Massey 44

Hello to all. New to the fourm. Not new to antique tractors all tractors equipment and things. About 25 years ago dad and I picked up a Massey Harris 44 he used it at the local fair or tractor show pulled it about once a year. First gear down the track pretty much stock. A lot of second and third places with the old 44. Had a problem with the starter turned the motor over then would kick out finally decided it was time to take it to the local old feller and have it reworked. Yes we have converted it over to 12 V and of course ole boy said that Them starters Are not designed for 12 V which is true. The part that broke he replaced on the Bendix Drive and wanted to know if there's a possibility that we had possibly gotten water on top the pistons to create hydraulic lock because that's the only way in his opinion that the sheer pins on the starter or keyway had broke. No water on top the Pistons everything's good because he said pull the plugs roll the motor over just to check which I did. Might as well do a compression test wow wow 175 psi on each cylinder no wonder starter is going bad I'd say this tractor is good

them starters engage really hard with 12 volts. pretty sure its just the sudden engagement that does that.i have an old 44 that someone
changed to 12 volt, i cringe everytime i need to start it. not a fan of that. it might be carboned up to have that much compression. they are
good pullers.

Some people run a lighter gauge cables to the starter when they convert from 6 to 12 volts.

Yeah I run AC tractor and it's funny to watch the AC tractors that pull in second and third gear and down the track they go. And then here comes the old man with his Massey 44 first gear while we knew it was time to go to the hot dog stand and get something to eat and drink because it was taking that long to get down the track and pull farther and the AC boys lol

Running any 6v starter on 12v makes it slam the drive into the flywheel harder.

Some handle it well, others have problems, mostly depends on the design, frequency of starts,
condition of the flywheel gear, and operator attention.

I've heard of using a light gauge battery cable to act as a resistor to calm down the starter
torque.

You'll want to keep the flywheel gear in good repair, the starter bushings and drive repaired, be
sure the ignition timing is not too far advanced to cause kick back, the engine in good tune so it
starts quickly.

One of the most effective means to prevent problems is to be very observant and deliberate about
each start. Plan ahead so you only start it as few of times as necessary. Have everything ready
before you begin. You know your tractor, when it doesn't start immediately following the usual
procedure, stop, find the problem instead of continuing to crank on it.

But the most important thing is to be sure the engine has completely stopped before engaging the
starter. If the engine fails to start, and it is rebounding from a compression stroke, (turning
backward), and the starter is engaged, it can and will break something!

Years ago watch a tractor pull with hot rod tractors and they would get half way down the track and spin out. A fellow come
in with a D-21 hooked up and took down the track. It was slow and quite and he pull the sled out the end.

LOL so true been there seen it with some of the old old internationals or old John's so true Whether they were hopped up or not first gear and went all the way and or farther than the other so-called stock pullers that were were pushing 30% more on horsepower