HD3 Allis update Murphy's Law

Forum,
Just returned from northern Minnesota a day before the snow arrives tonight, 5-8 inches.
It was a case of three steps forward and five back!! Installed the cleaned injector pump, preheated the block with a tank heater and charged the battery to full capacity. All was going well until I tried to turn over the engine. Very slow and not as I left it a month ago. Called the my starter tech and he offered advice. Removed the starter and brought it back home to find out it checked out fine. Last bit of info I offered to the starter tech was that the starter came out very easy, too easy. Point being that the starter was not grounding to the bell housing as it should???? Three forward and five back!! When I return next spring I will sand the housing and the nose fitting on the starter a little and may add another form of ground for the starter. Any and all advice is appreciated!
Happy Holidays

How cold was it when you tried to start the HD-3 ? Cold engine oil and transmission oil will create more drag for the starter to
overcome. Having the block heater plugged in long enough should help with the engine oil , if everything was adequately warmed up.
Checking battery connections and grounds is a good place to start . Are you saying the starter was actually loose in the bell
housing ?

I should have added that starting with the foot clutch pedal depressed will help with cold hydraulic and transmission oil related
starting issues.

(quoted from post at 19:02:37 12/05/21) How cold was it when you tried to start the HD-3 ? Cold engine oil and transmission oil will create more drag for the starter to
overcome. Having the block heater plugged in long enough should help with the engine oil , if everything was adequately warmed up.
Checking battery connections and grounds is a good place to start . Are you saying the starter was actually loose in the bell
housing ?

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. A month ago it was in the 50s and since then it has been close to zero with the temp Wednesday in the 30s. As to the clutch released I have for years had a hook that holds the clutch down to reduce drag. When I removed the starter it was noticeably easy to remove, not as when I installed it a few months ago.Talking to the tech years ago he said to make sure the starter opening in the housing is clean. It does not take much to lose ground as I have experienced on an 8N Ford. I have ideas on how to add an additional ground and if you have ideas let me know. If my physics is correct metal contracts when cold and temp change is the only thing that has changed in the last month. Just a guess.
Any and all thoughts are welcome.

I find it had to imagine a starter mounting that doesn't provide good ground. Even the single set screw type make a good ground, to say nothing of those with 2 or 3 bolts with lock washers. I'd be checking the ground strap off the battery where it goes to the frame/engine. Also check the battery terminals. Just went through that on a skid steer yesterday.

(quoted from post at 14:29:32 12/06/21)
I find it had to imagine a starter mounting that doesn't provide good ground. Even the single set screw type make a good ground, to say nothing of those with 2 or 3 bolts with lock washers. I'd be checking the ground strap off the battery where it goes to the frame/engine. Also check the battery terminals. Just went through that on a skid steer yesterday.

Click to expand...

I also thought about the set screw for contact. When I return north I will make sure that it clean and contacting as it should. As mentioned it this posting the starter was too loose in the housing when I removed it Thursday. When I return north everything will be lightly sanded and I am going to add an additional ground to be sure. Great crawler except for an occasional glitch!

I just want to confirm the idea of the starter being poorly tightened in place which would give you insufficient current for good cranking. This is exactly what happened to my D14. Had always started fine and just like that I got no response at all from the starter. It has exactly the same bell housing fit as your HD3. I went to pull the starter and discovered it to be 'loose'. Once I tightened it up properly it has worked without fail for the last 8 years. You may still want to carefully check and clean every cable connection to eliminate other possibilities as well. The starter has really been dragging all summer on my Allis 'B'. Even though I stay on top of cable connections it turned out to be a poor connection inside a battery disconnect switch which was less than 2 years old. It seemed that rain water had got in and started the problem.
Mr. Minnesota you are one patient man... in stating "Great crawler except for an occasional glitch", I think you have it over most of us as we recount the frustrations you have had with your machine over the last year or two. It's unfortunate that you have to travel so far each time you need to use wrenches on your HD3. Wishing you all the best as your story continues!
Eric

If you clean up the starter mounting area of the bell housing and the starter mounting flange and bolt everything down tight you
should have all the ground you need. As I mentioned before you may want to look at other battery connections,cables etc. Check
closely for corrosion where clamps hook to cables, and clean the battery posts and cable connections. A real well charged battery
is needed too in the cold. Do you use 2 -6v in series or 1- 12v for your battery (or 2-12v in parralell?)? If using 2 batteirs and
one is going bad it will cause you problems too. I replaced the 2-6v with one group 31 12v truck battery and it is plenty to start
my HD-3. Less cables/connections etc.

Appreciated your response! It was reassuring to hear someone had the same issue I just encountered. At 73 years and counting one must keep moving and be persistent and patient.
Will keep you posted on the final outcome this winter or spring when I trek to the great northland again.