mid 50s to late 60s jd350 crawler

keith boucher · Post by **keith boucher** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 8:34 am

We own a late 50s to mid 60s jd 350 crawler. We are experiencing what started as a sputter to a total shut down. It will turn over cough but wont run. we have replaced or reworked the starter, alternator, valves, distributor, fuel pump and replaced both wiring harnesses. still nothing. good fire to plugs and there is fuel.. 120 lbs compresion to each cylinder. we however do not have a wiring diagram and the new wiring harnesses do have different components than the original that was a mess. any advice on what else to check or where to find a wiring diagram.???

lastchancegarage · Post by **lastchancegarage** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 9:51 am

Are you sure the timing is correct? If you're getting good spark at the plugs and good compression, I'd look at timing next. Hope this helps.

Scott

keith boucher · Post by **keith boucher** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 12:56 pm

Thanks but time has been checked. Did fail to mention that we did jump the battery to the coil once and had the tractor going. we soon blew the resistor. We did this at a time when we got the tractor running but had to hold the key in the start position. Should there be a wire from the ign terminal on the key switch to the coil or voltage regulator then coil?????? This is the reason i was asking for the correct wiring diagram for this machine. The new wiring harness was not exactly like the original. Kind of a generic one for that generation tractor.

Post by **Lavoy** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 1:24 pm

Just an FYI, 350 will be late 60's to early 70's.
If you have to hold the key switch on, I am guessing that the switch is bad internally. May also be a bad solenoid. Be sure to check all of the wires and connections to make sure there is no loose ones.
Lavoy

keith boucher · Post by **keith boucher** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 1:34 pm

How can i find the year of this machine. Your suggestions are being looked at. But should there be a wire from the ign. post on the key swith directly to the coil??????

Post by **Lavoy** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 2:10 pm

No, if there was, there would be no resistor. I am reasonably sure that the solenoid is a Delco solenoid, and the ignition wire comes from the solenoid itself.
I don't know the 350 years , but if you can find a serial number chart, it will tell you.
Lavoy

keith boucher · Post by **keith boucher** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 2:25 pm

what i really meant was, if there was supposed to be a wire from the ign. term on the key switch that would eventually find itself to the coil. But from what you tell me, there probably isnt. I cam rebuild an engine from the ground up, but cant find my way out of a paper bag when it comes to the electrical system. At least you have given me some direction on were to look. much appreciated.

Post by **Lavoy** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 3:31 pm

Now that I think of it more, I think I said it wrong. There might be a wire from the switch to the coil, but I am thinking that somehow it should be fed from the ign side of the solenoid. The theory being, on a GM style solenoid, when the starter is engaged, the contacts inside feed full 12 volts to the coil. When the key is released from the start position to the run position, the power routes through the solenoid first, creating a resistance to lower voltage to the points instead of using an external ballast resistor. I may be all wet on this, and the switch itself may have its own external resistor.
Best bet is to look at the wiring diagram. Most likely what the sent you is the harness from a later 350 so some wires are different.
Lavoy

JD430C · Post by **JD430C** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 7:37 pm

hi keith, where in the northeast are u? if u are close to me i might be able to come look at it as i have the manuals.

andrew

keith boucher · Post by **keith boucher** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 6:35 am

I live in northern maine, town called Presque Isle. Dont even try to pronounce that. Lavoys latest info. gave us a confident feeling we're on the right track. Now that we think of it, I think the solenoid is the culprit. We had the starter rebuilt but kept the old solenoid. Don't ask me why. But I will let everyone know when we get this bute running. It is a very nice machine.

Howard Yoder · Post by **Howard Yoder** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 4:48 pm

I think Lavoys last post is your problem they run a wire from the starter to the coil so when you are cranking it it stills gets a full 12 volts but you have another wire from the ignition to run it when it isn't cranking

keith boucher · Post by **keith boucher** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 6:26 pm

Howard, I am very interested in hearing more. The "new" key swith has no wire on the leg this is labeled ign. I thought that was odd. I then got information that led me to believe that maybe the solenoid is part of the circuit that allows juice to run through to the coil when the starter is not engaged. Right now we have a brand new wiring harnes, new regulator, new alternator, new starter and solenoid. We just had it hauled to our yard. It was about an hour away from out house out at our hunting camp.. We will have alot more time to look at it now. Hopefully Wed evening. Anything else to add, please advise. thanks everyone.

keith boucher · Post by **keith boucher** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 1:25 pm

I my have given all of you some misinformation.. After talking with my father in law, who has been doing most of the work on this machine, he did inform me that when the crawler does start, it will only stay running with the help of the starter. In other words, it just doesn't have enought to run on its own. The wiring is alright, because when we leave the key in the on position, we can get fire to jump the primary dist. lead just by hand turning the engine. This seems to me to be a timing issue, right??
please advise.

lastchancegarage · Post by **lastchancegarage** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 7:38 pm

Keith,
Did you run the check I gave you in that pm I sent you? I could be off on this but it sounds like the timing is so advanced the key is needed to crank it through the firing cycle. I wouldn't think cranking the engine with timing that advanced would be particularly good for the starter. Have your father-in-law run that check and see where the engine timing stands. Other than timing, the only other thing I can think of that would start as a sputter and degrade steadily could be a condenser going south. I know you said it was replaced, but there could be a grounding issue (corrosion) that's causing the steady decline in running. If you are getting a consistent blue spark at the plugs then I'd go back to the timing. It's challenging to troubleshoot something without seeing all the parameters in front of you. Hope this helps.

Scott

p.s. I hope that after all of this it doesn't turn out to be crap in the idle circuit of the carb and the engine is leaned out. Where do you stand in the carb department, rebuilt?, new?

keith boucher · Post by **keith boucher** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 9:14 am

Thanks for the info last chance. As to the carb. it is brand new. we have the screws set out to 1 turn on the low speed and 2 turns on the high speed as our manual says. sounds odd to me. The whole distributor shaft and all the cuts are brand new. We did check for corrosion and everything seems to ground out great. I am going to try to pull the distributor out and reinstall it. we may be off a couple of teeth. Let me know if you can come up with anything else we can try..

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mid 50s to late 60s jd350 crawler

mid 50s to late 60s jd350 crawler

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