1930 Farmall Regular

[Jerry Claborn]

I will appreciate it if someone could give me the proper steps in starting a Farmall Regular to avoid getting a kickback from the crank.
 

[DeltaRed]

Its all in the timing.Retard the spark to start.When it fires after(late) TDC,it will not kick.Advanced spark will kick you.Also,keep thumb next to hand,not around crank.Use short 'up' pulls,do not go "round and round".You should order a book,it will give you all the info you need.Others will chime in with more 'tips'.Steve
 

[Ron W]

Delta-Red is ABSOLUTELY CORRECT..It"s all in the timing. If your tractor is times so that when the impulse coupler trips the piston is past Top Dead Center (TDC), then kickback will not occur.

When I was 12 years old, I restored my first tractor. A club member who had rebuilt many tractors came to the house to help me time the tractor. He told me to watch as he timed the Mag. The tractor started on the first half crank and purred like a kitten. He turned off the tractor and proceeded to take the mag off and the coupler apart. Then he said, it"s your turn. That was 33 years ago. I ran out of toes and fingers in order to count the number of tractors I have, but NEVER, EVER, in my lifetime have I had a kickback as all of my tractors are timed that way.
 

[Nebraska Cowman]

The old E4 magnetos with the open impulse dog are the worst. You have to reset the pawl and if it trys to start and then does not the impulse must be reset again. If you do not hear the impulse click every time you better stop cranking. Yes, use up strokes.
 

[F-Dean]

Every time I crank one of my tractors, I can hear my dad saying "Keep your thumb back!"

He has been gone 15 years but is still around.
 

[Old-F20]

ive got a whole building full of pre 39 tractors and ive never had one kick back once. i always start them on full advance, grab the crank and spin it like i got a pair. those engines have very heavy flywheels and if its spinning fast enough there is inertia behind it and it cant spin backwards. some people will scoff at my method but its worked for years and i have no problems with it
 

[teddy52food]

Don't listen to old F20. If it fires when you first start turning it will kick back.
 

[Arnold Layne]

I would have to agree. Trying to spin it is asking for trouble whether the spark is retarded or not. I've seen engines with flywheels much larger reverse rotation faster than the blink of an eye, know of one instance that resulted in a fatality.
 

[SweetFeet]

Jerry Claborn,

Hope you post some photos of your Regular. Love to see them.

This in on an F20 (hope to start our Regular for the first time next summer - so starting with the E4A magneto will be a learning experience for my husband). I know husband always keeps his thumb out of the way. Also only does the "pull up" to start, never pushes down. It usually only takes 2 tries to start his F20.
 

[Old-F20]

got almost 30 tractors and have started them all thousands of times. never had an issue.
 

[jkies]

It only has to kick back once to make you a believer in how to crank. Up stokes without your thumb around the handle.
 

[Jerry Claborn]

Should the magneto starter pawl be engaged (touching the magneto) or away from the magneto when cranking? My spark lever seems to be reversed from the pictures I have seen. The hole for the connecting rod is on the left side (next to the engine) when viewing the magneto from the rear. Should it be reversed? I could send pictures if someone would tell me how to do it.
 

[SweetFeet]

Jerry,

Here is a link to click on - to take you to a YT discussion in the Site Comments forum. I made up some step by step sheets and sent them as pictures to Chris the YT site tech. Also El Toro (Hal) sent photo posting instructions to this discussion as well.

JUST CLICK ON THE LINK at bottom of my reply (blue in modern view - or I think purple and underlined in classic view), AND IT WILL TAKE YOU TO THAT DISCUSSION. *You can save these instruction photos to your computer by RIGHT clicking, then on Save Picture As, then name it and save it to Photos on your computer.
It will show you how to:
1. post photos
2. post links to websites
3. how to edit in modern view (as long as you are a registered user and logged into modern view).
Instructions to post pics, weblinks or edit postings on YT site