though I would pass this along.

At least this one is well serviced going to the customer. I am amazed how many times the symptoms changed..