How do YOU pull start a tractor?

RayP(MI) · Nov 21, 2012

Specifically, what gear do you have the pulled tractor in? And what gear do you have the puller in? Yes, I realize this is a approximate question with all the different transmissions out there, but do you use a high gear, low gear, or an intermediate gear?

I typically use second gear on a 4 speed transmission for the puller. About the same for the pullee. Try to have a bit of momentum before pulled tractor driver engages clutch. Even then, I"ve been known to tear up the sod in the barnyard pretty good when load is applied. What say you?

cd1 · Nov 21, 2012

My dad does it like you, I normally pick the road gear in the tractor being pulled on say a 4 or speed. Much less shock to the whole tractor when you let the clutch out and your not over revving the engine if you have to pull it around the driveway a few times.

El Toro · Nov 21, 2012

If both tractors have pulleys you can use a flat belt for starting. I start my old Toro mower using my garden tractor and a long vee belt. Hal

teddy52food · Nov 21, 2012

The higher the gear on the tractor being pulled, the easier it will turn over. Lower gears will slide the rear tires.

rrlund · Nov 21, 2012

Slower gear on the pulling tractor,higher gear on the towed tractor. Such as a 6 speed towed tractor in 5th gear,6 speed pulling tractor in 3rd.

MFPoor · Nov 21, 2012

I don't anymore. All tractors on the place are PowerShift of one type or another. Can't drag 'em to start 'em.

Zachary Hoyt · Nov 21, 2012

The first time I started my Farmall 300 after I had repaired the engine I pulled it since I didn't have the starter hooked up yet. I pulled it with a Farmall H in 2nd gear and put the 300 in 4th. I used a large square hayfield that I had cut a few weeks before since I didn't have anyone to steer the pulling tractor while I got the other one started. It all worked out fine but it was definitely not a way I would want to have to do it regularly. I used to start the H sometimes by rolling it down a hill and always used 4th gear for that too, that way the engine rolled over nice and slow and the mag impulse would operate.
Zach

fixerupper · Nov 21, 2012

High gear for the one being pulled. High gear usually cranks it over faster than the starter would. If it has to be spun over at 1000 RPMS to start it, something's wrong. It's also less likely to lunge forward when it does start if it's in high gear. I've seen people put the towed tractor in a lower gear and it will lunge when it starts, putting slack in the chain, then it will die and stop and then the slack chain will hit it hard when it tightens up again. A strap will take the shock out but the lunging tractor quite often runs over the strap and then when it tightens up again the strap might be wrapped around the wheel. I've seen it happen. Jim

rustred · Nov 21, 2012

makes a big difference to know what tractors ur using. if you only have for example a w-4 and a 660, the w-4 guaranteed will need to be in 1st gear with good footing to pull the 660 in 4th gear.basically there is no reason to pull start a tractor at a fast speed anyhow. 11/2 to 2 mph is good.

buickanddeere · Nov 21, 2012

We don"t . Instead we keep the equipment in good repair and use a block heater in the winter.
Too often equipment is broken and wrecks occur when pull starting.

onefarmer · Nov 21, 2012

Road gear on the towed tractor or if the next gear down is pretty fast I will use it. Fastest field gear on the pulling tractor.

I have been known to(when by myself) in a really big field, put the pulling tractor in a first or second jump off run back, put the pulled tractor in a few gears up, help with the starter as I let the clutch out. Hopefully it starts by the end of the field or gets to far off track. When/if it starts put it in neutral run up and stop the pulling tractor. No lectures, one does what he needs when he needs to.

welled deers · Nov 21, 2012

When possible, I use a flat belt. It is easier to keep an eye on things and I am usually by myself. If I have to pull, I have my wife pull in a lower gear and keep the pulled tractor in high gear.

Anonymous-0 · Nov 21, 2012

I usually try push starting it. I push it up onside of a hill,, jump on it and throw her in 1st as she is moving. Usually starts right up. I've been fortunate that it was not muddy,, she doesn't push too good up the hill in the mud.

farmer boy · Nov 21, 2012

Ain't that simple. If the lights are left on, and you don't have time to charge the battery, or a starter is getting worn out, and you haven't quite gotten to fixing it yet, or it's out getting fixed. I don't know anybody who tries to pull start a tractor that is too cold to start itself. I can see something getting broken but a wreck? You'd sooner destroy something pulling it out of mud, then pull starting it.

farmer boy · Nov 21, 2012

I would aim for a gear in the 7-10 mph range, and would only try to pull start a tractor in a temperature I figured it could start normally.

Bill(Wis) · Nov 21, 2012

You can easily jump start a tractor with a dead battery from a car. 12v to 6v if necessary. You have to know how to do it but it's easy.

rrlund · Nov 21, 2012

Ya,nothing's ever cut and dry. I filled the creep feeders about a month and a half ago. Pulled the grinder mixer out through the gate and shut the tractor off while I closed the lid on the feeder,folded the auger,closed a gate and opened another one. Got on the tractor and the spring broke in the bendix. Had no choice but to tow start it.

36 Coupe · Nov 21, 2012

I am 75 years old and have never pull started a tractor.

Anonymous-0 · Nov 21, 2012

We push start our "D7" with the easier starting "D6". Works good, and saves alot of time.

Sid · Nov 21, 2012

"You can easily jump start a tractor with a dead battery from a car. You have to know how to do it but it's easy"
I don't know how to do that. Will you explain how it is done?

Anonymous-0 · Nov 21, 2012

you did not say what make of tractor??? some can not be pull started

old harv · Nov 21, 2012

I rarely pull start, but once when my JD2130, my only tractor at the time, blew the starter, my neighbour pull started it with his pickup. We put the tractor in high gear, and it started after he pulled me about 2 feet. Tractor went to the mechanic to get starter fixed immediately. Now I have 3 tractors, and if one of them won't start, I boost it with the Allis D14.

rusty6 · Nov 21, 2012

(quoted from post at 17:52:56 11/21/12) "You can easily jump start a tractor with a dead battery from a car. You have to know how to do it but it's easy"
I don't know how to do that. Will you explain how it is done?

I've seen guys do that but I want to be a good distance away. I've heard of batteries exploding that way and I don't want to be in the way when it happens. Pull starting is much safer and very effective. BAck in the days before battery chargers (and electricity on the farm) pull start was the only alternative if you didn't have enough muscle to crank start. Sometimes a team of horses was used to pull start a stubborn tractor or car.
As already stated, use a high gear on the pulled tractor and lower on the puller up front. Heres how we did it with two Cockshutt 40s ..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alnI7XqPaHY

Mel in SW Iowa · Nov 21, 2012

Very carefully.

If you live in the hills, it is a lot safer to coast a dead battery/reluctant starting vehicle down a hill to start it if it has a manual transmission. If it is at the bottom of a hill when it refuses to start, tow it to the top or far enough up a hill to start, unhook and then coast it to start it.

Good luck.

Mel in SW Iowa · Nov 21, 2012

Very carefully.

If you live in the hills, it is a lot safer to coast a dead battery/reluctant starting vehicle down a hill to start it if it has a manual transmission. If it is at the bottom of a hill when it refuses to start, tow it to the top or far enough up a hill to start, unhook and then coast it to start it.

Good luck.

rankrank1 · Nov 21, 2012

Road gear for the vehicle trying to be started gives you the best mechanical advantage iregardless of tow vehicle. Thus we always used road gear for one trying to get stated.

This helped as we often had to use a lowly 1/2 ton pick up truck for tow vehicle so every mechanical advantage you could get was helpful when using an undersized tow vehicle. If had to use a tiny tractor for tow vehicle then fasterst gear it could handle the load.

We had one case 430 diesel that we always parked on a hill to bump start it. Even went as far as propping implements with blocks of wood so they would not bleed down. Yes the 430 was well worn, but what a fuel miser it was.

Sometimes the operation of futility was use the truck to pull start the 430 Case, then use the 430 Case to pull start the 730 John Deere, then use the 730 deere to pull start the 1066 International. While the Case was well worn, the Deere and International were not - they simply lacked good batterys.

notjustair · Nov 21, 2012

Growing up we had a farmall H that we used once a week to grind feed. We never even kept a battery in it (magneto), just pulled it every time with the grinder hooked up. I was always amazed that I never had to pull it more than about 18 inches. I was always in the 966, and it had a very jumpy clutch. Made me very nervous that I wouldn't do it right!

I loved harvest because we used the same tractor for the grain cart. It idled in the field all day. Boy that thing could fly!

Come to think of it, I never saw that tractor start itself. I don't remember whether it had a starter on it - it could have been a war model that had no electrics. It didn't have lights. Huh, never thought about that before.

Matt in Mich · Nov 21, 2012

When my son was small, he was pulling hs cousin on a tricycle with a Big Wheel. Looked over his shoulder and hollered, "Did it start yet, Chad." Poor kids never saw a tractor you didn't have to pull to start. LOL.

Royse · Nov 21, 2012

(quoted from post at 20:52:56 11/21/12) "You can easily jump start a tractor with a dead battery from a car. You have to know how to do it but it's easy"
I don't know how to do that. Will you explain how it is done?

You can jump a 6 volt starter from a 12 volt battery by connecting jumper cables,
one lead to the tractor and touching the other lead to the starter terminal.
You will definitely want it in NEUTRAL!
I do not jump a 6 volt battery with a 12 volt battery directly, the 6 volt battery may blow up.
This works fine on a magneto ignition system.
On a coil fired ignition you still need enough juice in the battery to run the ignition
once you get the starter to turn or it won't run.
Same with rolling it down a hill or towing it. Still have to run the ignition.
Maybe if your charging system is working really well it will run and charge
the battery at the same time. Doesn't seem to work well with a generator.

buickanddeere · Nov 21, 2012

Some of these battery explosions occurred because the operator connected chassis to chassis. Then the then battery post connected to the starer & charging system. To the other battery which had it's post connected to the starter and charging system
Not a good idea when the highway vehicle tended to the (-) chassis and the tractors tended to be + chassis.
The - to + connections tend to go ka-boom.

730 virgil · Nov 21, 2012

if it was the john dere 730 i would put 730 in 5th gear the massey 333 in 4th.
if massey needed pulling the massey in 4th gear the 730 in 3rd.
that wasn't much fun as tall kid would jerk the clutch, dad would about get jerked off of the tractor i was on

Anonymous-0 · Nov 22, 2012

Wow, you live in a perfect world.

RBnSC · Nov 22, 2012

That is cute. One of My earliest memories is watching my them pull off grandads 8n. Dad did not believe in buying batteries. We always parked our 3010s where he could pull them off with with his F6 and had a chain tied to the front of one of them in case we choked one down during the day.
We pulled in 4th and cranked in 7th.
Ron

John B. · Nov 22, 2012

When pulling a tractor, the puller needs to be in a gear that when a load is put on it that it won't lug down. The tractor being pulled should be in an intermediate gear. Too low of a gear will make the engine hard to turn over and cause the wheels to slide and tear up your sod. Putting it in a higher gear will turn the engine over more easily but when it starts the engine is in too much of a load and it will probably kill it again just to repeat the process over and over. Put the pulled tractor in the intermediate gear so when it starts it can pull itself easily without killing itself. Just my experience and knowledge of how a manual transmission works.

johndeere720diesel · Nov 22, 2012

My dad has a farmall m that has always cranked slow and most think it won't start but if done right always fires off with there rolls if the starter but I have had to pop start it many times once with a load of hay on a slight hill in reverse normally when we pull start something the pulled tractor is in highest gear and the pulling tractor is in one gear down unless the 756 or the 970 is doing the pulling they are somewhere in the middle

Winchester1 · Nov 22, 2012

We pull started an Allis Chalmers WD many times. We put the thactor in 4th gear (road gear) and used a chain 20+ feet in length to give ourselves plenty of room to stop after the tractor started.

How do YOU pull start a tractor?

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Member

Similar threads