Diagnose the problem??

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gus
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Diagnose the problem??

Post by gus » Wed Jun 17, 2020 12:27 pm

I had to mow some steep lots today with the 420. I mowed the lower one which isn't very steep. Turned the crawler up hill and headed for the upper lots. It started missing badly, nearly quiting. I swung it sideways over a bank and back towards my truck 1/4 mile away.

I was trying to decide if I should just shut it off or keep going. Decided to just go for the truck. I kept mowing the road ditch on the way back. It would run fine for a few seconds then start missing, nearly dying completely, then catch and do the same again. Did that all the way to the truck.

Shut it off at the truck and checked the points as they had caused a missing problem in the past. They were fine. Started it up and it was missing so badly I wasn't sure I could get it on the trailer. As it broke over center on loading it suddenly started running great again. Sat there a couple minutes, running perfectly.

Me, deciding if I was going to risk going back up. What the heck, go for it. Mowing the road ditch back, got about 100 yds and it started again. Barely made it back to the truck, missing badly. I pulled the choke to see what it would do. Basically it did nothing.

Loaded up and came home. Unloaded, ran back and forth on the driveway, ran fine.

????? I'm thinking either I got some bad gas (water) or the carb float is sticking.

Crawler is always stored in a shed. Fuel is shut off the engine run until out of fuel when I park it.

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JDCrawlerdog3
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Re: Diagnose the problem??

Post by JDCrawlerdog3 » Wed Jun 17, 2020 6:05 pm

Try looking a your fuel bowl and the filter screen. Might have stirred up some crud in the bowl or from the bottom of the tank with the steep grade and it got caught up in the screen. Also, I have found that long steep grades can lead to fuel starvation if you are low on fuel.

Andrew

gus
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Re: Diagnose the problem??

Post by gus » Wed Jun 17, 2020 7:50 pm

Almost a full tank of gas. I've mowed these exactly like I was doing today. I plan on pulling the bowl, also the line at the carb to see if fuel is flowing.

When I loaded the first time, it was missing and came down fairly hard and that's when it started running fine. Thinking back, when I decided to try again, I think I probably got about as far as a full carb would take me. Then it started missing again.

For what it's worth, I mowed my canyon road and a couple of skid trails last week and it ran fine.

Some is slowing the fuel.

gus
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Re: Diagnose the problem??

Post by gus » Wed Jun 17, 2020 7:51 pm

Double post, deleted.

Jim B
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Re: Diagnose the problem??

Post by Jim B » Wed Jun 17, 2020 8:24 pm

Might want to drain the tank and pull the base of the sediment bowl out of the tank, if that's not what you were planning. I've found foreign matter in the inlet holes, above the shutoff valve in several over the years.

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Stan Disbrow
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Re: Diagnose the problem??

Post by Stan Disbrow » Thu Jun 18, 2020 4:20 am

Hi,

Don't forget to pull the plug on the bottom of the carb and drain the bowl into a pint glass jar (so you can see what comes out). Also, there is a screen as part of the fitting at the carb inlet. Pull that fitting out of the carb after pulling the fuel line and check that screen.

Stan
There's No Such Thing As A Cheap Crawler!

Useta Have: '58 JD 420c 5-roller w/62 inside blade
Useta Have: '78 JD350C w/6310 outside blade
Useta Have: '68 JD350, '51 Terratrac GT-25
Have: 1950 M, 2005 x495, 2008 5103 (now known as 5045D)

original possum
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Re: Diagnose the problem??

Post by original possum » Thu Jun 18, 2020 12:39 pm

Was nit running on one steadily or missing on both?
Early 40C w/Yakima toolbar and homebuilt ripper: 350 w/6-way

gus
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Re: Diagnose the problem??

Post by gus » Thu Jun 18, 2020 8:29 pm

Missing on both.

I will get some time to check everything this weekend. I'll post the exam results. I hope it's not in the tank, it's almost full! 😂

hydrogeo
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Re: Diagnose the problem??

Post by hydrogeo » Mon Jun 22, 2020 10:22 am

As others have said, sounds like a dirty carb. It doesn't take much gunk to cause an issue.

gus
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Re: Diagnose the problem??

Post by gus » Mon Jun 22, 2020 5:58 pm

Fuel bowl had a little in it, mostly clean flakes.

The filter on the fitting in the carb had a lot of junk in it! I will make a run up the canyon mowing again to see if it behaves.

If it does, back to town to mow the hill.

gus
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Re: Diagnose the problem??

Post by gus » Tue Jun 23, 2020 7:45 pm

Took it up the canyon mowing. I don't recall it ever running that smoothly. Trash could have been in there way before I bought and rebuilt it. Never had that fitting off before.

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Stan Disbrow
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Re: Diagnose the problem??

Post by Stan Disbrow » Wed Jun 24, 2020 7:09 am

Hi,

Yes, that screen gets a lot of folks. IIRC, it is one of those things not in the 420 service manual, but in the M one. They wrote those sequentially, of course, but expected a service shop to have all the earlier ones. So, some info is not repeated in later manuals. I have the M, 40, 420 and 440IC manuals to work on my 420c. That 440 manual is needed for the direction reverser which made it into the machine but not into the manual....

Stan
There's No Such Thing As A Cheap Crawler!

Useta Have: '58 JD 420c 5-roller w/62 inside blade
Useta Have: '78 JD350C w/6310 outside blade
Useta Have: '68 JD350, '51 Terratrac GT-25
Have: 1950 M, 2005 x495, 2008 5103 (now known as 5045D)

gus
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Re: Diagnose the problem??

Post by gus » Wed Jun 24, 2020 2:12 pm

Just got home from mowing a couple acres of steep hillside. Ran perfectly, problem solved!! 😁

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