farmall timing

I have a 51 farmall h and am having trouble getting it running and I was wondering if there was any way that they can jump time out of the blue? It ran fine and just quit. I put new points, condenser, plugs, and wires. it ran rough like the choke was on. I rebuilt the carburetor and now it will not fire at all. I set the carb per the owners manual, but when it was running the wires were set on the cap 1 space counter clockwise from where the book said it should be. I put the wires where the book said they should be and still nothing. I am getting fuel and fire but not at the right time. Any suggestions ?

Are the wires on the cap correctly to the rotation of the distributor?? and do you think you could have a stuck valve. And or a wore out cam
not opening the valves. Some old Chevy 350s were bad for that. Make the motor spit and pop. Just some more stuff to check.

Pull out the spark plug and run the No. 1 piston on the compression stroke to top dead center and check the position of the distributor rotor. If you think it's close to being on
the No. 1 rotate the distributor a little. If it's not close then you may have a gear messed up.

Static (not running) timing is TDC number one (front) cylinder on compression (use your thumb, and turn it slow to feel the air push out. Then turn till the timing marks
line up/ second mark I think. Jim

Since the wires were not in the right place, that means the distributor was not timed properly.

But since it has been running that way, that was not likely the reason it quit running.

You can pull the distributor and static time it if you are comfortable doing that. Otherwise you could put the wires back where they were and know the timing is right.

It is very unlikely it jumped time. The cam is gear driven, chances are the cam gears are still intact. They rarely give trouble, and when they do the cam usually stops turning.

It is possible the distributor pin sheared or the housing turned, and that can be detected by static timing it.

Have you checked for spark at the plugs? Should get 1/4" spark to ground at each plug wire.

Another test for general engine and valve condition is to pull the coil wire, remove the air filter tube from the carb, hold your hand tightly over the air inlet and crank the engine through. Should get a strong, steady vacuum and wet gas on your hand.

If weak or unsteady vacuum, there is a valve problem.

If good vacuum and no gas, there is a fuel delivery problem.

Try a test run with the air cleaned disconnected, it could be clogged with mouse nests or mud dobbers.

(quoted from post at 20:09:32 10/14/18) I have a 51 farmall h and am having trouble getting it running and I was wondering if there was any way that they can jump time out of the blue? It ran fine and just quit. I put new points, condenser, plugs, and wires. it ran rough like the choke was on. I rebuilt the carburetor and now it will not fire at all. I set the carb per the owners manual, but when it was running the wires were set on the cap 1 space counter clockwise from where the book said it should be. I put the wires where the book said they should be and still nothing. I am getting fuel and fire but not at the right time. Any suggestions ?

Click to expand...

t was running fine like that, so I moved all the wires around. AMAZING! :roll:

it was running rough when it was running and I thought the wires being in the wrong spot might have been part of the problem.

I put the wires back where they were originally.