Crank to Start........

banjoman09

Well-known Member
Recently purchased a 39" IH W30 ; was my dads first tractor our family started farming with. It runs but needs some attention; once I get it in-tune whats the best way to "crank-start" one of these ol' tractors? Do u start at the bottom and pull up? How do you escape the "kick back" we all hear about? Thanks!
 
With F-4 magneto you have the spark advance/retard control, make sure it is partially retarded (not full advance) before starting to crank. The magneto is timed to trip the impulse at top-dead-centre when the advance is full, i.e. the magneto fires 35 degrees ahead of top-dead-centre when running. If the advance lever is set to a retarded position, say half-way between shorted and full advance then the impulse will trip some time after top-dead-centre reducing the chance of kick-back. Again only pull up on the crank, to not try to continue rotating the crank, and keep the hand open, i.e. do not wrap thumb around handle. My O-12 has the same magneto and has not tried to kick back, not like H-4 magneto on the Super-A where there is no means of retarding the spark so it does fire on top-dead-centre and it has kicked back several times. I take the similar care with the W-4 with its H-4 magneto.
 
Yes, there is a small lever in front of the driver. Turned full to left to short the magneto for stopping the engine. On the O-12 full to the left for full advance. The O-12 needs to have the ignition fully advance soon after starting as with the modern 95 octane, as against the 60 octane that was in use when they were built, it runs a little rough with the retarded ignition.
 
Great_ I know nothing about the F-4 or any of them...I will look but is the "advance" adjustment must be on top? The guy I bought this from said that "sometimes the mag clicks and sometimes it doesn't" but will fire when it clicks? Right? Thanks for your help.
 
Ahhh...I saw this lever on the dash compartment- its not hooked up but looked like it might be the "way to kill" the engine from the seat. Would you have a pic showing how this lever hooks up ?
 
you make sure the impuse coupling is working and clicks... if not you will get kicked. due to advanced timing. also make sure the timing is set to spec's right off the bat. i can start my W-30 by giving the belt pully a flip by hand. hear so many story's about cranks and starting and cranks thrown away i shake my head, as how else did the old timers get these tractors started to do work,??? pull them with the horses? heard of that too. that tractor should be running in 3 up pulls of the crank.
 
okay...so how do I make sure all this right? You say "make sure of this and make sure of that"....so how do I know it is all working and set right? :)
 
That lever has a crank at it's front end, directly over the cover on the rear of the magneto. There should be a connecting rod between that lever and the arm on the rear cover of the points cover of the magneto. When that cover is rotated fully in an anti-clockwise direction the magneto is shorted and when rotated fully in the clockwise direction the spark is fully advanced. Neither my W-30 instruction manual or parts book show the connections.
 
I've been where you are. It's good that you are, at least, starting with a running engine. If you don't have them, you are going to want a good set of manuals. Study them, as starting procedures are outlined there. You'll find information about magnetos, tune up specs, and valve setting. Take your time, and do it right. Have fun.
 
ok....this may be fun! Not! yes there is a crank at the far end over the mag - but nothing in between; no linkage.
At the end by the driver there is a lever you turn- and another lever behind the front lever? About 4-6" back...why two control levers on the same rod? Also, why is there two fill caps on the gas tank???
 
Two fuel cap were for when they ran the tractors on distillate fuel after starting the tractor on gas. The small tank used to be for the gas. Most of us now just use the big tank and run gas. Ron Mn
 
well,... i was presuming you know how to set timing. and the impulse MUST click when turning the crank. if not get it cleaned and oiled or have someone do it. same with timing get it checked and set as per manual. i am sure i answered your questions u asked. not just giving info the the heck of it. you got to tell us what u know. one problem on this site is a person rarely gets a thank you or a follow up as to what fixed the problem. never know who gets the cigar here , my two bits worth anyhow.
 
Just a short thing. Lift UP ONLY. You do NOT want to "windmill" the handle. Is very tempting, but don't do it. It can almost throw you across the yard. Came close enough one time with a tiny Cub tractor never mind anything bigger.
 
The early W-30, as in 10-20, 15-30, Farmalls Regular, F-20 and F-30 had a fixed speed governor, the 10-20 at 1000 rpm, the W-30 at 1200 rpm. The driver had NO control over engine speed. the other level on the same shaft was for the throttle limit. By this you could limit the amount that the governor was able to open the carburetor butterfly valve. As the 10-20 manual p[oints out if you limiut the opening you may have little power available. It was used to slow the tractor down, not buy changing the governor spring tension (balancing the centrifugal force) but by limiting the ability of the governor to let more fuel balance the increase in load. In later 1937 IHC modified the above mentioned tractors to allow a variable speed governor. The 12 series tractors had variable speed governors from the beginning as did the W-40 and WD-40. There was a method of externally adjusting governor speed on the earlier tractors but not from the driver's seat, you could adjust the spring tension but this was for getting the speed right for belt driven machines.
The two tanks were for kerosene as the main fuel and gasoline for starting until the engine was hot enough to burn kerosene. These tractors also had radiator curtains to help keep the cooling water hot enough for burning kerosene (about 200 degrees F) and also manifold where the intake fuel/air was heated before reaching the cylinders to stop the kerosene from condensing on the cylinder walls. As it was, the sump oil had to be changed about twice as often as in gasoline tractors and the top pint of oil was drained from the sump each morning (contaminated with kerosene) and the oil then topped up. The carburetors had a drain so the the bowl could be drained if you unfortunately stopped the engine whilst burning kerosene. You had to start on gasoline as the kerosene would not burn unless the engine was HOT. When the new Farmalls came out in 1939 the standard fuel was kerosene or distillate which had come onto the market just beforehand as a cheaper fuel than kerosene (except for Farmalls A and B). The gasoline high compression version for the M and H appeared about 1940. All IHC tractors from about 1905 to 1939 were designed to run on kerosene (Mogul, Titan, 10-20, 15-30 etc).
 
banjoman09,
Not sure if anyone answered your question yet. I was taught to pull up on crank. Have all fingers on same side of crank. DO NOT HAVE THUMB ON ONE SIDE OF CRANK AND FINGERS ON OPPOSITE SIDE. That way the crank can't remove your thumb from your hand if you have spark advanced too much.
geo
 
Well this is my "first" mag tractor. I No nothing about setting timing on a mag- but I can with instructs. Im no dummy - been a mechanic for life...just new to me. I guess I will buy the manuals.... ; it must be set right as it ran within 6' of pulling it......with gas running out the carb; and yes I have parts coming for the carb. My main issue is "checking the timing" and how to hook up the rod that's NOT hooked up. I do appreciate all the comments on here...I think I do express my thanks to all:)
 
Holy Moley - you know a lot about these tractors! I appreciate all this ; think I will just run on gas as it wont run much anyways. Interesting to know; mine has just plain radiator fins...no shutters. I wondered how they protect the radiator like this..out in the open. I tried to "utube" on setting the mag on a IH but no luck yet; I guess I will assume it is ok...until I learn how. Thanks again!
 
Actually do not start at full bottom (6 o'clock position) go to between 7 and 8 position. The full bottom position would be too hard to start out with the correct amount of pull.
 
When I was young, in New Zealand, Kerosene was a third of the price of petrol (gasoline) per gallon. Distillate was never available here. Later in the 1950s farmers could obtain petrol without the road tax included (there was talk of colouring it differently but did not happen)and then the use of kerosene dropped off drastically. No more oil change problems and daily draining off of top of oil in sump. Today kerosene, if you can find it, is about twice the price of petrol. Only a lunatic would run one tractors on kerosene now. Also, for a lot of engines, F-12, Farmall A etc. the low compression pistons are no longer available so as they are designed for gasoline that is the simple answer. the old tractors will run fine on gasoline.
 

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