420 starter

[to30man]

The John Deere 420 cranked fine last week and this week it will not turn over and the starter switch on top of the starter gets hot and smoking when you pull the starter rod to start the tractor. What could be causing this to happen, thanks in advance

 

[wore out]

The John Deere 420 cranked fine last week and this week it will not turn over and the starter switch on top of the starter gets hot and smoking when you pull the starter rod to start the tractor. What could be causing this to happen, thanks in advance

First, put the tractor in the highest gear, be SURE the ignition is "OFF" and grab a rear wheel and rock the tractor back and forth to be SURE the starter drive isn't jammed into the flywheel ring gear. You should be able to watch the fan blade move if the drive is free.

If still no cranking and the switch gets hot, take the switch off and note if the internal moveable contact is shorting to the metal case of the switch, a COMMON occurrence and even worse if it is a newer "not made in USA" switch.

There's supposed to be some insulators inside to keep that from happening, check to see if they are intact and doing their job.

If no problems there it's POSSIBLE there could be a short circuit in the starter itself.

 

[Hayfarmer]

The John Deere 420 cranked fine last week and this week it will not turn over and the starter switch on top of the starter gets hot and smoking when you pull the starter rod to start the tractor. What could be causing this to happen, thanks in advance

I would first check to see if starter is stuck in ring gear, take it a little loose and move it around. Heat generally means a bad connection somewhere. Switch on top of starter may not be making good contact with the button underneath of it. remove switch on starter and see what contact looks like. You might be able to just reshape it. There could also be a problem i starter but start with easy things first.

 

[dieselade]

make sure battery connections are clean and real tight.

 

[David from Kansas]

Like some others have suggested, I have had the starter on my 420W lock up several times. The first time I was totally baffled thinking I had a bad/dead battery, loose connection, but finally checked the starter and by just loosening the mounting bolt it released and was fine and so when it did the same thing again it was an easy, but temporary fix. Sometime I will try to figure why the starter occasionally locks up. Guessing worn starter drive or ring gear, or both.

 

[to30man]

Like some others have suggested, I have had the starter on my 420W lock up several times. The first time I was totally baffled thinking I had a bad/dead battery, loose connection, but finally checked the starter and by just loosening the mounting bolt it released and was fine and so when it did the same thing again it was an easy, but temporary fix. Sometime I will try to figure why the starter occasionally locks up. Guessing worn starter drive or ring gear, or both.

Thanks for the help the starter was stuck I loosened the starter and pulled it back a little and it spun over and put it back and it turned over fine thanks again

 

[Hayfarmer]

Thanks for the help the starter was stuck I loosened the starter and pulled it back a little and it spun over and put it back and it turned over fine thanks again

Others mentioned rocking the wheel with tractor in gear. I have a neighbor with a 320 that has a lot of trouble with starter sticking. Sometimes rocking it will work but if you have implement down it doesn't rock. I keep wrench in tool box as it seems moving starter slightly works best. They tend to stop about the same place most times so you may have problems again. If you do you might want to pull starter and check bendex for wear

 

[to30man]

Others mentioned rocking the wheel with tractor in gear. I have a neighbor with a 320 that has a lot of trouble with starter sticking. Sometimes rocking it will work but if you have implement down it doesn't rock. I keep wrench in tool box as it seems moving starter slightly works best. They tend to stop about the same place most times so you may have problems again. If you do you might want to pull starter and check bendex for wear

Thanks I will check it out if it sticks again. I am also working on a 40 with front and back cultivators don’t see many around here either the cultivators are the plentiful elsewhere