JD 440 Crawler wont start

[Willracin]

My JD 440 was running great. Cleaning up some tornado debris. Suddenly it acted just like i had switched it off and now wont start back. Please offer any trouble shooting tips.

 

[Anonymous-0]

With an electrial shut off, check to see if the selenoid on the injector pump has power.

 

[Willracin]

it's gas

 

[NCWayne]

If yours is like Dad's it has a ballast resister in the hot leg going to the coil. If the resister burns out, or the wire pops off then it will die just like your describing.

 

[VaTom]

You know you need fuel, compression, and spark, right? Unlikely you lost compression suddenly without a bang.

I had to replace more than one butterfly shaft on mine when it sheared. Also had to replace the float once. Take a careful look at your carb. I hope you've already looked at your wires and distributor cap connections.

 

[Willracin]

Of course it happened NO WHERE near my house or shop. So I can"t say for sure but I think it is a fire/electrical. Very hard to see the plugs from any position you can activate the starter. Will go back tomorrow with a timing light and check for induction in the wires.

NCwayne, will it still have a ballast resistor if it has been converted to 12v?(it has and has a GM Alt)

VaTom, yes I checked cap, rotor and wires (visual) all appear normal.
On the butterfly and float on the carb, is there a trick to checking these without disassembling? (FYI I T Manual already on order)

 

[VaTom]

Been quite awhile since I owned mine but I remember the carb being accessible with the connectors easy to grab with your hand. Floppy at the carb means the shaft's broken. Wenger's in Pa always had what I needed. Have to take it apart of course to see if you had a float problem.

You're headed the right direction. Check to see if the plugs are firing, if so see what your fuel problem is.

12 v. conversion I also did. As I recall it needed a resistance in the circuit. Pretty sure I used a small dash light. If it burned out, you'd have your situation, not that I ever did. I don't remember a real ballast resistor.

Just checked my files, didn't find the drawing which probably went with the tractor. IIRC, it was copied from an old Hot Rod magazine. I did need to keep a spare "Bendix" on hand for the starter as they didn't last long on 12 v.

Good luck with it. I got tired of repairing the final drive and bought a considerably larger Cat, better suited to my needs. Had 2 guys who wanted the 440, was surprised how much I got.

 

[NCWayne]

The one dad has got has also been converted to a 12V system and it has a seperate ballast resistor and a non-resistor coil. That said it could be done either way, with the inline resistor or with the resistor built into the coil. I just know on Dad's the spade terminals where the wires connected to the inline resitor have a habit of vibrating off on occasion and shutting everything down.

Another thing that might have happened is that the condensor might have 'burned out'. When this happens everything usually comes to a halt also.
Good luck.