2N Rough Acceleration

[KenInGA]

I was working the 2N yesterday and it didn"t want to rev up to higher RPMs (faster than about 1/3 throttle). I was simply going up a hill pulling an empty trailer, with not much load on it. When I gave it more gas (up to about 3/4 throttle) it started trying to stall out, sputtering BADLY and even backfiring, until I quickly brought the idle back down to idle where it immediately started running smoothly again. Even sitting still in neutral, it does this.

Tractor: 1946 2N, 12 volt (single-wire alternator), just replaced the points, condenser, rotor, and distributor cap not but maybe 10 hours of operation ago. New Autolite 437 plugs. We just recently put this back together.

Things that we"ve already looked into
-No clogs in fuel line or in carburetor. Carb is properly adjusted. Governor is working fine- moving the gov-to-carb linkage manually (bypassing the governor) results in the same problems with revving up.
-No clogs in fuel sediment bowl- plenty of fuel flow.

Now for the questions:
-I"ve got the distributor apart. The points were pretty good and burned, but still gapped at .015". I tested the centrifugal weights on the distributor shaft, and there is no binding in them, so theoretically it shouldn"t be a problem with the centrifugal advance. (The cent. advance was what I originally thought was the problem, based on the fact that if you advance the throttle slowly, it will rev up much more evenly, but still won"t run smoothly at higher RPMs). Is there a good way to test the centrifugal advance?

-Could it also be a faulty condenser? (I got an ignition tune-up kit from nnalert, including points, condensor, rotor, as well as a new dist. cap and a full set of gaskets for the distributor.)

Is there something I"m missing?

 

[Tom N MS]

Round coil? Square 12 volt coil? If square coil, what resistors do you have ahead of the coil..Points burned in 10 hrs operation, not good.

 

[KenInGA]

Square coil. Current from the battery first goes through the resistor on the "resistor block" and then through a ceramic ballast resistor.

 

[old]

Points may have slipped which is common or you have the points set wrong. Front mount which you should have is 0.015 and side mount which a 2N isn't is 0.025 if you set either the incorrect setting they run funny. Also your problem could be simple carb icing or the main jet needs to be opened up a tad and or weak spark. Did pulling the choke help or did you not try that. Is your spark a nice blue/white and will it jump a 1/4 inch gap??

 

[KenInGA]

It wasn't a spark problem... the points were gapped correctly. I just put the distributor back together, applying some lubricant to the shaft, and with a different condenser (the 15-year-old-one that came on the tractor when we got it), slapped the dist back on the tractor, and problem solved (knock on wood).

I guess it was just a combination of lubrication and a funky condenser.

 

[old]

Very common now days to get a new bad condenser and yep if you get one of those bad new ones you have a problem on your hands

 

[NOXJohn]

I would suspect that you did not have the spark plug wires in the correct holes in the cap and fixed that when you put it back together.

 

[ford5600]

i had the same prob. a little bit of dirt got between the front tip and the top of dist. cap so took out my knife and barley cleaned the contact parts. and then put it on an it run like a champ.
clean all your connections and it will save you from having trouble later.