550 Died

I forgot that the points had to be open to check for voltage -- that was the type of information I was wanting. I retired from the Department of Defense working on one of a kind electronic equipment in a top secret environment and have had extensive electronic training and troubleshooting to component level, but at 67 years I start to forget some things.
I'm retiring to the farm (240 acres), building a new house and trying to raise cattle and hay to pay the taxes. I'm beginning to wonder if I should keep fighting 35+ year old equipment. It's not as much fun to keep going as it used to be when its 95 degrees outside.

I've installed auxiliary hydraulics for lifting the back to dump the bail. I used a log splitter control and close the back with the auto shutoff side of the control. I pull the lever and the control shuts itself off when the back is down.
The baler is a Hesston and I believe it is a 5540 or 5440 (the number is on the side, but its 100 miles away.)
The tractor is a little light, but I start out in 3rd gear and drop to 2nd when the bale is about half done (maybe even 1st if on a hill). I make pretty good size bales. I do have to stop about every 6 or 8 bales and clean out the short hay that gets between the belts and drags down the belts working the tractor a little too hard. Can't figure out how to stop this.
I also have better luck with the tying with twine instead of plastic. Plastic would last longer with the bales stored in the field.
I can do about 12 bales an hour if nothing breaks down.

Are you sure you didn't run out of gas? If you didn't you need to check for voltage at the coil and here are some troubleshooting tips. Hal

A strange thing happened to me last week. My oldest girl was practice driving the 550, and said it's hard to steer. I walked over to check on it, yep it was, plus the gen light was on. Checked the generator/power steering pump, pulley wasn't turning. Tightened it up, could not start the engine then. Loosened the belt, started fine. After disassemble, the rotor for the pump had one vane wear it's groove sloppy, the vane fell out and jammed between the rotor and housing. Tight as heck. Removed the one vane, reassembled, seems to be working okay. Will fix after I get hay done or this winter.

YOu don't give much information other than "died". Does it turn over, fast slowly??? Is there a hint of sparking? Does it smell like gas??

Who says it is electrical? Could be out of fuel?

Have you checked for spark?

IF it is electrical hot wire the coil from the battery and check for spark. Have spark - fault is in the run from the battery to the coil. No spark - it is the ignition system. We are assuming the battery is not discharged? If it is you may need a battery charger and and maybe some generator or VCR work. Asssuming it is the ignition system that has gone down (if electrical) and not the starter circuit. Just can't tell from your post!

Perhaps the tractor was just tired as well?

Could even be a battery terminal? Or the central HT wire fell out the distributor cap. Lots of simple possibilities without any schematics needed. Just needs narrowing down a tad.

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