New Blue Ribbon Service manual available.

[ghmccb]

I have a 1953 cub and the starter won’t stay engaged long enough to start the engine
Any ideas?

[Dale Finch]

I have a 1953 cub and the starter won’t stay engaged long enough to start the engine
Any ideas?

You'll probably get responses better if you post in the Farmall Cub section.

[Glen]

Hi,
You didn't say what the starter is doing, or if the system is 6 or 12 volts.
Some people change them to 12 volts.
If you mean the engine fires some, and the starter gear is disengaging from the flywheel gear, but the engine won't run, 2 possible causes can be the ignition timing being wrong, or the engine needing a tune up.
Dirty spark plugs can be the cause, or ignition points, condenser, rotor, distributor cap, or old spark plug wires.
The points get burned from use, and need filing or replacing.
You didn't say if the Cub has a magneto, or a Battery Ignition unit.

Here are other possible causes below.
The battery should be fully charged so it will work right.
Charge it with a low output charger is better, 6 amps or so, that automatically slows the charge rate as the battery charges up. It may take several hours to charge.
The battery cables need clean metal at the connections. Remove them 1 at a time and sand the metal until shiny, wipe off all sanding with a clean rag. Remove the ground cable 1st, and leave it disconnected until done with the others, to prevent shorting.
The 6 volt system needs larger cables than a 12 volt system, 6 volts should have number 2 cable from the battery to the starter. Number 2 is what the cable was that I bought at Case IH.
Some people on here use bigger than that.

[radioguy41]

Would it be possible for a mod to change the title of this thing? It's very misleading.

[staninlowerAL]

Would it be possible for a mod to change the title of this thing? It's very misleading.

The post total count for this user shows the person who created this topic to only have this single post. If he/she reads this, they could delete this post and create another one with a more accurate title. JMHO Stan