Electrical Problems with 1960 Farmall Cub

   / Electrical Problems with 1960 Farmall Cub #1  

Ontheback9

New member
Joined
Nov 21, 2021
Messages
4
Tractor
1960 Farmall Cub
I rewired the tractor with a wire harness I got from Steiner. It was complicated for a novice and I stupidly removed all the old wires before rewiring. I've checked the connectikon s several time and think I got it right, but who knows because I had a hard time wiring the bak of the dash panel because there's not much room to work back there and there are lots of wiired there too. The starter switch and starter work fine when I pull on the carburetor rod, pull out the ignition switch, and then pull on the starter control rod. I also polarized the generator momentarily bridging the "Batt" terminal on the regulator and the "A" terninal on the generator. But, I cannot get the engine to turn over. I bought a hand crank, studied the safest way to hand crank the Farmall, and I still cannot get it to turn over. I bought a new2 6-Volt battery and replaced the four sparkplugs and rechecked the cable wires and the distributor connections. Still nothing. Any advic e would be most appreciated as I have virtually no experience with what I am trying to do here. Thanks for the help. Tom
 
   / Electrical Problems with 1960 Farmall Cub #2  
You must have had a reason for the replacement harness. Would the tractor run before you replaced the harness? Does it have an ignition coil? When you turn on the key do you get power to the coil? Will the starter turn the engine over? I can walk you through the troubleshooting but without power to the coil it won't start - unless it runs from a magneto, which may be the case.
 
   / Electrical Problems with 1960 Farmall Cub
  • Thread Starter
#3  
Thank you for replying. 1- I freplaced the wikring as part of cleaning up the tractor that hadn't been run in 30 years. 2- It ran OK, not great, before I strated tinkering with the wiring. I messed something up when I did the rewire. 3- No key, just a pull-out signition switch and I do not know if the coil is gretting power. I do not k now how to tell that. 4- The starter used to turn the engine over, but not since I messed something up. 5- There's no magneto. 6- How do I kn ow whether there is power to the coil? 6- The hand crank won't start it up even with the ignition on and the speed control set at about 1/3. I'm clueless. Thank you again for any help. Tom
 
   / Electrical Problems with 1960 Farmall Cub #4  
1638191841359.png

I've attached a basic wiring diagram for a Cub. It may be easier to unbolt the control panel, with the amp gauge, switch, etc., to see what you're doing. A couple 3/8" bolts should hold the base to the torque tube, and I think 2 bolts to the fuel tank. You'll just need to prop the fuel tank up with something.

A basic test light is the best thing to check for "power", from any point A, to point B. If you have the panel off the tractor, to where you can place the probe on the test light, I'd first check to see if everything is wired per the diagram. Note, the 6V system is a positive ground system. I'm assuming that it is wired correctly. From that point, I'd hook the ground end of the test light to the + side of the battery, then touch the probe to the post with green wire in this diagram, confirming you have voltage to this point on the ammeter. If it lights up, place probe on the lead coming out of the light switch (green wire in diagram) going to the fuse.

If it lights up there, move to the post with black wire, going to ignition switch. If you don't have power there, could be the fuse. If you do, place the probe on the post coming out of the ign. switch, with the switch on. With the switch on, you should show power coming out. If it doesn't, more than likely the switch may be slightly corroded inside. If this is the case, WD-40 works great to spray at the top of the switch, then pull the switch in, and out numerous times, plus turning will clean them enough to work again. If not, you can always replace with a HD toggle switch, but I've gotten several OEM switches to work again with the WD-40 trick.

If you do have current flow out of the switch, then touch the probe to the - terminal as directed above to confirm current to that point. If you have current there, place probe on the + side. You'll need to roll the engine over, so the points make contact, and you test light should flash, whenever points make contact.

From that point, I see you replaced just about everything except the points and condenser. At this point, I'd remove the distributor cap, and dust cover if it has one, and place probe on the wire coming in through the side of the distributor to confirm current flow. Those Bakelite, or nylon insulators have been known to crack, and short/ground out the current.

If you're good to there, you can bump the starter, to where the points are making contact. You can take a screwdriver, and move the points to break contact. You should see a small spark. If no spark there, either the points are burned, or the condenser is bad. You can dress the points if they are burned, enough to get it to run. Re-gap the points to .020, with the rub block setting on the high lobe of the dist. shaft. A short screw starter is very handy tool to get the contact point set screws started. It's pretty tight quarters in there to get them started. A set of ignition wrenches are very handy also, to loosen/ remove the nut holding the wire on the points. It'd be an idea to replace both the points and condenser if they are burned. If you do replace them, either get OEM set from Case/IH, or a set of Echlin's from NAPA. They are worth the extra couple of dollars. I've seen more than several threads, where they installed a set from TSC, etc., and the rub blocks either wear off, or bend, changing the points gap. I've never had that problem with an OEM set, or the Echlin's.

You'll also want to check the lugs inside the dist. cap for ionization build up. This can be scraped off with a pen knife. You'll probably want to touch up the rotor button with a fine piece of sandpaper, or light scraping with a pen knife too.

With all of this being done, you should be able to remove #1 plug, ground it out on the block, turn the engine over with switch on, and see spark. Re-install plug, and unless you have a fuel delivery problem, or terrible bad compression it should start with the throttle set about 1/3, and a quick pull on the choke, @ full choke for 3-4 revolutions enough to give it a sniff of fuel. And a lot of that has to do with the temperature. Out of the 6+ gas tractors I have, none seem to be exactly the same when it comes to choking. Seems they all have their own personality, so you'll just have to learn your tractors sweet spot on the throttle, and choke setting. I do know over choking isn't hard to do. So just watch and not flood it.

Hopefully, you haven't fallen asleep reading all of this, but this should get your tractor started, unless you have a terrible compression issue. Hope this helps..!!
 
   / Electrical Problems with 1960 Farmall Cub
  • Thread Starter
#5  
Fantastic! I didn't fall asleep, not at all. I've been reading through your response with my parts manual in hand, and a lot of this I can try to do day after tomorrow when I've got the hours free to try. I love the wiring diagram because I probably messed up wiring the back side of the control panel. Some, actually a lot, of what you wrote flew right over my head. Heck, I took the wife to Outback for steaks after successfully changing the battery on my own, and I thought I was ready to work for NASA after changing out the starter switch (found a new one at NAPA), so that tells you my skills are pretty low. I bought my Cub to prepare a two-acre garden in the field behind our house because I'm fed up paying $$$ for veggies that I can grow myself, so I've got to get my tractor running. My wife stenciled in white letters a new name for the Cub right across the top of the gas tank while I was at work the other day. She named it "The Money Pit" because she's tired of hearing me say, "I just need this one new part and it'll run like a Ferrari". Of course, I can't even get it started. I envy your knowledge and the comments from all who are trying to to help me. Thanks so much. Tom
 
   / Electrical Problems with 1960 Farmall Cub #6  
Well, I'm glad you didn't fall asleep. Hopefully it's just something simple, like a misconnected wire, switch not making contact, etc. Just getting the control panel turned where you can see what you're doing, ought to be a big help.

Knowledge comes with experience. I've been tinkering on various brand tractors for 40+ years. Got in an antique tractor club many years ago, and learned lots of tips and tricks from older mechanics. Most are gone now, but still remember some of the things they taught us younger guys, but not all. Time for me to pay that forward when I can help. We all started somewhere. I now feel the same way when I pop the hood on my pickup. Yup, it's going back to the dealership, if anything major is needed under the hood.

I hear you on growing your own vegetables. But, you may want to re-think the size. 2 acres is a BIG garden, and a lot of weeds to contend with. Even if you have cultivators for the Cub, there's lots of handwork to do with a hoe. I have an approx. 1/4 acres garden, and grow enough for me, (I preserve a lot) friends, plus donate tomatoes, and potatoes to a local food kitchen. I plow, and disk the ground with my Farmall 140,or one of the Farmall Super C's. Basic planting, and maintenance is done with smaller 2-wheel garden tractors to mark rows, and cultivate. Most direct seeded vegetables are grown in rows 30 inches on center, growing more, in less space. Do your self a favor, and start small, so as not to get overwhelmed, and end up with a giant weed patch. Grow what you need, and grow it well. It took me 10 years to convince a buddy of mine who had "0" gardening experience, that got into the Market Garden game, that very thing. It's not all about the growing, half of it is harvesting when "it's" ready, not you.

Do yourself a favor now, and take some soil samples of where you intend to make your garden. Not sure where you're at, but you should have a County Extension Office, where you can pick up a sample bag. Here, they cost $6.50 to have a soil sample analyzed. That test will tell you exactly what you need for amendments, instead of just throwing fertilizer, or lime at it, not knowing what you really need. Your local extension agent will gladly go over the results with you. Don't be disappointed if it takes several years to get your garden spot up to snuff. It doesn't happen overnight. Heck, I've been puttering in a garden for over 60 years, and still seem to learn something new every year. Getting older, you have a tendency to try to work smarter, not harder. Just simple things like mulching around set plants with leaves, once they get established after 2-3 weeks. After laying down 6" of leaves for mulch, it's pretty much walk though, and "hunt" for weeds.

And, in the last 6-8 years have made a few things to make life easier for an old guy. Like a transplanter built from an old David Bradley2 wheel garden tractor, to set tomato, pepper, and cabbage plants, to a 3 pt. dibbler wheel I use behind my little Sears 4 wheel garden tractor with 3 pt hitch. It make "dibbles" 4" O.C. so as to plant onions 4" apart, or other items spaced to any distance apart, in 4" increments. I normally use onion sets, and made a simple planter out of 1-1/2" PVC pipe. A 5 qt. ice cream bucket holds the sets. I just run my belt through the handle to carry it. Not very high tech., but it works great. Last year, even built a small germination chamber out of a large refrigerator out of a camper. Stripped it out, put an 11 watt grow light in it, a 1 qt. slow cooker filled with water, and a digital heat mat thermostat to control the slow cooker heat. The slow cooker provides warm moist air usually around 90º, and moisture/humidity up to 80%. I can germinate onion seeds in 36 hours. Tomato seeds in 4 days. Pepper seeds in about 5 days, which normally seem forever to get to germinate with other methods I've tried. It's not too hard to find a fridge that doesn't work anymore, but I wanted a smaller one. I posted a want to buy ad on FaceBook Marketplace, and within 45 minutes someone answered back they had one, and only 10 miles away. The other items I have around $40 in, but should last for years. The great thing is, I can start onions, and peppers in Feb., and have them to transplant size (usually takes 6-8 weeks) by sometime in April. So, not only can you save money buying plants, you can start them from seed, and grow your own. I do buy many tomato plants from an Amish greenhouse, but for $1.10 a dozen, I'm not going to use up space in my little greenhouse to try and grow them for what I can buy those for. But, I do start one's they don't carry in stock.

Looks like I got a bit off track, but maybe it will give you a little more incentive to get that Cub going. At least you have until Spring to get things going, and bugs worked out. There is a decent garden thread here on down in Lawn and Garden. Might be something to look through someday this winter, and get some idea's. Going to post a few pics of my toys I've made, and use.
 

Attachments

  • DSC00187.JPG
    DSC00187.JPG
    4.2 MB · Views: 193
  • DSC01000.JPG
    DSC01000.JPG
    3.4 MB · Views: 127
  • DSC01004.JPG
    DSC01004.JPG
    4.8 MB · Views: 137
  • DSC01002.JPG
    DSC01002.JPG
    4.3 MB · Views: 115
  • DSC01041.JPG
    DSC01041.JPG
    2.3 MB · Views: 119
  • DSC01212.JPG
    DSC01212.JPG
    3.2 MB · Views: 135
  • DSC01213.JPG
    DSC01213.JPG
    2.5 MB · Views: 113
 
Top