Well I went out this evening and played with it a little and low and behold, the old gal started. It also seemed to run pretty well too. It had been missing under load going up hills.

Here's what I did. I took the magneto off the tractor and set number one to fire. I then played with the magneto to get it to about the place where the spring has just let go. (Figuring that was where it should be when fired) The I but the router so it was pointing to the fire lug and put the two pieces together, but the magneto back on the tractor. (And since everything meshed there, I figured I was at least close.) I then adjusted the magneto so the router was pointing directly to the fire lug, put everything back together and it fired right up.

(Geez I'm getting long winded)

The one problem I noticed was the ear on the bottom of the magneto is broken, so I'm guessing the fine tuning I did will eventually vibrate out of sync. So do you all think the is worth replacing the Mag or is there away just to replace the housing?

Thanks again

Keith

Keith,
I sent you a couple of pictures of how to assemble the gears. Duey

Thanks Duey, looking at those pictures, I'm missing some stuff. Like the label on the fiber gear. I may be ably to find the beveled tooth on the metal gear though.

It started up once last night (and ran pretty good) but when I went out later to see if it would start again, no dice. I'm guessing I have the timing off just a little bit. As my confidence is building, I'll play with it some more this evening.

Am I safe in guessing that the metal gear can really only be out 180 degrees if it is mounted on the tractor since that connection can only go one way? If that's the case, I may have the fiber gear a little off.

Thanks again for the photos.

Keith

Keith, Sounds like ya did pretty good there setting up the timing. I rebuild Fairbanks mags. Which side of the mag is broken? The side with the long adjusting slot? Depending on how much is broken out of the housing (if it's the adjusting side) you may be able to just snug it down with a flat washer to keep it in place. If you have the broken piece, you may be able to reinstall it with some JB Weld. The only way to renew the housing is completely gut the mag of all it's components and reassemble all the components in an undamaged housing. I can service it for you if you want to replace the housing, but if you still have the broken piece, you may be able to fix it yourself. Drop us a line if interested....
Steve/B&B Custom Circuits

Steve, it's the long adjusting slot on the bottom. It was repaired with JB weld in the past (Prior to me owning the tractor) so fixing it again in that manner may not work.

As far as getting it right, I got it close as it wouldn't start after I shut it off, but I'll give it another go this evening. I'm starting to have a real Love / Hate relationship with that orange tractor.