Tinkering with Distributor -- some questions...

Working on my WD today that will crank over but not start. Checking the electrical system.

1) Pulled the distributor cap off. When I went to take the rotor off, I wiggled it, and it advanced a click (clockwise). I assume I just inadvertently advanced the timing of the engine? It only seems to rotate in one direction (was unable to rotate it counter clockwise), so to get it back to where it was, do I have to spin it almost one complete revolution forward?

2) How does the dust cover come off? I need to get to the points/condensor to check them out. I assume it just lifts out with a gentle tap upwards? Shouldn't be held in place by much more than gravity, right? It doesn't turn and lock in place or anything?

3) How do I check play in the distributor bearing/bushing? Do I have to go deeper than the points/condensor to figure this out?

Anything I should be aware of when taking this apart or opening it up? Things I should mark their location or direction so I don't screw something up, or shouldn't short across by accident?

You did not hurt anything, there are good folks on here to help you through this, stop until you get some advise.

Yep -- definitely heeding that advice. I just left everything where it was and came back to some internet to ask around here.

While you wait for the experts to arrive, try to use the google search and you can ask any question you want and get immediate answers. Quite often they are the same people who are on here.
SDE

Sounds like [according to what I've read today] I was just rotating it in the auto advance range, which apparently should be okay (and should only allow for about 30 degrees of turning), but if you spin the engine over it should go back to where it was timing-wise. So back to taking it apart further tomorrow.

What I really wish, SDE, is that I was competent enough in tractor repair that I could make a website/webpage devoted to the WD and how to tinker with and repair all sorts of items. With pictures, video, and all that good stuff. But alas, I'm too new to this game to even think of doing that yet. But a lot of people that know how to do this stuff seem to be harder and harder to find as the years go on.

Question 1:

Wondering just what you felt turn? Did just the
rotor turn, as in the tab inside the rotor is
broken? If so, just the rotor needs to be
replaced.

Did the entire distributor shaft turn? As in you
can rotate the shaft and it doesn't spring back
when released? If you can rotate the shaft by
hand, something is striped or sheared in the
distributor. It will need to come out and be
repaired or replaced. Likely the drive pin in the
gear has sheared or fallen out. If it sheared, why
did it shear? Something would have to have locked
the distributor, like a dropped screw, something
come loose in the weights, seized bushing, etc.

Possibly what you felt move was the centrifugal
advance mechanism. But it should only move a few
degrees and spring back. That is normal. If it
moved a few degrees and had to be turned back, the
weights are sticking, and the shaft is dry. It
probably will need to come out and be
disassembled, cleaned and lubricated.

Q 2:
The dust cover lifts off.

Q 3:

To check the play in the bushings, just push side
to side on the shaft. Watch the points for
movement. There will be "some" movement, but it
should be very minimal. Excessive wear will make
setting the points impossible. That is one
advantage of electronic conversion, they are much
more forgiving of worn bushings.

Don't be afraid of it, nothing mysterious about
it, can't short out anything. If the shaft is
turning by hand it's already out of time. Getting
it back in time is easy. Give us some more details
about what you find.

Not a tractor , but may well be close .. friend has a Ford driven chipper .. Previous owner put new plugs points and rotor in it .. still wouldn't run right .. My friend bought it right , and he started with another cap and rotor,, we were talking about it , and I came up with a remembrance of used to be some of those rotors had like a D shaped spring on the distributor shaft that made the rotor fit snug on the shaft .. sure enough sold separately for 6 bucks he got one ,,,now runs as should .

Okay, an update! I played with the distributor some more and the rotor indeed only turns a little bit forward and will turn back on its own when you let go. (Thank you so much for your advice on all things distributor, Steve@Advance, it made things go quite smoothly for me today!).

Opened up the dust cover to look at the points. The point gap looked good, as did the points (picture below). The rotor and inside of the distributor cap had a bit of green corrosion and such, so I used some emory cloth to clean that. Used my Fluke meter to check the condensor. Put it across on ohms and it started to go towards infinity (charging). Then I switched it to VDC and put the probes back on and watched it go back down (discharging). Seemed good to me, so I closed her back up.

On a hunch, I ohmed out the external ballast resistor (this is a tractor converted from 6V to 12V probably 10 to 15 years ago). The pair the ignition and coil was attached to was reading 5.1 ohms... The pair next to it was reading 1.3 ohms (picture below). That 5.1 ohm value on the one path of that external ballast resistor seems very wrong, no?

The coil itself ohmed out to about 1.6 ohms from terminal to terminal (and ohmed out to about 5K ohms from inside the center post to either terminal). All other electrical connections seemed good. I know for sure that this is the original 6V coil (and not a 12V replacement).

So I put her back together, turned on the gas, hopped on and turned her over. She cranked over but no dice. So finally I said screw it, and held the choke full open while I cranked her one more time -- and she fired up! I had her running off and on for about 5 minutes of time. Any time she'd start to die, I'd just play with the choke and she'd finally spring back to life for me. And just sitting there with her open at about 1/5 throttle (just enough to open her up past idle) she'd run smooth for awhile then she'd surge up a bit then back down then back up and back down. Then sometimes she'd sputter and die, and all that good stuff. So I'm back to thinking I have a fuel problem and my electrical system is mostly okay (except that external ballast resistor).

You'll want to use the 1.3 ohm side of the
resistor.

Does sound like fuel problem. Could be water, trash
in the carb bowl, or poor fuel delivery to the
carb.