lost power in the dist.

i have to go over and look at a 9n tomorrow, it wont get fire to the plugs,owner has new points, condenser, rotor, cap, coil,and voltage regulator he has power to the coil, besides either the little pig tail spring not making contact, or the little copper tang off of the bolt where the condenser wire attaches to the points being broken or grounding, anything else come to mind to check? i had a manual for the n series loaned it to another guy so i didn't have to work on his tractor myself, now he claims he doesn't have it, [ seems to me the standard response i get on things loaned] so im winging this one, from memory and at my age that's not good, lol

Power to the coil is good but how much?
Should be battery voltage with points open, roughly half
when they close. Assuming they close. Test light will work.

Most likely, in my experience, points are not closing or not
making good electrical contact because they are dirty or not
gapped correctly or the contacts don't line up squarely.

Eric.........first thing I'd due is insert the corner of $1-bill (cheap) between the closed points and PULL. Lotta new points (0.015") have INVISIBLE corrosion between points. Simple, eh? ........sparkie-meister Dell

The 9N would have the front-mount distributor -was it tuned up correctly? Points set at .015" and as stated, must be free of oil and corrosion. The first/early 9Ns used a voltage regulator with the small, two wire/two brush 9N-10000-A generator. After that, all 9Ns and 2Ns used a one-wire/three brush generator and the round can cutout circuit. It all depends on which set up he has to correctly get things correct. There are a bunch of wiring Pictograms on the other site that JMOR did and are pretty much self explanatory and excellent visual aids. You need to verify al is correct before tearing into anything. Check wiring, connections, a good charged battery, etc. You need three basics to fire -spark, fuel, and compression. See Bruce's(VA)75 Tips For N-Owners for some basic test procedures. Your trusty local alternator/starter guy will bench test all of your components usually for free so you have that option too. TOH makes and sells a little timing setting gage for the front mount Ford Tractor distributor and is real handy and faster than the old method. My email is open if you want more info.

[i:654c4848f0][b:654c4848f0]<font size="4">Tim Daley(MI)</font>[/b:654c4848f0][/i:654c4848f0]<table width="100" border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" bordercolor="#000000"><tr><td height="25" colspan="2" bgcolor="#CC0000"></td></tr><tr><td> </td><td></td></tr></table>

Assuming that the bushings & advance weights are ok (*see below), & that you have correct voltage to the coil (battery voltage with the points open and about half that with the points closed), the most common electrical failure (no spark, weak spark) points on the front mount are:

1. The insulator under the brass concave head screw & where the copper strip attaches. (it’s fiber & will wear out; poke & prod w/ your meter leads to make sure it still works) If you need to replace the insulator, use a .250 x 3/8 nylon square nylon anchor nut available at most big box home stores

2. The pigtail at the bottom of the coil not making contact w/ the concave head brass screw inside the distributor. (With the coil on, the pigtail must firmly contact the brass screw. No contact = no spark

3. The copper strip is broken or grounded to the plate. (look very carefully for cracks & breaks).

4. The condenser wire grounding to the plate or side of the distributor.

5. The tab on the bottom of the coil not making contact w/ the brass button on the cap. (With the cap on, the tab must firmly contact the brass button. No contact = no spark.)

6. Incorrect positioning of the spring clip on the plate causing the pigtail to ground. (the open part of the clip goes between 7 & 9 o’clock on the plate. That puts the straight part of the clip opposite of the timing screw at 3 o’clock)

7. Incorrect seating of the coil on the distributor due to a loose bail or no gasket.(the coil must not move at all; if it does, replace the gasket or bail. Or stick some cardboard under the bail).

8. Water/moisture inside the cap due to gasket failure or the absence of a gasket. (the cap AND coil have gaskets)

9. Dirty/corroded/burned/incorrectly gapped or misaligned points. I use only Wells, Blue Streak or Echlin brand points (* *see below).

10. Burned rotor, cracked/carbon tracked cap.

After find the problem & re-check the point gap, do a continuity check before you put the distributor back on the tractor. Before you start, make sure your meter/light works.

With the distributor still off the tractor, follow these steps:

1. Coil off, cap off, points open. One probe on the brass screw & the other on both sides of the open points. On the side closest to the cam, you should have continuity. Not on the other side! If you do, you will also have continuity everywhere because the points are grounded.

2. Coil off, cap off, points open. One probe on the brass screw & the other anywhere on the body of the distributor. You should have no continuity! Now, rotate the tang on the distributor....as the points open & close, you have continuity (closed) and lose it when they open.

3. Put the coil on the distributor, cap off, points open. One probe on the lead on the top of the coil, the other on the cam side of the open points. You should have continuity!

4. Coil on, cap off, points open. One probe on the lead on the top of the coil, the other anywhere on the body of the distributor. You should have no continuity!

At this point, I just put the distributor, coil & cap all back on the tractor as a unit. The reason I do this is because it is real easy to get the cap or coil misaligned trying to put it back together, one piece at a time. The result is something gets broken or you get a ‘no spark’ problem.

It's possible to put it back on wrong & break it. Look at the slot on the end of the cam shaft. Whatever angle it happens to be, turn the distributor tang to match it. Make sure you can tell the wide side from the narrow side on both the cam & distributor! (close counts). Place the distributor on the front of the engine, gently push it in place & slowly turn the distributor body until you feel the tang slip into the slot. Rotate the distributor body until the bolt holes line up. Hand tighten the two bolts until the distributor body is flush with the timing gear cover.


* Unscrew the plate hold down screw & remove the C clip to get the plate out. Remove the shaft & weights. The weights should freely move.


* *NAPA part numbers:
• Points: FD-6769X
• Condenser: FD-71
• Rotor: FD-104
• Cap: FD-126
75 Tips

thanks guys i'll check this tractor out and let you know what we find, this is a new one to me in this valley, and one i havent seen, this will make 11 n's i know of within a 50 mile radius still on the job

results, well this was a new one on me, i took the dist. off and apart, for some reason the half of the points that goes over the little shaft and rides on the dist lobe was egg shaped a little and was stuck , everything else checked out good, and i managed to round the hole in the points so it would easily pivot, put it back on the tractor and it fired right up and ran sweet, havent seen that one before