Farmall Super A issues

[Kevin Guth]

I have a Super A that was my dads. We had a woods belly mower on it and mowed alot with it up until about 10 years ago when we stripped it down and painted it up and after that it only went to tractor shows. dad passed away about 7 years ago and the tractor sat indoors. I recently got it out and running and put another Woods mower on it. Im having 2 problems with it first it has a miss to it unless its pulling or working then it runs fine but when it goes back to not "working" or to idle it has a miss. I put a new carb on it but that didnt change anything. Second problem is when your mowing it will be fine and then will act to me like something will bind up and it will stall the tractor out disengage pto start it back up and its ok. i would appreciate any ideas on either problem

 

[crsutton81]

I have a Super A that was my dads. We had a woods belly mower on it and mowed alot with it up until about 10 years ago when we stripped it down and painted it up and after that it only went to tractor shows. dad passed away about 7 years ago and the tractor sat indoors. I recently got it out and running and put another Woods mower on it. Im having 2 problems with it first it has a miss to it unless its pulling or working then it runs fine but when it goes back to not "working" or to idle it has a miss. I put a new carb on it but that didnt change anything. Second problem is when your mowing it will be fine and then will act to me like something will bind up and it will stall the tractor out disengage pto start it back up and its ok. i would appreciate any ideas on either problem

Sounds a little to me like the timing may be slightly off and it's lacking power. I assume it still has points in the distributor and not electronic ignition ? If it still has points, check and ensure that they are properly gapped at .020. Another possibility is there could be a valve (s) trying to stick. Has the valve lash been checked lately ?

 

[DaveBN]

I would start by replacing spark plugs and maybe spark plug wires. Look carefully at the distributor cap. Make sure there are no cracks in the cap and that the contacts are clean.
Dave.

 

[teddy52food]

Mag or dist,?

 

[560Dennis]

good start cwith comments above
tune up ,
check level in pto ,sis getting lube , is the differential fluid level correct , fluid old and solid,water. Maybe , check it.
I feel if you change it to 80w140 the lub gear slinger is getting enough lube to trtough to pto back half .

 

[Kevin Guth]

Thank you for the replies. i do alot of on different things just not much of a troubleshooter. The fact it runs fine under load but misses when not is what is confusing me. I had thought about timing but it ran fine when parked i wouldnt think that would change i figured with this gas nowdays it was probably in the carb but that wasnt it. It had new plugs wires cap when i painted it but i was thinking of changing them also. I didnt mention it has a distributor. im changing all fluids in it now didnt really see anything horrible but everything was done when it was painted and not many hours on it. I realize sitting that long they were still due to be changed. Just wanted some ideas before i start throwing money at it.

 

[used red MN]

I have a Super A that was my dads. We had a woods belly mower on it and mowed alot with it up until about 10 years ago when we stripped it down and painted it up and after that it only went to tractor shows. dad passed away about 7 years ago and the tractor sat indoors. I recently got it out and running and put another Woods mower on it. Im having 2 problems with it first it has a miss to it unless its pulling or working then it runs fine but when it goes back to not "working" or to idle it has a miss. I put a new carb on it but that didnt change anything. Second problem is when your mowing it will be fine and then will act to me like something will bind up and it will stall the tractor out disengage pto start it back up and its ok. i would appreciate any ideas on either problem

Hello Kevin, welcome to YT! A couple causes of that symptom is 1) a vacuum leak. With it idling spray starting fluid or direct the tip of an unlit propane torch at the manifold to head mating area. If there is a change in sound of the engine you found the location of your leak. Using the propane torch method may require blocking the draft of the fan with a piece of cardboard. 2) It may be possible you have a valve sticking or stuck open. Although this is less likely to actually go away under higher speeds or loads to the less discerning ear it may not be as noticeable. How gutsy are you about playing with the spark plug wires. Disabling the spark from the cylinders one at a time will help pinpoint a like this. With the tractor of pull the plus wires out of the cap an only gently stick them back in not fully seating them. Then start it up and grabbing each wire a couple inches back from the boot pull it out of the cap and listen for a change. If a cylinder makes no change when there is or isn’t spark going to it that cylinder is not firing. Spark can and will jump out of the distributor cap terminals, usually arcs over to the spring clips that hold it on. A compression test would also not be a bad idea.

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

Thank you for the replies. i do alot of on different things just not much of a troubleshooter. The fact it runs fine under load but misses when not is what is confusing me. I had thought about timing but it ran fine when parked i wouldnt think that would change i figured with this gas nowdays it was probably in the carb but that wasnt it. It had new plugs wires cap when i painted it but i was thinking of changing them also. I didnt mention it has a distributor. im changing all fluids in it now didnt really see anything horrible but everything was done when it was painted and not many hours on it. I realize sitting that long they were still due to be changed. Just wanted some ideas before i start throwing money at it.

You've already thrown money at it. Time to troubleshoot. There's only so much it can be. If it ran fine when parked, that list is even shorter. Fuel or ignition.

It would not run better under load if it were a fuel flow issue, UNLESS it farting black smoke at idle.

Two different carburetors exhibiting the same behavior narrows it down to ignition. Points corrode.

 

[560Dennis]

I like to suggest using the tune up (intake vacuum) port on the intake manifold. It’s the an npt 1/8 plug. I use a vacuum gage with 1,8 hose barb to tubing to gage. I record the reading at low idle and high idle. Ideal numbers with a steady needle report from gage should be 18 to 21 inches hg At low idle 525 , high idle 1550 rpm slightly less , do this before I attempt any maintenance For bench mark Current data Engine conditions.
Then I compare the readings I get after any replacement of parts. Adjusting idle , timing , that way you know for sure you’ve made and improved to the tractor performance. Other wise it’s guessing . If the time and effort was worth it, you don’t know.

 

[Kevin Guth]

Hello Kevin, welcome to YT! A couple causes of that symptom is 1) a vacuum leak. With it idling spray starting fluid or direct the tip of an unlit propane torch at the manifold to head mating area. If there is a change in sound of the engine you found the location of your leak. Using the propane torch method may require blocking the draft of the fan with a piece of cardboard. 2) It may be possible you have a valve sticking or stuck open. Although this is less likely to actually go away under higher speeds or loads to the less discerning ear it may not be as noticeable. How gutsy are you about playing with the spark plug wires. Disabling the spark from the cylinders one at a time will help pinpoint a like this. With the tractor of pull the plus wires out of the cap an only gently stick them back in not fully seating them. Then start it up and grabbing each wire a couple inches back from the boot pull it out of the cap and listen for a change. If a cylinder makes no change when there is or isn’t spark going to it that cylinder is not firing. Spark can and will jump out of the distributor cap terminals, usually arcs over to the spring clips that hold it on. A compression test would also not be a bad idea.

Thanks for the reply i forgot to mention i had already tried the starting fluid to the manifold to head idea and nothing there. Since then i checked compression all 4 cylinders were between 130 and 140. Filed the points, pulled each plug wire while running no big change there. i think ill get plugs, points, wires and cap and see what happens.

 

[Janicholson]

Thanks for the reply i forgot to mention i had already tried the starting fluid to the manifold to head idea and nothing there. Since then i checked compression all 4 cylinders were between 130 and 140. Filed the points, pulled each plug wire while running no big change there. i think ill get plugs, points, wires and cap and see what happens.

I agree with the idea of changing the plugs. I also want to make sure you are seeing a misfire in fact. If it has a rain cap on the muffler, it is very common for those to bounce around and bang closed at idle. Though it may seem like a problem, it is not. Your comment that pulling plug wires resulted in uniform change in the engine rather than one wire resulting in zero change while the others changed it dramatically. that assessment is usually an indication that all cylinders are working. Make sure the distributor shaft has no up/down side to side motion. any that you feel is bad enough to put a rebuilt distributor in it. Jim

 

[Russ from MN]

I would start by replacing spark plugs and maybe spark plug wires. Look carefully at the distributor cap. Make sure there are no cracks in the cap and that the contacts are clean.
Dave.

My experience is bad sparkplugs will miss under load, not at idle.

 

[Kevin Guth]

Thanks for the reply i forgot to mention i had already tried the starting fluid to the manifold to head idea and nothing there. Since then i checked compression all 4 cylinders were between 130 and 140. Filed the points, pulled each plug wire while running no big change there. i think ill get plugs, points, wires and cap and see what happens.

No flapper on it. Has a chrome straight pipe also makes it easy to hear that its not running right. Although today i was going to mulch up some leaves with it and it seemed to run ok. Mowed a while with it and it didnt even act like it bound up and stalled the tractor like before so it seems like everything was working ok and then the belt broke. It was an old belt that came with it so i was suprised it lasted as long as it did.