Farmall A Magneto

[AZ Gary]

I have a Farmall A with a rebuilt magneto, not by me. Can it be put together so timing might be off slightly. I installed it on the tractor and I'm not happy the way it seems to be timed. I know I'm not off 180 degrees. I haven't fired it up yet so maybe it is Ok.
Thanks

[Jim Becker]

Seems it would be hard to notice anything before the tractor is fired up. There is only one thing internal to the magneto that has a timing factor. It is the 2:1 gears inside that drive the rotor. One gear has a mark/notch/whatever to mark a position. Not looking at one, but believe it actually marks the position between two teeth. The other gear has two adjacent teeth marked R and L. One of those lines up with the mark on the other gear. The A uses the R mark for right rotation.

[AZ Gary]

If I was doing it and didn't know different I would probably line it up between the two letters hopefully he knew what he was doing and or read the instructions.
Thanks

[AZ Gary]

I tried to start the A this morning and all I got was a backfire. Which to me means its not timed right. It fires past dead center. In the book it talks about a mark on the flywheel, I can't find any mark on the flywheel or any kind of pointer. Any ideas would be appreciated. After I recheck the timing of the tractor if still off I guess I need to take mag apart and check to see if that is correct.
Gary

[Jim Becker]

The mark should be on the outer face of the flywheel. It will be marked something like "D C" and "1 4" with a line going fore/aft. You are supposed to be able to see it through the hand hole on the bottom of the bell housing. At TDC the line should line up with a rib on the inside of the crescent shaped cover on the front of the bell housing (directly behind the engine pan). The flywheel marks are not easy to find. Once found, adding a white spot to the flywheel may be helpful. You may find it easier to find the mark by removing the crescent shaped cover and looking from the front until you find the marks.

Is your governor timed correctly? It is the same situation as the Cub governor, which has been well covered on this site.

[AZ Gary]

Thanks for the inf. I was told that the tractor ran when parked, I'm sure you have heard that before. I trust the gentleman I bought it from and supposedly the only thing that was rebuilt was the carb, mag and the startedr checked. Everything works except for the timing, I will check tomorrow to make sure I mounted it right as far as the compression stroke, I did it by myself, I have made errors before.
Gary

[AZ Gary]

Where is a good parts source for A parts, gaskets, belts etc.
Gary

[AZ Gary]

I got it running, the distributor cab had #1 between two posts. I assumed it was the post below but turned out #1 was above the number. Ran real good after we moved the wires back 1 post. Thanks for the input.
Gary

[Jim Becker]

Well that's good news. And an easy fix once the problem was found.

On your parts question, mostly the same places as for a Cub. The Cub-only vendors won't have much that fits. You have CaseIH, local parts stores, All States Ag Parts, Pilot Knob, Steiners, or any online place that handles A&I. JP's will have used parts. I just got a shipment from Pilot Knob (ordered on 8/30!).

[Lt.Mike]

That’s good news.
You said the mag was rebuilt and now that we know it’s right and nobody’s going to thrown out there can I ask who did the rebuild? I’m in the market myself.

[AZ Gary]

I'm not sure where mine was rebuilt and really don't know how detailed the rebuild was but it works great.