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What to do

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jakemersing

Member
I am a 15 year old who just received a tractor from my uncle. He lives an hour and a half away from me so i would like to know what i should do to get it running. I am very mechanical so i could figure it out eventually but im trying to save time. It is a 1951 Massey Harris 30-GR 4cylinder continental L-Head, 5forward 1 reverse, 6 Volt system that i will change once i know it will run. I was thinking of going down there getting the carb, Distributer, Coil, generator, and battery. Take them home test them and clean them up then the next time i go back i will install all of them and put oil and gas in it and see if it will run. the other choice is to try and start it how it is now with 20 year old oil in it. Will that hurt it? So what do you guys think? and also i dont have a 6 volt battery or charger so how would i start it, there is one on it now but im sure its dead. [/img]
 
Very mechanical can be pretty broad,LOL!!! I would suggest first reading through a lot of threads on here, mainly in the tractor talk forum, on starting tractors that have not run in awhile. Next, I would gather as much information as possible on my first trip there, instead of taking the shot gun approach and working on many components at once. To do this I would go with a good battery to put in it, plus booster cables. Besides regular tools I would take gasoline and a compression gauge and some ATF in an oil squirt can. You need to establish that you have fuel, spark, and compression, So first, check the oil then just try cranking to see if it will turn over. If not go to the instructions that you have written down for checking for bad starter and then unsticking the engine and squirt some ATF in the plug holes. If it will crank, remove the fuel line at the carburetor and see if gas comes out. if not, fix that from your written instructions. Once gas will run strong for ten seconds, drain all the old gas out into a suitable container to add later to your mothers car a couple gallons at a time. Put the line back onto the carburetor, and put some gas in the tank. Next label and number the spark plug wires using masking tape, remove the plugs and do compression checks. This will tell you condition of the rings and valves. If compression checks out, replace three plugs and check for spark, If you have spark, try starting, if not, check points, plugs, coil, referring to the notes that you have taken from this site. At this point you have it running or you have narrowed down a lot, what needs to be done.
 
it is not seized i hand cranked it when i was last there. do you think that i could hook a charger straight straight up to the coil and a 12 volt up to the starter because i dont have a 6 volt battery except the one on the tractor from 20 years ago. Also do you think it would hurt the engine running 20 year old oil if it was at the right level
 
i'd disconnect the genny, leave attached.

take some walmart oil with you for an oil change.

have a 12v battery handy, and some 400-2000 grit sank paper and white plain paper.

a set of jumper cables..etc.

the 6v coil will run off 12v for alil while with no harm.

sand the points and then clean with the white paper pulled thru them.. regap them.. I would not pull the dizzy at this time.

take fuel with you as well.

I've fired off many old tractors enough this way to get them on a trailer.

soundguy
 
thats what i was thinking how long can the coil run of of a 12 volt and why do you need jumper cables and if the coil does get harmed im already planning on restoring the whole tractor and make it a 12volt system. do you think i will need new spark plugs to start it? I also would like to know where i can get a new fan belt for it because the old one is dry rotted to hell also how exactly do you set the point gap. I work on alot of engines but have never realy dealed with points
 
Like souNdguy said, just unhook the generator, that way it wont burn anything out. If you hook the 12 volt battery at negitive ground, turn the coil around so you can hook it, positive, hot side, and negitive dist. side. It wont hurt to run 12 volts through a 6 volt coil. I don't know how long your going to run it, but you can run it awhile with no resister before the coil. I'll bet it will run on the old plugs. Also, I'd do like he said, get some cheap oil and change it just in case gas got into the oil while it was setting there. The points probably wont need to be set, unless someone messed with it. I don't know the proper setting of them, but 18 0r 20 thousands will get it running. Make sure you clean them though, like souNguy said.
 
so change oil, unhook generator, flip wires on coil and hook the positive cable to the negative post on battery and negative cable to the positive post on battery then clean points and crank
 
ok ill try that and if it works i will restore it im thinking that it is going to be all original but have a 12v system but im still trying to figure out how to get it to my house i am 70 mile away from the tractor and dont own a truck or trailer
 
(quoted from post at 06:54:59 03/24/11) Whats wrong with 6 Volt...Why change ?
Click to expand...

I agree. So long as the original 6 volt system is intact and functioning, there is no reason to do the 12 volt conversion. You will only create even more headaches for yourself.
 
First thing you ought to do is find your self a tec.manual for your tractor that will have lots of good info that will make your life as a tractor owner much easier!knowlege is power
 
because i can run accessories and its cheaper because i would have to buy a 6 volt battery and charger which would be around100 dollars and to make a conversion I would buy an alternator and coil which will be around 60-70 dollars but hey i might end up using the 6 volt if i can get a hold of a battery and charger
 
I'm with you Jake. Change it over, There isn't anything wrong with a good working 6 volt system,but it's a pain in the butt to have one 6 volt battery around when everything else is 12 volt..
 
an i think it looks better with a alternator and i will have a warranty if it breaks and its all new so it will be more reliable hopefully
 
Showcrop has it covered. If you want to get it back to your place without taking all the time and trips,you could do what we did. Have a Flatbed wrecker take it to your house,and work on it to work on it at your leisure.No hassle with forgetting some tools or parts.For the cost of about $100.00 well worth the money and no hardship.We used flatbed wrecker twice, once for the 706 and once for our OC46 Dozer. Hope this helps.
Regards,Lou
 
Does it have a distributor or a magneto? A magneto when functioning properly doesn't require a battery because it generates it's own power. Continental are a fairly simple engine. If it has a crank start, they should start fairly easy if everything is working as it should. You're 15 so if you have your dad or someone go down with you, you could pull start it too. A good place to find out about flat head Continentals is a welder repair shop that services Lincoln SA200 welders. There are thousands of them still working and some go back to the 1940's. 95% of them have Continetal L heads.
 
It has a distributer and coil i cant pull start it because my mom drives a toyota prius and my dad drives a ford focus
 
i think i am going to get a ballast resistor so it wont damage the coil its cheap and will buy me time to tune it but how is it installed
 
I have a 1550 Oliver that ran on a 6 volt coil and is a 12 volt system for about 2 years and we just noticed it was a 6 volt when it quit running but thats not the reason it quit running. It is still good and if you are going to convert it to a 12 volt system it doesn't matter anyway.
 
check with a local implement dealer, some will haul it for you if you are restoreing this for a school project, otherwise if you know a trucker that hauls equipment you could talk to them and work out a deal
 
change oil, do not try to run it with the oil, it could have gas, or water in it from sitting, very cheap insurance
 
the tractor is in swanton, Ohio right next to Toledo and i live in Angola Indiana I would be willing to pay 100 dollars to anyone that will do it all i need is for it to get here i dont really care how
 
I am in Angola at least once a week. My one place is about a mile from Mid Toll. Are you in town or on a farm. Go into Radio Shack and ask for Barney and see if he can help you find someone to help. He kinda likes to be called David but I find that to hard to say. Tell him an old man with an Oliver hat told you to ask.
My uncle was the Olver dealer in Angola when your grand dad was a kid.
 
Barney is a County Deputy also. He posts here on the different boards and has tractors. He ran for Sheriff this last time and has a funny color shade of non Oliver green and yellow tractor. One of them that always sounds like it is missing no matter how much tinkering with it they do. I just can't for the life of me ever remember what they call them.
 
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