Tractor runs fine then dies

[royalwulff24]

Had a surge problem with my Cub and per good advice here I cleared that up and was plowing snow, ( 2nd gear about half throttle) I plowed for a couple of hours and it was doing fine, then it just up and shut off, it started right up and would run for a minute, or two then spit and sputter and shut off again, finally got it back to the house. I have all new ignition parts, coil, wires, points, condenser, and cap, points are adjusted and it starts right up, even in this cold weather like a champ. Sediment bowl is clean, carb has been cleaned, could is not hot, I noticed when I started it today, (25°) it started up instantly, with just a slight bit of choke, I let it warm up a few minutes, pushed some snow where we oark then began a run out the driveway ( about 200 yards) near the end of my driveway it goes up hill first pass no problem, on the second pass as soon as I started up hill it sputtered and shut off, restarted it and gave it more throttle and it seemed to work better, but not for long, again it sputters, then dies, fires right up and goes maybe 50 feet, shuts off....repeated this until I got back to the house. Sitting still it seems to run fine and does not shut off...really has me scratching my head. Help

 

[rvirgil_KS]

Getting snow/moisture in the ignition system???????? Does it run again when it dries out??

 

[old]

One way to check things but you will only do it once it while it is running grab the distributor cap. If it zaps you good then you have a wet cap problem. You could also have a loose wire some place that once in a while come loose so it dies then when you restart it sparks a bit and makes contact again till you hit a bump etc.

 

[Repairman60]

Could you have trash in tank?

 

[gab]

A couple of easy checks would be is the gas cap vent plugged or see if you can see anything in the tank that could float over the outlet. I've had both of those problems.

 

[royalwulff24]

Thank you, nope definitely not a moisture problem, cap is totally dry, coil not hot. It's strange, I'm just plowing along slow and smooth, engine humming, then it's will miss a couple of times then just die, hit the key, it fires right up runs smooth, I put it in reverse and start back up, it goes maybe 30 feet then dies again. I got it back to it's parking spot, got off started it, went to half throttle and it ran and ran , got back on, started to plow, went about 50 feet and died.i did notice that at maybe 3/4 throttle, 7ndrr a load a strange noise was coming from my air intake on the hood, I don't know how to describe it but I've never heard it until recently

 

[old]

Ignition switch could be going bad. Seen that type of thing many times.

 

[J Hamilton]

It could be a bad condenser, I had an Allis Chalmers I put new points and condenser in last summer and it ran great for a few hours then had the same symptoms you're describing. Changed the condenser and problem was fixed.

 

[royalwulff24]

No, no trash in tank,new sediment bowl, clean as a whistle, it puzzles why I can let it sit there at half throttle and it will run itself out of gas, but as soon as I start working it....I dunno. Could it be a governor issue ? This began several days ago, but on that day I plowed for 4 or 5 hours, then it started, also I had a big surging problem at that time also but it wasn't shutting off then I set my hand throttle at half speed and then adjusted the rod going to the carb, after that the shutting off began shortly after starting to plow ? Did I adjust it incorrectly ?

 

[royalwulff24]

When I changed out my ignition stuff I left the old condenser in place, today I took out the old condenser and out in the new one....no change. Thank you

 

[royalwulff24]

No sir, all good there

 

[royalwulff24]

No, beautiful sunny, dry day here,

 

[greenmech]

Have you got full flow to the carb? Maybe filter at inlet to carb. Ron MN

 

[derwen1959]

Could it be insufficient valve clearance?
The valves won't shut when hot because of expansion

 

[royalwulff24]

Thanks Ron, yes I have full flow, carb is super super clean, sediment bowl clean...so 8 am working outside on this and before dark I pulled the carb off, took it in on the workbench and went I've it again, the flat was moving freely and didn't have a hole in it but when I checked the float, the height was right on the money, but the float drop was 1.3 and it should be 1.6, out it back on and as usual it fired right up, I plowed with it for about 20 minutes, no issues but 8m going out in a bit to give it a longer test, could the float being off 3/10ths cause my problem ? I sure as heck hope so. Thanks again Ron

 

[royalwulff24]

Thank you for your reply, I don't think it's the valves, I had some carb problems after I flipped her over backwards, it hit hard, right on the radiator cap, crushed the tank, steering wheel, and seat, by the grace of God I got out of the seat but still took 7 operations to get me right.... anyway 8 am thinking that hard hit changed my float setting...sure enough it had so 8 adjusted the height and the drop, went back in yesterday to recheck my work and the float height was fine but the float drop was off by 3/10ths of an inch. I don't know if that's enough to make any difference, but a 20 minutes test last night it did fine, I'm going out again shortly to plow for an hour or so and see if that cured it...I sure hope so, wrenching outside in 15° weather isn't my idea of fun. Thanks again

 

[VicS]

Probably not getting enough gas. Did you take line loose from carb and fill a quart jar and not slow down. We just overhauled a 400R Honda motorcycle carb. The new float wasn't quite right. Looked exactly like old one but bike ran like your cub. Only it wouldn't die but wouldn't pull. Put old float on and cured it. It's problem was flooding. So put a new needle valve and float on.

 

[royalwulff24]

Thank you for your reply. I think the float was the problem . The float wasn't dropping enough to fully open the needle valve, the float was only dropping 1.3 and it should be 1.6, after making that adjustment it runs fine. It was getting enough gas when idling but not when a load was put on it, so yes it wasn't getting enough gas. It took some time for me to figure it out, I had a clean tank, cleaner sediment bowl, I removed the in line filter and when I removed the plug from the bottom of the carb I had a good heavy flow so I rechecked my float measurements and apparently when I replaced my needle valve and adjusted the float to cure a flooding problem I incorrectly calibrated the float drop. So far so good. Thanks again for your input

 

[Stephen Newell]

Try changing the fuel filter. usually works for me.