Where Does Your's Start Best ?

[SandburRanch]

For those that own a gas fueled tractor, what throttle position does it seem to start best in cold weather? Low, medium throttle, high throttle or other.

 

[20 20]

I don't own a gas tractor anymore but my old allis tractor and oliver dozer started best in cold weather at about half throttle full choke. Then I would idle them down while leaving them at half choke for a couple of minutes.

 

[RalphVa]

Last gas tractor I had was a Gravely. Don't actually remember how we started our tractors on the farm when I was in my low teens. On the Gravely, it needed choke and a little bit of throttle.

The auto choke on cars/pickups used to be set by pushing the throttle down at least about 1/3 to 1/2 way. This did two things: 1) gave it a squirt of fuel from the throttle push; 2) allows the auto choke to close and auto throttle set cam to move to auto set the throttle part way open.

On my gas generator, it has no manual throttle and has an auto choke. However, it needs a shot of ether into the air cleaner to get it going without a lot of cranking.

Ralph

 

[wedge40]

Mine needs to be 1/4-1/2 throttle reguardless of time of year. In the cold weather I dont even try and start it unless I've plugged it in for an hour or two.

Wedge

 

[kevinj]

Just off idle

 

[devildog1]

On my old Oliver Super 55 which I kept inside in a unheated barn, 1/2 throttle and full choke to start. Of course treated fuel, Dry Gas we use to call it. Sometimes when it would get way below zero I would have to use a spray of starting fluid and a jump from a large charger. That was before the Battery Tenders were invented.
DevilDog

 

[Thomas]

When I had my Farmall H about 1/4 throttle,more than that it almost load up and stall.

 

[TripleR]

Our NAA/600's like full choke and just a little throttle.

 

[tommaple]

Allis Chalmers "B". 3/4 choke and 1/4 throttle. Too much throttle and it doesn't have enough spark to fire the mixture. The excess gasoline extinguishes the spark.

This tractor also has a hand crank, so the proper mixture is critical because you are only able to crank it 1/2 revolution at a time. No spinning the engine when hand cranked. This doesn't have battery spark. It runs off a magneto.

 

[TripleR]

We converted our Fords over to 12 volt systems which really helped, with the 6 volt system it was a real trick.

 

[MossRoad]

For those that own a gas fueled tractor, what throttle position does it seem to start best in cold weather? Low, medium throttle, high throttle or other.

You have to remember the purpose of the choke. It limits the air supply so that the engine starts on more fuel and less air in the mixture. In cold weather, the air is denser, so choking becomes even more important. I would experiment with no fuel, full choke settings. Start cranking the engine and increase the throttle slowly until it fires. After you find that spot on the throttle where it seems to fire, try using that spot or even just a tad less throttle before you start it next time. That should work. As it gets colder and colder you may need less throttle. It takes some experimentation to find each machine's sweet spots at different temps.

 

[tommaple]

As it gets colder and colder you may need less throttle.

Unless I misunderstood your post, I think you would need more throttle, not less.
As the air is colder and becomes more dense, you would need more fuel, hence more throttle.

 

[MossRoad]

Unless I misunderstood your post, I think you would need more throttle, not less.
As the air is colder and becomes more dense, you would need more fuel, hence more throttle.

As it gets colder you also get denser fuel. Better to start out with less throttle than to flood it.

 

[RalphVa]

You can tell easy enough. If it starts and dies, you don't have enough throttle. If it plain won't fire, you probably don't have enough choke. If more choke and no fire, give it more throttle.

On any 2 cycle engine, they have to be started with almost wide open throttle.

Ralph