1943 JD B won't start

55Trucker

New User
I"ve owned my 1943 John Deere B for about 6
years. It has manual start, and a Wico X
magneto. For the first few years I started it
regularly, and it was always hard to start. I
haven"t started it for a couple of years now,
and it is impossible to start now. I cleaned
out the sediment bowl, drained/replaced the
gas, and sprayed in some carb cleaner. Nothing.
So I started wondering if I developed an
electrical problem while it was sitting. I
bought an in line spark plug wire tester light,
and I couldn"t see it blink when rotating the
flywheel. So I replaced the wires and
condensor. Still nothing. Can someone please
give a novice some guidance on how I can track
down and fix this issue? Thanks!
 
Clean the points. Have that condenser checked. The old one may be better than the new one. Make sure the impulse trips with a good snap & not a dull thud.
 
As Teddy mentioned, polish the points with some fine sandpaper. Make sure the points are gapped at .015.
 
Thanks greatly for your help. I took a look at the points, and there was some white oxidation on them. I sanded them a bit, and now I get a faint spark when I looked at the LH plug (I guess the in line tester light doesn't illuminate because the spark is weak?). I also got it to sputter a bit once while trying to start it. So that's progress :)

I just ordered a new set of points. Hopefully the spark will be nice and bright when I get them in. Of course, never having put points in before, I may need to ask for help here. (I will check for earlier related topics before I do.)
 

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