My mother-in-law bought property up in the mountains and this was left in the deal. It did run till her brother got a hold of it.
He cant get it to start and swapped the positive and negative cables. So the negative is hooked up to the positive in the battery and vise versa. He says this us a reverse polarity motor and thats why you need to hook it up like that. I have never heard of this. We need to get it running or they are going to be stuck at their property because of the snow storm they are getting.


Thanks

Shaun

does it have two gear shift levers ? one longer than the other? if so it might a Ferguson TO-35 or even a Massey TO-35. are the brake pedals both on the right side ? if they are it is a most likely a TO 35 model.

One can guess it is a gas engine, but it might be diesel. Any brand name and/or model number on it?
Whether it is supposed to be positive or negative ground depends on several things, not just what it is supposed to be. Again one needs to know what it is for a tractor, then figure out if it has been modified over the years. In any case if it has an alternator, instead of a generator, it most likely should be negative ground. Hooking an alternator up wrong can cause failure of the alternator.

pomester is correct on posting pictures. Not always, but in most cases new users have to have 5 or more posts on record before the site lets them post pictures, due to site spam filters. Another option is to go down to the Site Comments Forum and ask YT Support for permission to post prior to that. You can try going down to the Test Forum and making several posts there to get your post count up, trying to attach your pictures to each post. That may work after you make several posts. Then make your post here again. It may not work immediately after you get past the 5 posts, if not, you might try logging out and back in at that point. There is a size limit as well, I think it is a total of 7.5mb per post (be it one picture or the total of several). Some pictures (often taken with phones), are too large and have to be reduced before they will post.

You need a certain number of posts before the forum will let you post pictures - anti-spam or something. You can go down to the practice folder and post away, or ask the moderator for permission to post pictures.
A tractor that was running and then would not run, will not be cured by reversing the polarity of its electrical system.
You haven't given us much information to trouble shoot with. The machine must have fuel, spark, and air to run.

I'd pull the bottom off the air cleaner and see if it's full of ice.

Remove the plug from the bottom of the carburetor. There should be a steady stream of gasoline, if there is not then the settling bowl and screen at the carburetor inlet need to be serviced.

Put the battery back like it was when the tractor was running. Turn the key on and use a test light or continuity tester to see if there is current at the coil.
If you have fuel and current at the coil and no run, then I'd look to the distributor and the points/condenser.

[quote="sschlager"](reply to post at 21:45:33 02/13/21) [/quote

]

Cant figure out how to post images. Keeps saying im in violation of the fourms rules.

Just add a few more posts and you can add pictures. If you’re looking for a model number, on the dash should be a nameplate. Jot down the serial number and post that. If not there on the left side of the engine should also be a nameplate with the engine make and model. We can help there too.

Ps

Welcome to the forum

Tom