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1970 IH low boy 154

3K views 23 replies 7 participants last post by  bigdasddygb 
#1 ·
Hello all. Just got a low boy 154 that had been sitting for 5 years or so I was told. He said it ran fine prior to buying new john deere with loader on it then he parked it and there she sat waiting on me. Any ways. pulled the carb and cleaned it all up. new seals checked floats etc.... it seems to work fine now. .. Tractor will try to start on dtarting fluid and will sputter like it's trying to start and then it's like it can't spin fast enough to get going or doesn't get enough spark to get going. I check all the plugs have spark.. cleaned and re-gapped plugs to .023 per repair book... check compression all at about 105-112 except one closest to driver seat it was almost 120. New battery, cleaned the corosion from under battery cable end where it attaches to the frame. Now I have noticed, if I let it sit for a few days, and don't know if it's the cold doing it or not, but the engine seems like it gets stuck. I have to turn it by hand with wrench to get it unstuck. Once i do it will turn over no problem. Ohh and it already has HEI unit in distributor so no more points.
Any help would be greatly appreciated as I need to get this off my trailer soon.
Thanks
 
#2 ·
Hey ..welcome to MTF...stop in at https://www.mytractorforum.com/forums/introductions.72/ and introduce yourself to everyone....... someone with more knowledge of Low boys should come along and be able to add some better insight, but in the meantime did you change the oil?...if the oil has been sitting around it could have gotten thick and contributing to the problem...a few other things to check is the valves and the timing...good luck with it, let us know how it works out
 
#3 ·
First thing sitting that long, pull the plugs and throw an ounce of Marvel Mystery or similar down the cylinders. Let it sit for a day or so. Then if you haven't yet, change the oil. I'm assuming you have a starter/generator on it? If so, they don't spin with the veracity of an alternator setup. It can be deceiving. I would verify fuel flow from the tank to and including the carb. Check the fuel pump. They have a way of not working after sitting for long periods. You're starting on ether, that's telling. Fuel flow is where I'd start.
 
#8 ·
ok put new coil, new plugs cleaned and checked carb, and recharged battery. Still spuuters and drops out before firing up. Oil is kinda clean and not all black. Looks like it was changed not long before he put it up. But it keeps getting stuck. Like I have to put a ratchet with socket on the pulley up front and spin engine just a tad and it hard to turn at first. then after I get it to turn it turns over slowly but not real slow kinda half the speed of a car starter i guess is how i'd describe it then it drops off after about 5-6 spins and starts to slow down like something is draining it hard. I am leaning towards two things.... starter/generator and voltage reg. or maybe out of time when owner put in new HEI unit in the distributor. I haven't checked the firing order yet but plug wires are stiff and hard to bend so I figure they are in the right spot. I have a book on these tractors i bought off line. I am going to order a new gen/starter this week and maybe a new voltage reg. too.
 
#9 ·
I had that electronic ignition crap on my 154 too when I got it, also it wouldn't start, SO,--- I put a good ole point dist. on it and runs fine now. --- These old tractors just don't like that electronic crap!-- They were not designed to run on it.
I would suggest that you check the module To make sure it's not burned out, Don't take much to kill the module!
 
#10 ·
Also sounds like the unburned gas is starting to seize your motor. Better pull start it, or if by yourself use a big charger set on boost along with new battery. Todays gas will seize a motor in a heartbeat, trust me on that! I had a MD that got stuck after shut down on gas. Don't take long for the rings to stick to the piston walls.
 
#11 ·
Woo hoo.. i think we have got it. it ran non stop on either today .. Ok what I had done. i replaced gen/starter because i felt it was slow starting and not giving enough spark. I bought a replacement from DBElectrical.com. Now the gen/starter was almost a direct fit. The only issue was another screw hole in the top that had no screw and the 2 hold down screws for the voltage reg. were further inboard than the original. But I fixed it.. I placed 1 bolt outboard and put a hose clamp around the whole gen. to hold it tight against the body..lol... sometimes you do what you gotta do. Then I tried to start it. and it just turned over and turned over, again and again. So I decided to go back to my roots as auto mechanic and check timing. I found the two timing marks and looked up online that the second timing mark you come to is actually tdc. So I pulled the #1 spark plug and bumped it till i got compression. Rolled it to tdc mark and then went and checked the rotor.... guess what??? it was 180 deg. out. and distributor was in wrong position. I had spark plug boots on the cap making a diamond shape instead of a square. So pulled the dist. and reset rotor to position #1 plug, tightened everything down and test fired it. Boom ran like a champ for all of 3-5 seconds on spray. tomorrow I have to go to tractor supply to pick up a new sediment bowl. I went to put back what they had in there and it stripped out the threads of the housing. I was putting in new line and rerouting it better. Picked up a new belt also and a new inline fuel filter. Can't wait to get it up and running good I have an awesome idea for a 3pt hitch for the back of this if it works out I will post pics, and my decide to build for people wanting them.
 
#12 ·
The dist. 180 out will do it every time! Glad you found the problem!
My 154 has a factory 3-point on it. -- I never looked at it close but I don't see why you couldn't duplicate the original with some creative engineering!
 
#13 ·
Ok finally got it to run for longer than a second or two. But now... (ordered new carb zenith is too expensive and sticking even after I cleaned the heck out of it) When it fires up and runs like a ***** ape on starting fluid it tries to throttle it back down and bogs out. Is it supposed to try to do that? I was thinking of just disconnecting that shaft and seeing how it runs because it ran great until that rod moved and tried to slow the engine rpm's. I think I read something about that in the book being the governor but can't remember right off the top of my head.
 
#14 ·
I wouldn't unhook the control rod, but maybe set the throttle at about half. And yes, that is the governor working, trying to get the engine rpm's to match the throttle setting.

You said the carb. is sticking even after cleaning. I'm wondering if the control rod is like on the C-113/C-123 engines. The control rod attaches, sticking it through the hole, from the carb body side, and the end of the rod, towards the block. Otherwise, the rod will bind on the block. I learned that lesson 40-some years ago, when I rebuilt my BN. It had been so long since I tore it down, it just didn't click at first, when I put it back together.
 
#17 ·
WOOOOHOOOOOO!!!!... new carb and she runs great. Now I am thinking of getting rid of petcock and putting in inline shut off valve with a inline paper filter before valve. Such a pain to have to reach in each time and shut off gas. I also was thinking of putting a 1/4" electric shut off valve instead and run it off the acc. part of the ignition. Tractor drove great and breaks worked great too.... skidding to a stop on my gravel driveway..lol.... Ran it dow the street and all gears worked 1,2,3 and Reverse. PTO worked... Not bad for $500 tractor.
 
#19 ·
I look at it like this: the needle in the fuel bowl is very sensitive to pressure over time. If you push on something long enough it well eventually deform and get stuck or start sticking. Granted it will be a long while from now but if I can extend that even further out why not? By putting the shutoff valve closer to the bowl it will eliminate the gravitational pressure of the gas going into the bowl all the time. and since I get in on the clutch peddle side near the carb any ways easy for me to turn it on and off every time. But no it should not be necessary but since I noticed the petcock leaking at the shutoff valve and tried to tighten it and it got worse.. nothing like fixing it now that I have it all apart. So I tore the whole thing down to the running gear. Have a leak from the rear crankshaft seal, damaged clutch input shaft ( special one 22-5/8" long because i have creeper gear), broken clutch plate ( only thing holding it together was the rivets that hold the metal insert to the asbestos plate), Damaged throw out bearing, damaged wiring, damaged clutch brake buttons, damaged clutch break button tension bolt/spring, Bent tie rods, Bad front wheel bearings, bad front axle shaft bearings. Next I am going to pull out the PTO clutch pack and check that as well.
 
#20 ·
Whatever works best for you. For the shut off valve on the sediment bowl, you can repack them with graphite valve packing string. DANCO 3/32 in. x 24 in. Graphite Valve Stem Packing-80793 - The Home Depot Just using home depot as an example, but any decent little hardware should have it. I fixed one on my Super C, and Farmall A. Remove the packing nut, and put 2-3 wraps around the stem, then run the nut down, until it get just snug. I doubt I used 2" off the roll to fix both. Neither have offered to leak, and the last one was done 3 years ago.
 
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