Simplest Tractor Repair

Mark W. · Apr 1, 2015

Neighbor with a Super A came over and asked if I would look at his tractor. Ran great when parked in the fall and now won't fire. Took a quick look, put gas in it, fired right up. Think he was more red than the tractor.

Russ from MN · Apr 1, 2015

Many people overlook the most obvious!

bjb in TX from Ne · Apr 1, 2015

I have done that to myself too. Especially terrible when your trying to hand start one and don't have enough gas in the tank. My Allis B will start if the tank is dry and you throw about a cup of gas it it. The Allis WC however needs about a quart to get to the sediment bulb and get to the carb :S .

rrlund · Apr 1, 2015

True story. I went to put some round bales in one afternoon on one of the coldest days last winter with my Oliver 1600 gas and it quit on me. I knew the gauge was showing low,but it wasn't totally on empty. I took the cap off and looked in the tank. I could see gas up on the curved part in the bottom edges. I took the line off the carb and couldn't get anything to run out,so I took the sediment bulb off. Keep in mind the gas won't freeze even though the temp is below zero,but it'll give you frost bite right now.
So nothing came out of the sediment bowl. I took the whole assembly out of the tank,of course gas wanted to run out the hole,so I had to hold it back with my finger. I could blow through the sediment bowl assembly. I put it back in,put the line back on,walked to the gas barrel and got some gas,put that in and it started right up.
Trouble was,now it leaked gas around the neck of the sediment bowl and no amount of tightening would stop it. I had to get a whole new assembly for it just because it had some gas in it,just not enough to get up in the neck of the bowl and make it run.

JMS/.MN · Apr 1, 2015

I have a Ford 4500 3 cyl gas backhoe. If the tank gets down to about an inch, it likely won"t start after sitting. Put gas in, wait a bit, and it starts. Gas line is routed up and around the front of the engine, to the fuel pump, back to the carb.

howdy1960 · Apr 1, 2015

2 days after I got my 2N I was brush hogging along fence beside road and started running 'funny' ending up with SWMBO towing me back to house. Sediment bowl still full of gas, look in tank, yup still see a little gas so "can't" be outa gas. 2 days later think "I wonder if adding gas would do anything?" And we all know the rest of the story...

Deere54 · Apr 1, 2015

In his defense, maybe he had a gas leak from the tank or carb, and all the gas leaked out over the winter. Just sayin'.. That's the kind of thing I do (senior brain and all) thus I felt I needed to say a word in the tractor owner's defense.

jon f mn · Apr 1, 2015

Jeez you guys are crazy! I would never do that. I also wouldn't pull a tractor all over the neighborhood trying to get it to run with the gas turned off either, in a snow storm by the way. That's for people who aren't careful.

Dave H (MI) · Apr 1, 2015

BTDT...complete with the red face. At least in my case I am the one who found it was out of gas. Just wish I had not made a fuss about the "broken" tractor before discovering it.

ditchwitch · Apr 1, 2015

Im guessing he tried to over smart the situation and forgot about the obvious. lol
Good job

pete 23 · Apr 1, 2015

Sometime is works and sometimes it doesn't . Went out to do my annual start up for friend with a lonesome 60 John Deere. Lonesome because only green thing on the place. Well, my usual, check to make sure gasoline flows from carb drain. Give it a try no start. Jumped it for more cranking power, no start. He had tried previously so between the two of us we had it flooded pretty good. Good spark , so was going to dry off spark plugs. Could not get either one of them out. Hey, I am not going to break them off today, maybe some other day when he does not want to use the dumb thing. Hooked a chain on and pulled it around yard. Couple of pops. Swung by gas barrel and said , lets put some fresh gas in her. Pulled her around the yard some more, finally it runs. I wonder how long since those plugs have been out.

hadley · Apr 1, 2015

I too am guilty of the gas thing. Checked it one day and had a few inches in it, didn't run it that much that day, couple days later went to move it and it would barely run, took a couple hours but did find it out of gas!!!

biggerred · Apr 1, 2015

Been there, done that.

SDE · Apr 1, 2015

I never put enough in it, for it to ever be anything but the first thing to check. And I still have made that mistake too.
SDE

old popper · Apr 1, 2015

This spring was going to start my Case VAC, battery maintainer says battery OK, check oil, oil OK, check radiator, level low...added some 50/50 mix, CHECK gas tank to see how much stale gas in tank. Whoopee! tank dry, added fresh gas and started like it had been running yesterday. ...........Gas does make a difference.

Dachshund · Apr 1, 2015

Not a tractor, but - A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.....My girlfriend at the time called me up at 0300 - all frantic that her car wouldn't start, and she was gonna be late for work. I hop on the BSA chopper I had at the time (actually still have it) - wake the entire neighborhood - and zip on over. I get in her car, put it in park, and it starts right up.....

ObsoElitist · Apr 1, 2015

(quoted from post at 09:34:01 04/01/15) In his defense, maybe he had a gas leak from the tank or carb, and all the gas leaked out over the winter. Just sayin'.. That's the kind of thing I do (senior brain and all) thus I felt I needed to say a word in the tractor owner's defense.

Coulda been siphoned, too. Ive seen that a few times

Dave Sherburne, NY · Apr 1, 2015

I went out a couple days ago to start my JD 112 lawn tractor to bring it in the garage to put the refurbished mower deck back on it. Turned the switch and nothing. Next day took the battery out put in a new one still nothing. That night I mentioned it to my grandson and he asked if I had it in neutral and pushed on the neutral safety switch. No I didn't. Next day I tried that and the thing started right. He got quite a kick out of that, finally got one on Gramp. In my defense I want to say they're are seven garden tractors around here and no two start the same way. That's my story and I'm sticken to it.

in-too-deep · Apr 1, 2015

I'll second that about cold gas. Did it to 2 of my fingers last year at about -20. Thought they were gonna shatter. Brrrrr.

Perplexed · Apr 1, 2015

Years ago a neighbor had a MM model U. In the Fall he parked it in his shed with a full tank of gas. Next Spring it wouldn't start. They hooked another tractor on it and pulled it all over the barnyard with no success. They stopped and were looking at it and noticed the bottom of the sediment bowl laying on the tractor. Figured it must have had water in it and froze and broke. A new bowl and fresh gas and it was ready for work!

qwertyell · Apr 1, 2015

Yep! Three things.... compression, fire and fuel! (minimum requirements)

Blackhole49 · Apr 2, 2015

My JD M tends to drip around the threads of the fuel shut off valve so I never keep a lot of gas in it. Last week was the second in 3 years time I tried to start it with no gas. I'd put a note on it except I'd probably forget to read the note.

john *.?-!.* cub owner · Apr 2, 2015

An elderly neighbor asked me to help him get one started that had been setting for about a year and a half. Knowing he always shut the gas off between uses (60 year old tractor), as I was preparing to start it I asked him if I needed to turn the gas back on. The look on his face answered my question, along with making diagnosing the starting problem easy.

Frank 41 · Apr 2, 2015

I was in a parade and ran out of gas. Thought I had enough. The guy behind me was a purple school bus sepitc tank pumper and he had some that got me going with about 10 pulls on my US B. I don't do that any more.

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