600 Ford

[Brendon Warren]

I'm not quite sure what I've got here. It belonged to my Dad and he's been passed on for 6 years. I'm more of a Massey diesel guy than a gasser Ford. I figured I better get it running before it sat any longer. The motor was stuck but I've got it freed up. Clean gas running to the carb. I've got spark to the points but none to the plugs. I put a different coil and condenser on it but it didn't make a difference. Any suggestions? How do I pinpoint what model I've got? It's a 5 speed. Thanks in advance!

 

[Royse]

Model number should be stamped into the flat just aft of the starter.
On top of the part where the two bolt holes are into the side.
5 speed would make it an x5x or x6x.
From the looks I would guess a 651 or 661.
Fenders and paint do not look like 650 or 660.

Got spark from the coil wire to the cap?
Plug/coil wires in good shape?

Nice tractor. Especially with power steering.

 

[William Fissell]

that looks like a nice tractor - 5 speed and power steering!

Not sure what you mean by 'spark at the points'. I cant tell if its 6V or 12V, but I might look at the following things:

Do you have voltage at both sides of the coil primary?

Does the voltage measured between the points and the coil drop when the points are closed? from what voltage to what voltage?

Do you have spark at the coil secondary wire? ie unplug from the center fo the distributor cap and plug onto a handy spark plug or other tester. Apologies if its obvious, but make sure the spark plus is well grounded when you test saprk- it can be harder than it looks to do that.

post back.

 

[Brendon Warren]

I meant to say I had power to the points. It's 6 volt with an 8 volt battery. I have power on both sides of the coil When I put the test light on the lead to the points it turns on and off as it turns over.

 

[Royse]

(quoted from post at 21:52:58 05/19/14) I meant to say I had power to the points. It's 6 volt with an 8 volt battery. I have power on both sides of the coil When I put the test light on the lead to the points it turns on and off as it turns over.

Good start. At least it would appear the points are opening and closing.
When they open you should get spark from the coil secondary lead
going to the distributor cap. From there to each plug wire.
Didn't forget to put the rotor button back in did ya? It happens.
There should also be a small metal spring clip under the rotor that
holds it tight on the shaft.

 

[Brendon Warren]

Yep I button the rotor back on. I assume the outside of the coil is meant to be grounded. Whoever had this tractor before my Dad broke the bolts off where the coil mounts. To fix it they welded the coil mount to what was left of these bolts. What a mess! Since I'm not getting spark past that coil I'm thinking it's bad or maybe it's that ground?
It says 661 in the casting, so what's the difference between a 651 and a 661? I'll see what the serial # is tomorrow, maybe someone could help me date this? Thanks!

 

[Royse]

651 was 5 speed without live PTO, 661 had live PTO via a two stage clutch.
Yes, we can help date it from the serial number.
The coil does not need to be grounded.
It is possible for the coil to be bad, but they are pretty durable.
Unfortunately I do not know of a fool proof bench test for them.
NAPA IC14SB or equivalent requires no external resistor and works well.

 

[Texas!]

The outside of the coil does not "ground" to anything. The coil is grounded through the points.

 

[William Fissell]

folks do that - put 8V in 6V . I don't.

Check for spark form the coil secondary. Just pull the lead from the center of the dizzy and plug it into a spark plug ground the spark plug and check for spark.

IMHO get rid of the 8V battery tho thats not likely your problem.

 

[souNdguy]

make sure rotor is on shaft and tight, not floppy.

make sure you have power to the primary of the coil, nad then to the points.

double check there is power at the points when they are open.. and none when closed..

post back

as others have said. not a fan 0f 8v...

 

[dbNga]

You get the benefit of live pto by moving the clevis pin in clutch rod linkage, if it still has factory linkage. This raises clutch pedal about 2 inches and you can feel the transmission action that stops forward movement and then the further downward pressure that is the pto action.

 

[Wyman 861]

Make sure that the wire coming from the coil to the distributor is not grounded to the inside of the distributer. I worked on an 800 for days before I found that someone had left a broken tab off a connector on the bolt and it had went to ground. Good Luck