8560 no crank below 45*

[burndout]

As title states, get 1 maybe 2 cranks below 45* according to the farm hand before it stops cranking. I've put in a fresh battery with 1050/950 CCA farm/fleet battery on 2 occasions. Cleaned terminal connections at the battery and solenoid. Added a 3/4npt block heated in the coolant port above the starter. The small coolant block is hot and you cannot hold your hand on it for more than a few seconds. Tried trickle charger both when parked inside(fully closed concrete floored shop) or outside. Farm hand said that he can sometimes get it to crank faster with a 3000A noco jump pack if it's fully charged. Also tried a 75A 120v jump pack. That one gets a little tricky as I think it's just a capacitor so it falls to 0% when you warm the grid heater. All attempts are always done with the starting preceedure per the manual which is just heating the grid heater. No glow plugs installed.

The little 3 cylinder Kubota has also been used to try and jump start it without luck.

We are located in N/E OK and it's been down in the teens over night lately. Without this tractor, we have to tear apart roundbails so the Kubota FEL can lift them over the fences. Farm hand said he moves about 10 bales a week, more when below freezing.

I recently thought about buying a new starter to see if that made a difference, then happen to see a 'HEAVY DUTY, BETTER FOR WINTER' starter on billstractor(dot)com. Unfortunately they want $699.99 for one. The description states that the output has been increased to 3.6kw.

Anyone have any suggestions with any other options before spending $700 on this starter? I'm not familiar enough with how to increase the output but do have a local shop that rebuilds starters/alt/motors etc. Would this be something to check into or would it be outside of their scope of work? I've thought about oil pan heaters but there is a skidplate and front driveshaft guard that is pretty much covering the pan. I saw there are oil dipstick heaters but all of them are for trucks and are 24"+ long where the 8560 is very short.

I feel like the boss bought the wrong tractor here....? Thoughts?

 

[Harry in Ky]

Starting at 45 degrees should be no problem. With all you've done so far and still no positive results, I'm guessing you have either a bad cable or a bad starter. I wouldn't think you need a $700 hi torque job but that's your choice. I would try a local rebuilder first.

 

[Roadworthy]

Cleaning and tightening battery connections was a good thought. Check the way the connections are attached to the cables. Sometimes corrosion will happen inside and the cable has essentially failed. How many volts is the battery putting out when cranking? How many volts are actually getting to the starter? I'd try troubleshooting before throwing big dollars at the problem.

 

[R134a]

The starter being bad is unlikely as it still spins and has no dead spots. If it was bad I would take it to a re-builder.
Set that aside and go back to the battery. The battery may be new but that does not mean its good. Load test it or even better is the new type of battery tester which will tell you how much capacity the battery has left and give you a pass or fail. I have one and it works great. If the battery tests good (unlikely) then replace the cables. I have seen cables oxidized / corroded underneath the insulation. Compromised cable will not pass the amperage needed to spin the starter. Amazon.com

 

[burndout]

I took my old school toaster over style load tester, 800-900 amps at the battery and at the battery side of the start solenoid. Terminal ends all look good and i cut back some of the insulation and don't see any corrosion.
I think I'm just going to roll the dice and throw an oem starter on it and if that doesn't work, all new cable and ends.
I just can't justify the 700 for the winter rated fella.

 

[Roadworthy]

Is the solenoid separate from the starter? How much power is actually arriving at the starter? The high current inside the solenoid can pit the contacts preventing full current flow.

 

[burndout]

Well, i wanted to followup as I finally figured out what the issue was.
I broke down an bought a factory spec'd starter from DB electrical. Was a pretty simple R&R that only took about and hour. Tractor started RIGHT up without any issues. Popped the end of the starter off of the old one and a massive amount of corrosion and dust fell out. Owner says that they have replaced the starter before but cant remember when. The brushes were all different lengths and had very uneven wear patterns. I dont know what the situation was exactly with them but the amount of black dust inside was around a half a brake cleaner cap full. It had met its death by 10000 particles of dust.