JD 720 Diesel pony motor

JerryCoolRep · Mar 16, 2023

Is there anyone that makes a electronic ignition kit for these engines? IT is a restoration project and I would like to keep it as origional as possible. Thanks for any input.

Steve@Advance · Mar 16, 2023

I think those were all magnetos, right?

I don't know of any electronic conversions for them, but you might call
Pertronics and ask.

If you have a repairable mag, send it off and have it gone through. When
right they will give many years of trouble free service and be original!

wore out · Mar 17, 2023

(quoted from post at 20:55:31 03/16/23) I think those were all magnetos, right?

''I think those were all magnetos, right?''

Nope, they were a specialized WICO battery ignition system with two sets of breaker points and two ''waste spark'' coils that fired four cylinders.

NO magneto or distributor rotor involved.

And NO need for EI, so long as good points and coils are installed and the ignition switch isn't left on without the pony engine running,

JerryCoolRep · Mar 17, 2023

I know that they work good when everything is brought back up to snuff but i have fixed to many that the coils were cooked. had a guy call the other day and said "you worked on my 820 a while back (7 or 8 years ago) and i had a guy working on it and the coil strarted to smoke what did you do to fix it the last time? I said didn't you tell him what he did? he left the switch on.

John T · Mar 17, 2023

Is there anyone that makes a electronic ignition kit for these engines?

I've owned several of those and NO Im NOT aware of any EI conversion for that very special very limited
use WICO battery powered coil distributor ignition (NOT a magneto) with its dual points and dual coils
which would make it a more complicated conversion. Having farmed with them for years I found so many that
burned the points when the ignition was left on and the old style coils often went bad. Keep the points
properly adjusted clean and oxide free they can last a longgggggggggg time

See what Blksmok has to say our resident expert on this...

John T

wore out · Mar 17, 2023

(quoted from post at 02:59:18 03/17/23) I know that they work good when everything is brought back up to snuff but i have fixed to many that the coils were cooked. had a guy call the other day and said "you worked on my 820 a while back (7 or 8 years ago) and i had a guy working on it and the coil strarted to smoke what did you do to fix it the last time? I said didn't you tell him what he did? he left the switch on.

''he left the switch on''

He needs a ''coil saver'' setup.

https://greenmagazine.com/save-those-pony-coils/

JD 720 Diesel pony motor

JerryCoolRep

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Steve@Advance

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wore out

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JerryCoolRep

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John T

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wore out

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