Won't get into the thumb position issue, because I don't have any real "data" to argue with, Still, I THINK that if you're pulling up only, the crank will pull itself out of your fingers and the thumb position won't really matter. Any thoughts on this, anybody? The question of retarded spark is really important. I have never cranked a tractor with battery ignition, but I imagine that the weights in the distributor retard the spark enough for cranking. OR IS THAT NOT TRUE? (in other words,better to jump start than crank?). I DID crank an old Chevy truck when the starter bendix didn't work right, and I always pulled out the spark knob (like a choke knob, on the dash). Never kicked.If a magneto is timed right, the impulse coupling is supposed to hold the spark until the piston reaches TDC or maybe just a little past (somebody with info, please fill in on this). Still, I always retarded the spark on the tractors that had a manual spark control (10-20, F-20, F-12, "Regular," Oliver Hart-Parr RC). The letter-series did not have a retard lever or knob and I have cranked several of these without incident. I guess the impulse coupling retarded things enough. Any comments, anybody? People who spun the crank probably though that this would give them a hotter spark. Again, I can't prove this, but I think the impulse coupling, which spins the mag shaft after it releases, gives a plenty hot spark. Another guess is that this habit came from cranking Fordsons and Model Ts, which had no impulse coupling. The flywheel mag depended on speed for a hot spark, and spinning the crank would have helped (think about the weak spark from your lawn mower's flywheel mag if you don't give it a good tug. My father broke his arm doing this on a T. Probably forgot to retard the spark. One more thing: Make sure that impulse is manually engaged (manual type, like earlier E4A), or that you can hear it engine if it is automatic (most of the ones I worked with made a little clinking noise when the pawl dropped into the notch inside the coupling housing).
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Today's Featured Article - Identifying Tractor Noises - by Curtis Von Fange. Listening To Your Tractor : Part 3 - In this series we are continuing to learn the fine art of listening to our tractor in hopes of keeping it running longer. One particularly important facet is to hear and identify the particular noises that our
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