Won’t start after painting

Rodney Landrum · Oct 29, 2023

I’m missing something and can’t figure it out. I have a 1961 original cub cadet tractor and took all the skin, seat, fenders, etc. off of it and painted it. I wrapped the coil terminals and alternator terminals but then when I put everything back together it wouldn’t start. I have included pictures of the way I put the wires back on to see if I did it correctly? I even bought a new coil and put it on and that didn’t do it. Any suggestions? Thanks.

Rodney Landrum · Oct 30, 2023

I also meant to mention that there is no spark getting to the spark plug. There is power on both positive and negative side of the coil, and on the alternator power to all connections. I’m sure I’m missing something simple and looking forward to hearing everyone’s thoughts. Thanks again.

mgonitzke · Oct 30, 2023

Check your ground connections.

1811Cub · Oct 30, 2023

I'd be looking at the points. Clean them with a point file.

Or the tractor is rejecting the paint job. Did you use OEM Cub Cadet paint? :errrr:

Rodney Landrum · Oct 30, 2023

Thanks. I’ll check the points and ground connections. I used IH Yellow Van Sickle paint.

gary noblit · Oct 30, 2023

Rod, Matt said it..did you paint where your primary grounds are bolted?

tkhoffman · Oct 31, 2023

Condenser bracket needs to be grounded. Condenser needs to be free of paint

lpalma · Oct 31, 2023

From the look of the paint job most of those items were left on and painted over. Points I would check though...

jonrick · Oct 31, 2023

I once was working on a farmall super h that refused to charge. I traced every wire and connection for hours. Around 2AM I finally discovered someone had painted underneath the voltage regulator brackets. As previously stated by everyone, these old machines are really sensitive to ground issues. My trick for tracing/eliminating ground problems is to take a spare length of wire and attach it somewhere on the frame that is a known-good ground. From there you can manually test each ground connection with your length of wire. That's at least how I've been able to fix my Farmalls wiring issues in the past.