I Don't Know What I Am Doing

[firemart 0]

I am becoming increasingly frustrated with the tractor.

It wouldn't even spark again yesterday. I have no clue on how to set points, gap plugs, turn a crankshaft, or how to fix anything that is simple to you guys.

The May budget meeting is coming up, and, I am going to have make some decisions soon.

Do I keep trying to fix it myself and continue to waste my home time?

Or, do I pay someone who-knows-what to do it?

Or, give up? :D

[Little_Red 0]

Dont give up its just i small set back . Just take a little time step back and you'll figure it out . Youve come way to far to give in. It can only get better from here

[Coadster32 793]

Sounds like the ball is in your court. You know what help is avail. here.

[porkchop 1]

:omg: Where do you live ? Maybe someone is close that can help you.

[Little_Red 0]

I live on the tn , al state line , right above florence maybe i can make the trip if it aint to far

[pfrederi 18,670]

Firemart: You do not need a tremendous amount of knowledge/skill to work on these older machines especially with the help available here. However, you must have some time available and understand that there will be setbacks. Even when you get it going you never know when another issue will pop-up. If you have limited time and it is your only means of mowing the growing grass, this may not be the best machine for you right now.

Old equipment can have issues, believe me I know I have three farm tractors 57-66 years old, two military vehicles one 57 and one 45 years old, in addition to the wheel horses the newest being about 25 yrs old. Having back up for mowing and other activities relieves the pressure of having to fix the latest issue right now and begin retired I have the time to spend. They also are not free to maintain, parts can get spendy overtime.

My wife has a JD lawn tractor that she mows with...we bought it new about 7 years ago...it cost more than all of my wheel horses put together...but other than air and oil filters it doesn't cost anything to run. My wheel horses may have been purchased cheaply but a significant sum has been spent on parts and alot of time invested.

There really isn't any free lunch. You either pay cash up front for new stuff...or you have to invest time and money on a fixer upper....

You have to decide which is a better choice in your situation.

[firemart 0]

Firemart: You do not need a tremendous amount of knowledge/skill to work on these older machines especially with the help available here. However, you must have some time available and understand that there will be setbacks. Even when you get it going you never know when another issue will pop-up. If you have limited time and it is your only means of mowing the growing grass, this may not be the best machine for you right now.

Old equipment can have issues, believe me I know I have three farm tractors 57-66 years old, two military vehicles one 57 and one 45 years old, in addition to the wheel horses the newest being about 25 yrs old. Having back up for mowing and other activities relieves the pressure of having to fix the latest issue right now and begin retired I have the time to spend. They also are not free to maintain, parts can get spendy overtime.

My wife has a JD lawn tractor that she mows with...we bought it new about 7 years ago...it cost more than all of my wheel horses put together...but other than air and oil filters it doesn't cost anything to run. My wheel horses may have been purchased cheaply but a significant sum has been spent on parts and alot of time invested.

There really isn't any free lunch. You either pay cash up front for new stuff...or you have to invest time and money on a fixer upper....

You have to decide which is a better choice in your situation.

Thank you for a thought-provoking post. I'm going to put a ceiling on the spending. All I want is for it to run and mow and be reliable. If I can't do it for less than $200, I won't.

[W9JAB 156]

My wheel horses may have been purchased cheaply but a significant sum has been spent on parts and alot of time invested.

Well said, I hate to even think how much my $100 snow blower attachment

pulled out of my wallet, and part of a finger as well :omg:

[bmuone 15]

I say take a couple of days off. Don't even look at a tractor. Turn off the computer. Take the family out for a drive. If the grass needs mowing really bad....hire it done one time. I think you are getting a information overdose. When you come back to it...maybe it will be fun again. The folks here are more than willing to get you help and it will not be as complicated as it seems right now.

[Jim_M 179]

Here's my 2 cents on the subject.

Since you don't have a lot of knowlege or experience with small engines, if it was me, I think I would pay someone to get it all fixed up for you. Then you can learn while doing the maintenance and small repairs.

I think you would feel less overwhelmed working on it if you were just doing maintenance, etc. and would learn more. It's hard to learn anything at all when you're feeling lost.

Eventually you may feel comfortable to tackle a project tractor, but that's not what you need right now.

[WheelHorse_of_course 99]

If you hire it out you may want to do it incrementally.

For example, you have not tested and connected the charging circuit. But if you buy a $10 trickle charger and leave that on whenever you are not using the tractor you can postpone that indefinitely.

Also, you could take the carb off and have it cleaned/rebuilt and then put it back on.

Until you here the deck running it is hard to say how much work and or money will be needed.

Best of luck to you...

:omg:

[tarcoleo 119]

Firemart- You said- "I'm going to put a ceiling on the spending. All I want is for it to run and mow and be reliable. If I can't do it for less than $200, I won't."

-----------------------

Sooooo, seeing as a WH may soon be coming on the market, what've you got and where are you?

All seriousness aside, I too am not a small engine mechanic. Rather than fool with the damn

B&S's, Tecumsehs, Onans, etc., I just replaced them with new Honda engines. In the long run, it

is way cheaper that way as you may discover. All I have to do now is change the oil regularly.

Tom in RI :omg:

[MRM 4]

Dont give up it just takes time, what is your location :omg:

[firemart 0]

I am in NE Alabama, 1 hour from Chattanooga and Huntsville, 2 hours from Atlanta.

[Little_Red 0]

What town

[firemart 0]

Scottsboro...A LONG way from Florence.

[rickv1957 74]

Here's my 2 cents on the subject.

Since you don't have a lot of knowlege or experience with small engines, if it was me, I think I would pay someone to get it all fixed up for you. Then you can learn while doing the maintenance and small repairs.

I think you would feel less overwhelmed working on it if you were just doing maintenance, etc. and would learn more. It's hard to learn anything at all when you're feeling lost.

Eventually you may feel comfortable to tackle a project tractor, but that's not what you need right now.

I think Jim M hit the nail on the head!,Rick

[firemart 0]

I am going to talk to the small engine guy tomorrow to get an idea on the cost. Ya'll may be right. Maybe this ain't for me?

[jpmcleod 4]

Firemark. I am in lower Alabama and would have driven my truck with tools and spare parts, but I could never get you to tell me where you live. I looked up your hometown and it is quite a distance but I would have tried to make the trip.

I can't make it now so I hope someone close to you will assist you. I had the same frustration with my Bronco 14 until I determined it was a bad stator wire. I had to pull the flywheel off the find the bare wire thst caused my problem. A simple fix but hard to find. I received assistance from other members on this post and found the problem. Take yours one step at a time.

I think any member here will tell you that if you have a $200.00 budget reserved for your horse, you might as well find something else. Unless I have missed the boat, a C-120 with wiring problems, spindle problems, belts, coil, plug, condenser, points, leaking gas tank, etc, $200.00 is not going to complete the job unless you find good used parts on this site and get a heck of a price break.

I keep wishing you luck, but it seems to be running out. Like already said, if you get rid of it, sell it to a deserving member. You live too far from me to go back home and get my truck and return even if it was free. Gas is $2.97 a gallon in North Florida. Good luck.

[Save Old Iron 1,571]

Or, do I pay someone who-knows-what to do it?

Or, give up?

[Michael Bullington 5]

I think the big factor is this point you made:

Quote: Do I keep trying to fix it myself and continue to waste my home time?

If it was me and this is the way i viewed the situation...i would sell it and find a good running local yard machine somewhere.

Most of us here love the challenge to fix the bugs that arrise and there nothing greater when you fix it and have grass flying a few hours later :omg:

[bo dawg 518]

I am going to talk to the small engine guy tomorrow to get an idea on the cost. Ya'll may be right. Maybe this ain't for me?

The smartest thing I would do is to see what it would cost to at least get the engine running and then take it from there. I would check with some close freinds or some one you may work with or where ever if they have knoledge of those things. It may be cheaper than a small engine machanic.

But never the less that would be the best place to start. This way after it's running you can see if everything else works. Then evaluate the situation and decide if worth keeping or selling, but if you sell, then it's worth more in running condition.

[firemart 0]

Update: Charged the batt., found loose wire at points, cranks and will run at half choke with decent engine speed, slight miss. I AM SO CLOSE TO IT RUNNING! What shoulld I do? Take it to mechanic to fix it?

[wheelhorsec85 5]

Firemart: You do not need a tremendous amount of knowledge/skill to work on these older machines especially with the help available here. However, you must have some time available and understand that there will be setbacks. Even when you get it going you never know when another issue will pop-up. If you have limited time and it is your only means of mowing the growing grass, this may not be the best machine for you right now.

Old equipment can have issues, believe me I know I have three farm tractors 57-66 years old, two military vehicles one 57 and one 45 years old, in addition to the wheel horses the newest being about 25 yrs old. Having back up for mowing and other activities relieves the pressure of having to fix the latest issue right now and begin retired I have the time to spend. They also are not free to maintain, parts can get spendy overtime.

My wife has a JD lawn tractor that she mows with...we bought it new about 7 years ago...it cost more than all of my wheel horses put together...but other than air and oil filters it doesn't cost anything to run. My wheel horses may have been purchased cheaply but a significant sum has been spent on parts and alot of time invested.

There really isn't any free lunch. You either pay cash up front for new stuff...or you have to invest time and money on a fixer upper....

You have to decide which is a better choice in your situation.

ditto well said :D

[Jim_M 179]

Update: Charged the batt., found loose wire at points, cranks and will run at half choke with decent engine speed, slight miss. I AM SO CLOSE TO IT RUNNING! What shoulld I do? Take it to mechanic to fix it?

I don't mean this in a bad way so please don't take it that way.

From the questions you've asked it seems pretty clear that you have little to no experience with the mechanics of gasoline engines or power equipment.

I think your best bet is to let someone else get it running and mowing for you. They have the experience to know by listening to it what it's going to need. It's going to take you a while to develop those skills. I honestly think that in the long run it will be cheaper for you to pay someone to do it right the first time and be done with it.

Once it's running and mowing, and you get comfortable with it and learn more about it, you'll start to feel more confident about working on it.

Once again, I mean no offense, I'm just speaking from a common sense point of view.