Running Rough and I'm out of Ideas

[Mnethercutt]

Folks, got a puzzle I need your help with.

Background:
I own a 62 JD 1010 that used to belong to my Granddad. It's stored at my parents house about 12 hours from me and I only get up to work on it once a year at Christmas. I've been battling a rough running condition for the past two years and I'm out of ideas.

The tractor has had the engine replaced with the HA145G engine out of a combine after the original engine went out. Because the original carburetor was clogged up, I slapped in a Chinese TSX428 off eBay, which got it running but began the issue I'm having now. I've since rebuilt the original carburetor thinking that would fix the issue, but I bolted it on yesterday and Dad gum it the tractor still runs just as poorly

Symptoms:
Can't start without choke
Black smoke at startup, when revving up, and when slowing down
Constantly missing and stumbling
Backfires and dies if revved up too quickly
Plugs will foul up within a few MINUTES of running
Poor power

Things I've tried (over the past three years):
All sorts of different combinations of idle and load adjustment, to no avail
Replaced coil, condenser, points, cap, rotor, plugs (NGK), plug wires
Adjusted gap on new points
Rewired entire tractor
Replaced Chinese carburetor with original, rebuilt TSX-809
Replaced fuel lines and added inline filter
Adjusted timing with timing light
Adjusted valve clearance
Sprayed around manifold to check for air intrusion (none noted)
Adjusted linkage per service manual
Replaced condenser again
Replaced intake manifold and gaskets (old manifold had a crack on the exhaust)
Checked manifold for leaks again
Replaced condenser a third time (it's gotta be good right?)
Cleaned spark plugs every 10 minutes of troubleshooting to get rid of the crud on them
Borescoped engine to look for internal damage, nothing found

At this point I'm out of ideas short of pulling the head off and checking the valves. The thing that's frustrating is that she acts like she's flooding, but if I screw in the load adjust needle to where the smoke starts to clear up, she dies.

Anybody got any idea of what else I can try? I've attached pictures of the spark plugs with all the buildup on them I'm talking about and what they look like clean for reference.

Thanks

 

[ET]

Have you done a compression test on the
engine?

 

[Leroy]

You pull the head and the derck plate, the piston sleeves will come out as
one pice leaving loose pistons for one big mess. I know there is a procidure
you have to do that but I do not know what it is.

 

[Roger in Iowa]

Do a compression test.

Obviously running rich. Try running with
air hose off at carb. Air cleaner or
pipe may be clogged with mud dobber or
other causing very rich.
Choke to start is normal.

 

[Roger in Iowa]

Compression test will give some indication
of valves.
Don't remove head.

 

[RobCons]

What does the spark look like?

 

[Mnethercutt]

She runs the same regardless of the air cleaner hose.

I have done a compression test, 135 on all 4.

Not going to remove the head even if I can't figure it out. Don't have a clean area to do so and I'm very hesitant to tear into the motor with how expensive the engine parts are now a days.

Thanks for the quick responses and suggestions thus far.

 

[Paul_IN]

What kind of plug is that? Gap looks very wide to me and
center electrode looks pointy. Just not what Im used to on
old tractors. I feel weak spark could be at least some of the
cause of poor running. Also actual fuel level in carb bowl could
be high. Nice way to test that is clear tubing on a Barb fitting
turned up above the bowl gasket surface.

 

[David from Kansas]

It may be a far fetched idea, but I have had trouble with condensers on delco-remy distributers on both a JD 420 and an AR
tractors. Had to try at least 3 different condensers on one of them before it started and ran easily, was reading about the
necessity to clean and tighten the condenser wire where it attaches to the distributor plate and doing that once fixed the
problem. I snugged it down real good with a screwdriver after cleaning both the wire and distributor plate and it.

 

[westga]

I'll offer one suggestion. pull valve
cover and check valve lash. I had a
problem on a Cat pony motor not long ago
and it was a lose valve adjuster on an
intake valve.

May swap the coil on the ignition also.

 

[Fixingfarmer]

Is the distributor shaft tight? I gave up on once and put an
ignitor kit on. The magnet can handle quite a bit of wobble
actually where points cant.
Float on carburetor way out of whack? If you pull intake hose
off carb does fuel run out? Does it run smoother on ether?
That would eliminate fuel or electrical.

 

[used red MN]

I agree with Paul how did you determine that those spark plugs are the correct ones, they are not. Not sure if this is all your problem but it may be several small things together adding up to this problem. Those are tapered seat plugs, the plugs for your tractor are ..flat seat.. and require a gasket like the ones shown for sale YT, see link. The recommended gap is 0.025 inch your. Hard to tell but the gap does looks a bit more than that. Your ignition may not have enough voltage to fire a wider gap like that under the higher compression in the cylinder.
I would also like to know about how tight the bushings in the distributor are, this is a common cause of erratic misfiring. The spark plug wires came premade to the correct length? If cut to length just making sure the terminal ends were put on correctly crimping the conductor under them.
YT JD 1010 spark plugs

 

[Kansas4010]

Went through the exact same thing on a 2510. Tried two condensers from JD and finally tried one from Napa. The Napa one is so far still working.

 

[Mnethercutt]

I'll try and cover as many responses as I can:

The plugs are NGK Iridium plugs. They were recommended by another mechanic and are supposed to give a strong spark, increase power, etc. I made the probably stupid assumption that as long as the plug fits in the hole and is the same length it will work. Are these plugs no good?

Decided it couldn't hurt and got a condenser from the NAPA Echlin line and installed. No change.

If someone could explain what I should be looking for with wobble in the distributor I'd appreciate it. I haven't heard of that so more specific instructions would be great.

Float level and fuel flow seem ok. No fuel out the air intake.

Last thing I'll ask is should I have a ballast resistor in the ignition circuit? It's a 12V system but still using regular old points, coil, etc.

Here is a clip of the tractor running(ish) with the stumble I'm referring to: https://youtube.com/shorts/UgASYtnLd6E?si=OwL4sGKKTpgiiatn

Thanks again y'all.

 

[Fixingfarmer]

I had those kind of plugs in my Silverado. They told me it was what I needed at Napa and I went along with it but it seemed a bit like a scam. I still only got about 50000 miles out of the set which is not any better than the old kind. So if I were you id get the old school kind for the tractor I don't
know if you can clean them with that little point I've never tried it and maybe that's causing part of the fits. I wish my computer would load the video. On the distributor take the cap the rotor and the dust cover off. Then crank while watching the points open and close. its probably best to
disable the coil when doing this but watch the lobes of the distributor shaft as they open and close the points. is there wiggle if pushed on with your finger? is there inconsistency as the shaft turns and the lobes hit the points? depending on the distributor sometimes there's a mechanical
advance spring below that can cause it or the shaft might be just worn into the housing. that's what I fought once on a 4 cylinder John Deere 2510 and a ford 2000 tractor. you could see the distributor cap actually move on the ford while running and still it keeps going. The only reason either
of them ran well was the ignitor kits. A purist would probably say they needed a new distributor and I won't argue but 125 bucks for an ignitor kit or 500 to 1400 for a distributor...perhaps someone can help you on if you need a resistor. I remember my kits say what to have and I think its an
internal resistor in the coil the new ones are labeled but I could be wrong on that its been awhile and 50 people on here should know better than I.

 

[used red MN]

The distributor shaft runs in a bushing. So the shaft or
points cam should has very minimal movement side to
side when checked with side force between your
thumb and finger. On the spark plugs even though I
would recommend getting the proper ones it should
run alright with those. The gap cannot be wide it has to
be set 0.025 inches

 

[JDNPC]

sounds like you need to double check the govenor
detent linkage and govenor internals.

 

[Mnethercutt]

Folks,

BLUF: Replaced spark plugs, plug wires, coil, and swapped carb and issue resolved.

Thanks for all the responses and suggestions. I'm glad to say this thread can be closed out. I ended up changing a couple of components that have resolved my issue.

I changed:
Spark Plugs (now using Auto lite 216s)
Spark Plug Wires (old wires had the ends a bit loose)
Ignition Coil (swapped to a 12V internally resisted coil I had lying around)
Carburetor (TSX809 to a TSX 428)

Not sure if it was one of these or a combination of all but it's running beautifully now.

A note on the carburetor: I have doubts that the 809 was working properly. It seemed to flood regardless of the screw setting. I had the 428 sitting around and figured I'd swap it in. It's one of the cheap Chinese aluminum carburetors but it works well enough to putter around the yard. I fabricated a bracket to make the linkage work. Some day I'll tear back into the 809, but it's the fourth or fifth time I've taken it apart and it keeps having the same issue. I'm wondering if it's got a missing jet somewhere but that's a project for another day.

Thanks again for all the help, and y'all have a Merry Christmas!