I use champion J8C plugs in all four of my pony start tractors (least I think they are Champions, definitely are J8C). Back off the throttle before engaging the fly wheel, it won't stall the engine and your brake in side the pony clutch is sticking, spray it good with brake cleaner. It should break free but definitely idle it down first.
I'm learning. I'm hopeful that it's the brake that's stuck, like you mentioned and that it can be broken free pretty easily. I think that will be easier to access than the clutch disk down on the flywheel.
Thanks! I keep hoping the next video is the one where I can take it for a drive down the road a few miles and back... But I keep finding issues. At least I'm still making progress!
I tore apart two and neither had the grease fitting. I never figured out which ponies did or didn't have the fitting. I think it's for the clutch throwout bearing
@@jonelsonsterdo NOT leave your ignition switch on. Do NOT leave your ignition switch on. You will end up with burnt up coils again. I added an oil pressure switch in the circuit so that they don't get power unless you have oil pressure. If you want more details, let me know
Ha ha! Yeah, you'll notice I had to open the garage door to air the shop out. I'm the summer we always have the doors open, but in the winter we try to keep the heat inside... So we end up asphyxiating ourselves😬
Seems like parts and components age faster when they aren't being used. I imagine the cracks are ports for unwanted moisture and that doesn't help either. The pony motor sounds pretty nice running. I understand they do tend to smoke a little though. Your daughter looks like a boss sitting up there steering. Girl power is real.
Totally agree. Letting equipment sit (especially uncovered outside) is very hard on all the different systems of the machine. And yes, my daughter loves helping me drive the old equipment.
The precleaner bottom does just slip on and off, a deadblow should get it, maybe it would require a little heat. When I saw your coils, I knew they were toast LOL. Congrats on changing the ever neglected back two plugs hahah. The pony grinding made me cringe but not a shocker. It's hard to get things adjusted right. Pull out the book and try to follow the adjustments. The pinion shouldn't be spinning until you pull the lever back. Your clutch is too tight/sticky, or stuck. You could always try engage it THEN start the pony (decompressed diesel). A little rough but might be able to test how the pony cranks the diesel. One other VERY common issue is there is a BRAKE pad where the pinion sits when disengaged (it keeps the pinion from spinning from clutch drag. If the pad is worn, or greasy, it will spin all the time and not want to engage.
Yeah, the sound of trying to engage a spinning straight cut great into a stationary one is not a good sound. It's kinda hard to see, but you can see my Dad's head above the hood line and when I grind that starter gear he flinches really bad. Definitely need to get that brake or the clutch disk unstuck. Or just properly adjust the linkages and such, because I don't think the teeth of those gears could endure another failed attempt.
You can bet that tractor probably did not get as much maintenance done in all it's working life as you have done so far. I know one thing for sure, not many guys are able to get that hood off by themselves as you just did. I have owned an 80 for over 16 years and I always use my portable shop crane to get the hood off. Many times just raising it a foot gives more than enough room to work. Great find getting that tractor, your climate there must be nice and dry as tractors don't last long sitting outside in Ohio.
I'm fortunate that even though it sat outside all those years it's in as good of shape as it is. Winters are cold and snowy, but summers are dry out here, so yes probably easier on steel structure than the Ohio. And that hood is heavy. It's hard lifting it off, but I think it was harder lifting it back on 😂. Next time I'll have to try the engine hoist
All those pony motors smoke, or at least that is my experience as well as the reports of many. I have only ever bumped into one person with a pony motor that doesn't smoke.
New motor with new valve guides and piston rings doesn't smoke. Cost me more than the tractor to rebuild my 70 diesels but it is one of the nicest running motors now.
I found a cheap carbide valve seat cutter on ebay for a 3-5hp briggs and Stratton that also uses 1/4" valve stems and used that to fix the seats in my head. Found a valve kit through h&j machining to fix the ones I had that were too pitted to seat anymore. I did all the work myself so that saved me a ton of money compared to giving it to a shop to do.
Engage the starter and decompression lever and start the pony. That will get the big engine running for the time being. Might need a pony motor clutch adjustment also.
I thought about doing that, and I almost did... But got worried it might break something. Have you done this before? I'm hoping it's either the clutch disc or the brake in the starting motor transmission that are just a little stuck. Fingers crossed 🤞🏻
@@jonelsonster I don't think his idea is a very good one. That's like trying to start something with a manual transmission with it in gear and the clutch engaged. You are putting a big load on the starter of the pony motor that it wasn't meant to do in the first place. Fix it properly.
@@jonelsonster yes I’ve done this in a pinch a few times. I’ve never did it but heard of old timers running tractors home on the pony motor. Never saw it in person or would recommend
She's getting to the age where she definitely help me. I'm hoping to get her out with me plowing this fall. That's one thing that's nice about these big diesel tractors, they have a really nice big operator's platform. Two can sit up there pretty nicely. Not OSHA approved, and we still need to be very careful, but much more comfortable than my A.
That was a good idea to go ahead and get that complete coil pack assembly/distributor. Everything would be new and you wouldn’t have to worry about it for many many years but I do love the two cylinder, John Deere even the big ladies!!! Good luck to you with it !!!!
Yes, replacing the whole distributor now gives me piece of mind knowing it should be (again, I say should) reliable for years to come... So long as I remember to turn off the ignition when not in use!
I had a 50/50 chance and it looks like I guessed right 😉. Just kidding. Yes positive ground. Still not sure why they did that, but quite often if there is a 6V battery then it's going to be positive ground. Maybe some electrical engineer can explain why.
Keep it up sir. You got my motivation to work on a 720 diesel that I have had for several years and needs a little tlc. I had almost the same issue with the starting engine, just had to adjust the starting trans clutch. Pony engine smokes a little as well, but not too much. You will get it figured out. Good luck buddy.
A magneto is self sufficient and beside the plug wires has only a kill switch coming out that grounds out the coils. They do not require ANY power. Least any I've fooled with didn't. And with the Cat motors you pushed the clutch/start lever to stop the pinion gear and then pulled to engage it with the flywheel. And I always did that with the compression off or NO compression, got it spinning with the oil pressure up and then put the compression in and opened the fuel. God Bless!
Yes, magnetos are great. I love em. Kinda wish Deere had stuck with the magneto for the 4 cylinder pony engines, like they used with the model R pony. But they switched to a distributor.
People will always TRY and improve stuff even if the original works just fine. I've done it myself but try and REALLY improve things that the factory ought to have done like put an E-stop right by the control valve handle on the 37 ton wood splitter I had instead of a dinky thing on the motor blower housing that you had to run all the way around the unit just to try and get to it with oil spraying all over. And I bet that girl of yours is a DOLL! Daddy's girl too I bet. They all are if you love them! Blessings to yall!@@jonelsonster
I have 830 electric start good starting tractor as long as batteries are charged had 730 pony start had it starting good but did a lot of work to get it that way
We have an electric start 830 too. It starts very easily. And this tractor seems to start easily too, when using the belt pulley or pull starting. So I'm hopeful i can get the bugs worked out with the pony motor and get it to start smoothly.
Keeping it an original on wico mag It would be the way I would go. Slow Progress is the it goes on those tractors. At least What my experience was on my John Deere A 51.
I like magnetos. They're great. Unfortunately it wasn't an option on the 4 cylinder pony engine. Completely different interface than the standard flange or base mount magneto. But the distributor worked well now, so all is good.
There’s a brake in the pony trans that stops the gear. Most are worn out but if you push the leaver in it should stop the gear and then a swift pull it should go in without grinding.
I'm really grateful for all the people who have given me good suggestions. Several, like yourself have mentioned the brake. I didn't even know there was a brake, so I definitely have somewhere to start troubleshooting. Thanks!
I ran into all the same issues with my 820 it was like reliving the exact experience 😂…..good call on replacing the whole distributor, at the end of the day it’s $120 more but your time to go through and rebuild the old one is worth something too especially if you’re in the situation where you only have limited amounts of time to work on these tractors. Seeing as I’m getting to this video a little late and it takes you time to get it posted, you’ve probably by now taken all the covers off the pony transmission and found the bendix is sticky and needs to be lubed up a little. I highly doubt it’s out of adjustment so I’d first start with cleaning out all the dust and whatnot and lubing the shaft so the bendix can float freely.
Yes, it took all of 10 minutes to install the new distributor. If I had went the other route I probably would have trusted off several screws removing the coils. I'm hoping I can just "unstick" something or get something moving freely and resolve the issue.
Excellent video Jonelstar :) nice seeing Pony Motor start and it need some fix up on like sparkplugs, distributor , starter switch , amazing clean carb and air filter pot clean plus fuel tank too! Hopefully started gear setup it be easy to fix and repair on !! Well done so far !
So on my 820 my clutch was froze I actually would start it by pulling both levers then start the pony then one day I took that inspection cover off used wd40 and a flat screwdriver and got everything freed up now it works great... I was dumb and spray wd40 on the frictions... so then I had to spray break clean to get rid of the wd40 lol
@jonelsonster yea I tried just engaging the gear to the big engine and not pulling all the way to try to use the power of the engine to free it up but after I pulled the cover I found the clutch linkage was also froze up and that was part of my problem you might have that too
I just record using my phone. I don't have any expensive cameras, so picking up my voice is hard when I'm far from the camera. Rest assured knowing my commentary is probably full of errors 😂 I'll have to look at getting a mic.
Do not connect six volts directly to the distributor. The resistor on the back of the ignition switch steps it down to about four volts. Six volts can burn up the coils.
Yup you're right. But during starting the distributor gets a full 6 volts from the battery. So, for a few short seconds it can handle 6 volts without any problems.
I just record with my phone. I don't have fancy recording equipment. And my dialogue is probably not that great anyway 😂 Some other people commented saying they couldn't hear either. Sounds come through fine for me, but I'll have to l look at getting a mic 🎤
They usually smoke even a fresh rebuild one. The clutch disc is stuck to the flywheel or the linkages are set wrong the drive should be into the big engine flywheel teeth and then it should start turning the big engine over
HEY, pony motor sounds great ! Something is STUCK .. Rusty clutch parts ? Not adjusted correctly ? It should mesh with the flywheel FIRST before catching the starter clutch. Great video. thanks
I hope your right.... And I think a stuck clutch disk is a likely culprit. After sitting so long a lot of the linkages were stuck.I couldn't even move the throttle or the gear shifter. I think this is just another case of that.
Can you get someone to straighten out the front of the bonnet and radiator grill please, its driving me crazy. Just came across your channel and have liked and subscribed. All the best from England. Ps, it needs a front protection to stop it getting bent again.😊
It's dented on the front? I hadn't even noticed. 😉 Yeah, I'll fix it but it's very thick metal. Probably like 14g. It's not going to just pop out. Thanks!
But it does tell be that voltage is there. That's what I was after. If I didn't have a ground or if there was an obvious issue with the cables then there wouldn't be power there.
@@user-fl2wn5zr5z unfortunately there were several issues with the clutch and starting transmission that I've discussed in recent videos. But I'm about ready to get everything back together and in operational condition.
I restore a lot of magnetos and have had good luck buying from the Brillman Co. out if Virginia. I bought my distributor from them too. They don't have free shipping, but they have very good selection and prices are decent. Just Google "magneto Brillman" and you should find it.
Why do you have to hold the throttle wide open when you starting this type of motor I'm just curious i be never seen one of these engines before its really interesting
No, itis a distributor. It gets power to the coils through the battery, not spinning magnets. The model R had a Wico X magneto with a 12.5 impulse, but when they went to the 4 cylinder pony motor they switched to a distributor. 😉
I just record with my phone, no special recording equipment. Until I get something more high tech, you can turn on subtitles, listen with headphones, or just turn your volume all the way up.
I don't understand is your guys working on this equipment and stuff and cars and trucks and stuff and they never clean anything off before I start tearing into it why not clean it up first a clean car engine runs better dinner dirty one I never worked on anything like that dirty are already cleaned it up first regardless of whether I got to repair it or what
@@bethmotgomery2662 John Deere only built 127 of these 830-industrial tractors and only 45 had pony motors. In speaking with experts, there are only about 16 pony motor start 830-I's that still exist. This is a neat piece of history that I want to keep intact.
I can see the frustration and disappointment on your face, but you have done a lot of work, got the diesel, and the pony motor running. That's a pretty good accomplishment already. Like the old saying. How do you eat an elephant? 🐘 One bite at a time. You'll get it figured out. I see comments that look like they'd be pretty helpful. 👍👏 ❤️🚜🇺🇸🤍🚜🇺🇸💙🚜🇺🇸