engine won't turn/seized

[mjp]

I have had a 49 Cub with sickle mower for about 15 years. Yesterday I was mowing and shut it off to clear the blade. It would not re-start and when I tried to tow it to start the wheels slide when the clutch is released. Engine will not turn over. It was running great when I shut it off. Oil is clean and full . Ant thoughts?

[Waif]

Engine won't turn with a handcrank? Or by moving (carefully) the fan belt?

Idle it a while before shut down if it working a tractor under load , to give temp a chance to drop a little.
A too hot coil can conk out.
(Starting up after cooling off is a hint it can be a coil).

[ScottyD'sdad]

Transmission jammed in 2 gears? Does the engine turn, with the clutch depressed? Shifter go into all gears?

Ed

[mjp]

I just got it to work. My neighbor suggested that the starter may be jammed. I pulled it out and put it back and off she went. Mowing job finished ! Thank you for your suggestions

[Jim Becker]

That usually happens after the starter drive gear and/or the flywheel ring gear get badly worn. It is likely to happen again some time. If it does, try putting it in third gear and using a rear wheel to rock the tractor back and forth.

[BigBill]

Remove the starter, clean and lube it. Put white lube on the engagement screw.

[Glen]

Hi,
The ring gear on the flywheel can get battered edges on the teeth, from years of use, and then the starter gear doesn't engage well.
You can remove the starter, and look in the hole with a light, and inspect the teeth. Turn the engine a little at a time, looking in the hole, until you have gone one full turn. Use the fan to turn the engine.
You can mark a tooth at the beginning, with white chalk, so you can see where you started.
If you find the edges are widened out, or not the shape as they are back from the front ends of them, use a flat file and improve the shape of the ends.

Below is a pic of a flywheel with ring gear for the starter, not mine. If you can make it big enough, you can see the teeth, this one is worn also, but you can see the shape back from the front, the front is up in the pic.
I think they start out with about a 45 degree angle cut off the edge on the 1 corner of each tooth. This helps the starter gear engage easier.
I've never seen a new ring gear for a Cub, so not sure if they used that.
You can see if you look at yours if it looks that way.

[staninlowerAL]

Going a step further with Glen’s explanation, the starter engages the ring gear most of the time in nearly the same location so most of the wear to the teeth will be evident. You can heat the gear, remove it and rotate it so that the starter contacts the gear at a different spot. This used to be a common repair years ago. Unfortunately it requires splitting the tractor and removing the flywheel.

[Eugene]

In the process of splitting a Cub to replace the ring gear. Figured if I was going to do all the work to turn the ring gear over, why not install a new one. Besides, I don't know or recall if the ring gear had been previously turned over.

New CNHI ring gear, $55-.