A-C G Starter/Starting Problems

willy b.

New User
Long time listener, first time caller. Was cultivating with the G, hopped off to adjust the cultivator and the tractor died after idling for maybe 5 minutes. Got it started back up a few times, but each time it would idle for a few seconds then die. Now I can't even get the starter to do more than just barely try to turn over. I ran a meter on the battery, starter, wiring...everything seems to be getting enough juice (6.8 v on a 6 v system). Battery, spark plugs and a lot of the wiring is brand new, still tried to jump it. I even pulled the starter and got it to run off another 6 v. Its a pretty old starter, so I'm thinking of bringing it somewhere to be rebuilt or just buying a rebuilt one as I don't really have a lot of time and the weeds are creeping in. Any other thoughts on what might be wrong? Is the flywheel maybe stuck, and overpowering/burning out the starter? Or some other mystery electrical issue I need to chase down? Thanks!
 
Are all battery cable connection clean tight and bright?? Do you have battery cables that are 0 or 00 in size?? If it has the small car/truck type cables that is likely to be a problem. Flywheel cannot get stuck but can have a bad ring gear but bad ring gears cause the starter to get locked up in the gear and that locks up the engine but that does not sound like your problem
 
Cables are good, the post on the ignition switch is stripped though so I can't tighten them down. I've tried solving for that as best as I can and still no luck. Ordered a rebuilt starter.

If the ring gear is bad, will the engine move at all? I can spin it from the fan, but it definitely takes a little more force than seems normal. It is sticky, but not completely stuck.
 
Ring gear can be bad and yes you can still spin the engine over by hand. Only thing a bad ring gear dose if makes it so the starter bendex will not engage the ring gear as it should. If it is hard to spin over by hand did you by chance run it low on oil which can cause major engine problems. By the way the A/C G is one I have always wanted because they where built where I was born
 
If everything old mentioned (cable gauge, clean appearing connections etc) seems to be okay, it might be a good idea to see if you have a good ground with low resistance between the point where the battery ground connects (to the transmission case) and the starter. You have continuity, but how good is important with starting amperage. Having a jump not be able to make it work better seems suspicious. The tractor I'm finishing now had a lot of grounding problems due to rust between parts that were supposed to be carrying the ground connection. A good VOM will uncover that sort of thing.

After I clean connections, I use external tooth lock washers extensively in putting things back together that carry the ground. Those work really well.

One quick test that might help is to put a jumper cable from your battery ground attachment to a clean ground on the starter itself, that can help determine if it's a grounding problem in the tractor frame connections. If the situation doesn't improve, it's probably not the grounding circuit.

If it is grounding issues, the two bolts holding the starter on, the engine mount bolts, the bolts to the differential and transmission cases are all critical path, and especially the one holding the battery cable to the transmission case. I believe there are gaskets between the first two cases, making the bolts crucial. I'd also eliminate paint (or rust) on the mating surface of the starter. I'm kind of over paranoid about grounds because of how much trouble they've given me on old tractors (either old rusty tractors or newly painted tractors) and during reassembly, I test each connection to make sure I haven't messed up my ground connections.
 

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