Messing around in the shop

[DavidBarkey]

Can you see that red wire running across the coil? It goes to the headlights and it was shorting out the ignition! I could wiggle it and get the tractor started, then wiggle it again and it would die. You guys just had a conversation about how that wire should be routed. Guess what I’ll be doing this weekend?
For now I unplugged the lights and coiled up the wire and now it’s running fine, disaster averted!
/quote]

Points to ponder . How was the red wire shorting the coil down ? Primary or secondary side . A good coil and wires should not be affected by the wire being against it . Cracked coil tower or bad wire/ boots ? Is there a bare spot on the red wire shorting to the primary posts ?

[JSinMO]

Can you see that red wire running across the coil? It goes to the headlights and it was shorting out the ignition! I could wiggle it and get the tractor started, then wiggle it again and it would die. You guys just had a conversation about how that wire should be routed. Guess what I’ll be doing this weekend?
For now I unplugged the lights and coiled up the wire and now it’s running fine, disaster averted!
/quote]

Points to ponder . How was the red wire shorting the coil down ? Primary or secondary side . A good coil and wires should not be affected by the wire being against it . Cracked coil tower or bad wire/ boots ? Is there a bare spot on the red wire shorting to the primary posts ?

Good points Dave. The short answer is, I don’t know yet.
Once I realized what was happening I unhooked the wire and coiled it up out of the way and put the weight box back on and stopped for the day. The insulation on all the wires around the coil are pretty heat baked, including the spark plug wires. Hopefully I’ll be able to look at it tomorrow.

[JSinMO]

I decided to have a look at the wiring on the 446 to see what I find. I don’t see any cracks in the coil and the wires actually look pretty good. The only thing I found is a mark on the red wire to the lights where it was rubbed thin and that spot was laying up against the positive post on the coil. Not sure if you can see it in this picture.

Everything else look ok to me so I decided to reroute the wire along the frame rail. Not very pretty but should work just fine. Hooked it back up and now we’re working fine again.

Guess what I found the other day?

Another full set of chains that were destined to be thrown away. Let’s splice in what I need to make a full set for the tractor. I laid them on the tire and it looks like I just need to add two sections.

I followed @propane1 advice and split the appropriate link and added in what I needed. It’s probably not necessary but I went ahead and welded the links shut again.

I did as @DavidBarkey suggested and let the air out of the tires then fitted the chains on and aired them up.
And just like that I have full chains for the tractor now! I think I mentioned before that I probably haven’t put chains on anything in 30 years so I appreciate the help fellas, thank you!

[propane1]

That’s great Jeff glad it worked for you. Out of all the links I split and bent back together on my chains and all the digging and chewin I’ve done withe the chains on, only one bent apart but didnt fall apart. But best to tac them thou.
I had an awful lot to tach. So I was lazy and didn’t do it.

Noel.

[DavidBarkey]

@JSinMO Glad we were able to help out . One thing on the ignition . Final test , start engine and spray some water on coil and wire boots . If it does not stumble you are golden . If it does try different wires and try again ., Hopefully it is all good now .

[Eugen]

And just like that the beast looks even more like a beast with those chains on! Yeah, nice!

[Harry]

I did some cleanup in the shop the other day. Then since I purchased the HF toolbox I had never put any tools in it. So I started to go through my over stuffed drawers of my old tool chest and put tools into the new tool chest. I also came across some old wrenches that I purchased from a garage sale. Cleaned them up and painted them then put them in a drawer in the new cabinet. Harry

[JSinMO]

I did some cleanup in the shop the other day. Then since I purchased the HF toolbox I had never put any tools in it. So I started to go through my over stuffed drawers of my old tool chest and put tools into the new tool chest. I also came across some old wrenches that I purchased from a garage sale. Cleaned them up and painted them then put them in a drawer in the new cabinet. Harry

I really try to keep my work area half way cleaned up but I have to be careful moving stuff around, I know where most stuff lives but if I gave something a new home I’d really have to work at remembering where i put it! My tool boxes are stuffed but if I got a new box I’d be opening drawers for months looking for tools!

[Harry]

I did some cleanup in the shop the other day. Then since I purchased the HF toolbox I had never put any tools in it. So I started to go through my over stuffed drawers of my old tool chest and put tools into the new tool chest. I also came across some old wrenches that I purchased from a garage sale. Cleaned them up and painted them then put them in a drawer in the new cabinet. Harry

I really try to keep my work area half way cleaned up but I have to be careful moving stuff around, I know where most stuff lives but if I gave something a new home I’d really have to work at remembering where i put it! My tool boxes are stuffed but if I got a new box I’d be opening drawers for months looking for tools!

Yes I know exactly what you’re talking about. I can either label the drawers or relearn where I put wrenches. The new add on cabinet is mostly all wrenches. Open end box end metric and standard. The old cabinet is socket sets, screwdrivers, pliers in the top cabinet. Bottom chest is larger pipe wrenches, adjustable wrenches, large adjustable pliers with misc in the bottom. I’ll probably relearn because I already have a system of resorting in place. The extra cabinet was mostly to relieve the congestion of over filled drawers. Harry

[RoamingGnome]

It is so nice to have a tidy workspace - I've always kept drawers organized in the same way because when I was at home a wrench should be in the same place as when I was at work otherwise Over the years I ended up pretty much duplicating my sets of common tools because I hated bringing wrenches home to do a job and then having to haul them back to work in the morning. Wow! What a mess when I "retired" and both sets of tools suddenly had to live in one basement workshop Hard to believe It's been almost 2 years now and my "work" toolbox is still in a storage container at my previous employers yard because It wouldn't fit through my walkout basement door. (This summer it's going up to the property)