So quick story: My in-laws new neighbor inherited an 8n left in a barn about 2 years ago. He asked me to help sell it for him just to get rid of it, and i know a running tractor is worth more than an as-is tractor. I've seen the tractor being used close to the time it was parked, so it is a recent runner.
Being an hour away from the tractor, I have very limited amounts of time to work on it, which isn't helping. The battery was completely drained and corroded (looks like it froze one winter) and i purchased a new 6v battery.
I have to admit I'm pretty new at the operation of this antique, but i have a working key, tried it in all positions, I opened up the fuel on the bottom of the sediment bowl, depressed the brake and clutch, opened up the hand throttle to 1/3rd and had the choke out about half. I did put in some new gas as well, as the bowl was empty.
The engine turned over great, but never once made an attempt to cough or start. The spark plug were pretty rusty on the heads and i wanted to use penetrating fluid to remove them so I could not confirm i had spark. I suspect it's a fuel problem, but tearing into a 1940's rear carb is not appealing to me given my familiarity with the tractor.
I can confirm gas to the carb as it has a small leak, and after too much cranking the neg. lead on the battery started to smoke a little, which told me it was time to call it a day.
I may take some new Autolite 437's or Champion H10's with me next time, but i'd like some ideas to take with me as well!
Thanks!
![Image]()
![Image]()
![Image]()
Being an hour away from the tractor, I have very limited amounts of time to work on it, which isn't helping. The battery was completely drained and corroded (looks like it froze one winter) and i purchased a new 6v battery.
I have to admit I'm pretty new at the operation of this antique, but i have a working key, tried it in all positions, I opened up the fuel on the bottom of the sediment bowl, depressed the brake and clutch, opened up the hand throttle to 1/3rd and had the choke out about half. I did put in some new gas as well, as the bowl was empty.
The engine turned over great, but never once made an attempt to cough or start. The spark plug were pretty rusty on the heads and i wanted to use penetrating fluid to remove them so I could not confirm i had spark. I suspect it's a fuel problem, but tearing into a 1940's rear carb is not appealing to me given my familiarity with the tractor.
I can confirm gas to the carb as it has a small leak, and after too much cranking the neg. lead on the battery started to smoke a little, which told me it was time to call it a day.
I may take some new Autolite 437's or Champion H10's with me next time, but i'd like some ideas to take with me as well!
Thanks!
I removed the hood with gas tank, and tested that fuel was getting from the tank to at least the carb. After some mucking around I found some dirt in the top of the sediment bowl. After getting that sorted I moved on the the really odd looking distributor cap. I popped the coil? off the top, then removed the dis. cap. It had lots of moisture and surface rust, so I dried/cleaned what I could and tried to get to the points to at least fun a file through there. I own 2 late sixties cars and am quite familiar with points in general, I could NOT find the points anywhere!! I think they were on the lower inside most area under the cap, but unless you have to remove the radiator to set the points, I'm missing something!
