McCormick Deering Super W-4 Starting Problems

Thanks

Note: If you have to change the starter, you will need to remove the belt drive housing. There are 6 bolts to do this. It usually can slide out of the way sufficiently so you don;t have to lift it right off. R&R for the starter is about 25 minutes.

Nat has good info but I’d like to add that the battery here could also be weak or failing. It might have enough juice left to power the coil and provide spark but not enough to roll the engine over.

Is that W-4 still factory 6-volt positive ground or has it been converted to 12-volt (usually negative ground)? A quick way to tell is by using a volt meter. If you don’t have one handy, normally the 6-volt battery will have three caps on the top that will come off for adding distilled water to the battery. Most 12-volt batteries have two large plastic caps that come off for the same purpose but will cover three openings each.

If it has been converted to 12-volts, you can try using booster (or jumper) cables to start the tractor. Always, I repeat always remember when connecting booster cables to connect them to the batteries positive (+) to positive and negative (-) to negative. It is also preferable to make the last connection of the cables to a metal ground away from the battery on the dead battery vehicle. Crossing them will produce sparks and increase the risk of explosion.

Most important if you don’t know, ask. Even if you think it might be a “stupid” question someone here will give you a good respectful answer back.

The starter doesn't work, but that doesn't mean that the starter is bad. There are wires, connectors, and a switch in between the battery and the starter. The juice needs to get to the starter or it won't even turn over.

All the connections need to be shiny, clean and tight. Frayed wires or half-a$$ed connections will not conduct enough electricity to make the starter turn over, but they will conduct enough to allow the spark plugs to fire.

There should be a fat wire going from one terminal on the battery to a bolt on the tractor's frame. That's the ground. The ground is where many/most problems arise. Remember, clean, shiny, and tight.

There should be a fat wire going from the other terminal on the battery to the starter switch. If the starter switch is not mounted directly to the starter, there should be a fat wire running from the starter switch to the starter too.

The starter switch could be bad. This tractor was built in the days before starter solenoids, and the manually-operated switches burned out frequently because a human can't push the switch quickly enough to keep it from sparking and burning the contacts.