Need Distributor Experts

Have a new coil, condenser, rotor, points, distributor cap, plugs, and battery. Went through all connections and they are bright and shiny. Point gap is .015. Have 6 volts at the top of the coil but no spark out of anything.

Appears to me the distributor is the culprit. I put a meter (using the ohm setting for circuit continuity) on it at the stationary point side and the other probe at the metal strip going to the other point. Shows to be continuous even when the points are open. This does not seem right.
When installing the points I put the metal strip from the condenser terminal between the 2 metal strips of the point assembly which is how it appears in the IT manual. However, the plastic separator must not be working. That is about the only place a ground could occur.
Need help!

You shoud be seeing battery voltage at the top of the coil (about 7+ volts) with the point open and about 3 volts with the points closed. If you are only seeing 6 volts your battery is low. You may have other problems also.

You can test the distributor off the tractor using a trick Zane told about years ago. Clamp an ear of the distributor in a vise. Put rotor, cap and coil on the distributor as normal. Put a plug wire in any hole in the cap. Hook the positive lead from your battery charger to the top of the coil. Hook the negative lead to the vise. Hold the plug wire close to the vise. Spin the distributor tang clockwise with your fingers. You should get a spark at the plug wire. If not then hold the plug wire with your fingers and spin it again. You may get a jolt if it is firing.

Also, I would replace the plugs with Autolite 437s. Your old plugs could be fouled.

Good luck!

Danny

Rocky

With the points closed, resistance from the same point to ground should be ZERO.

If this is an as-original 6-Volt system, it is odd that you would be seeing 6-Volts at the coil's primary terminal, if there is a short to ground AFTER the coil, as it appears there is.

Roger in Michigan.

The point I was making is that his observation, using the ohmmeter, that the was a short in the area of the points, yet he's seeing fall battery voltage at the top of the coil likely indicated he has more than one problem.