#1 Cylinder

[tacox1949]

This is going to sound like a really dumb question but... Where is the #1 cylinder on a 1958 Ford 861 tractor?

The reason I ask is ... Based on my limited experience with cars, the #1 cylinder is the cylinder nearest the front of the car (on V-6 and V-8 engines, the cylinder nearest the front on the driver's
side). In timing my 861, I was using the frontmost cylinder as the #1 cylinder, I found TDC on this cylinder by placing my finger on the cylinder hole feeling the pressure on the compression stroke.
However the timing marks on the flywheel were nowhere to be seen. So I turned the engine by hand until the timing marks were visible. And I determined that this was the compression stroke for
the rearmost cylinder (the #4 cylinder by my automobile experience).

So which cylinder is the #1 cylinder? Is it the frontmost cylinder or the rearmost cylinder? If #1 is the frontmost cylinder, how do I time my engine given the position of the timing marks?

If the #1 cylinder is the rearmost cylinder, I assume that the cylinders are counted (back) 1-2-3-4 (front).

I looked in my manual but could not find a definitive answer.

 

[Larry NCKS]

#1 is the front one. I didn't know it to be possible, but sounds like your flywheel is positioned wrong on the crank or else the crank and cam are not in time.

 

[Sean in PA]

A little more history would be helpful.

Why are you checking in the first place?

Is the tractor new to you and has never run since you've had it or have you had it a while and it just stopped running recently? If it stopped recently did it make any odd noises or other symptoms when it quit?

 

[Bern]

The #1 cylinder is in the front, closest to the radiator. That said, for the purposes of what you were trying to accomplish, #1 could have been either in the rear or the front, it does not matter. #1 and #4 are called "companion cylinders", meaning they go up and down together in unison. When feeling for TDC compression on either hole, you should get identical results on the flywheel, assuming you do it the same. Stated another way, when #1 is at TDC on the flywheel, so is #4. You could time the engine using a timing light on #1 or #4, it does not matter.

 

[shaun wallace]

The 861 I have has timing marks on edge of flywheel not the back face. When doing some other things I moved the important ones to face so they now can be read. Flywheel only fits one way.

 

[ErnieD]

I am believing cam is off by 180*. My recommendation is to time by #4.

 

[mhb@ufe]

I would suspect when you were bringing #1 up on the compression stroke it actually went beyond top dead center so that when you turned it by hand to find the marks #4 was at TDC on the compression stroke. If you turn it over again until the marks come back #1 will be at TDC on the compression stroke. As Bern said, you could time it with a timing light by using #1 or #4.

Mark