Starter, not engaging?

[Ol 54']

For quite sometime my starter has not been engaging to start up my Oliver 55. I have taken off the engine to do a self battery start and it works perfect. The good Ol boys are telling me to shim it. Not sure if I have shimmed a starter other than a V-8 chevy some time ago. So, do they sell these shims or do you have to make your own? Also how thick of a shim are we talking? Thanks farmers!

 

[rrlund]

For quite sometime my starter has not been engaging to start up my Oliver 55. I have taken off the engine to do a self battery start and it works perfect. The good Ol boys are telling me to shim it. Not sure if I have shimmed a starter other than a V-8 chevy some time ago. So, do they sell these shims or do you have to make your own? Also how thick of a shim are we talking? Thanks farmers!

On those Chevys, the starter bolted on from below with two bolts. so ya, they could be shimmed so the gears meshed better. On the Oliver, they slide in and bolt on horizontally as you already know. Shims wouldn't do anything for you. I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that you have a bad starter drive. I wouldn't be surprised at all if it was the coil spring around it. Seems like I manage to break about one a year on one tractor or another.

 

[JOCCO]

I am with rr on this one bad drive or spring if it has it. Must also look at flywheel teeth. You could have an armature shaft issue. Having to shim one of those tells me something else is wrong.

 

[Ol 54']

What I have done is loosen all 3 bolts about a turn and maybe tap it a couple times with a hammer, Bingo it will start right up. Like I said earlier, I have taken the starter out put it up on a table and battery start it with a set of jumpers. Maybe a big difference installed in the tractor and table starting..

 

[scootergmc]

Sorry, are you saying you have a no crank situation when installed in the tractor, and it works fine on the bench? If so, I'd be cleaning all my grounds and cable connections.

 

[Ol 54']

No, I would say 50% of the time it will start and 50% a no start. Another way I start it if doesn't start is I will put it in gear and rock it back and forth rotating the flywheel then take it back out of gear and luckily it will start..

 

[MikeO-WI]

I am in agreement with RRLund on this one. One other possibility that I have seen is a spot with bad teeth on the ring gear. We used to run a number of Ford potato trucks in our heyday when we grew potatoes. The fix on the Fords was to take the ring gear off and replace it or reverse it. It seems the engines would always stop in certain spots on a circle and that those spots would take a beating when the starter engaged. A lot of work and always better to replace than reverse it.

 

[rrlund]

If it starts after you rock it, or after you loosen the bolts and wiggle it, then yes, I'm getting the shim thing now. The starter is "locking". The drive it binding up in the ring gear. My 1550 used to do it occasionally. I finally replaced the starter for another reason and it doesn't do it anymore. I couldn't really tell you what causes it or where to put any shims, if you even can. I guess I'd try putting a new drive in it, or a rebuilt starter.

 

[pcrh]

How does the starter behave on the tractor? Do you just get a click? Does it turn slow? etc? Had a similar issue. Starter tested fine tested fine on the bench. I even took the starter to a shop and it tested fine. I asked them to test again and on the fourth test starter failed. had starter rebuild and problem went away.

 

[Ol 54']

It never does a click, it eighther starts right up or does nothing. No it never turns slow, it turns quite fast as the battery is always showing about 13.0 amps. This starter was rebuilt about 2 years ago..

 

[scootergmc]

So the condition is an intermittent no crank situation. I'd be cleaning all my cable ends and grounds before I do anything else.

 

[gary66]

I have an 18v dewalt drill, it's been dropped a few times. Every now and then it won't do anything but a quick jump, keeps doing it till I pull the trigger right, maybe. I can get it to work first time if I tap the chuck straight on. Doesn't work if I hit the back of the drill.

Sounds like you are doing the same thing. Starter or starter switch. I always start at the least expensive, be the switch. You did say it always works on the bench without the switch. Rocking the drill sometimes gets it to work. That kind of says brushes.

 

[Duner Wi]

Try this cheap easy possible fix. When you turn key off let clutch out with tractor in gear before engine stops turning over. See if that does not reduce dramatically the frequency of occurrence. That works for me on one tractor that starter drive jams into ring gear.

 

[pcrh]

Have you tried jumping the starter at the solenoid? Remember transmission in neutral first.