My tractor has been struggling. I've had portions of the starter rebuilt twice, and I've un-jammed it a couple times myself. When the tractor wouldn't start last week I did the usual things to check it out, made sure we had gas, removed and replaced the solenoid, checked that the gears were where they ought to be, and removed the starter. It seemed to be jammed, but I couldn't get it unstuck. I took it into town to an elderly gentleman who had rebuilt it for me the first couple times. I could not for the life of me find his shop, and when I made some phone calls I discovered that he had passed away. I was able to get some help at a different shop in Fort Collins. As we began to remove the end of the cylinder of the starter metal filings fell out. It wasn't looking promising. When we got the end off completely, instead of finding a gear and some brushes and an armature, we found what more closely resembled a box of cereal that someone had shaken and crumbled to bits.
My best option was to order a new starter, which was a challenge because my tractor is an old Massey-Fergueson from the 1950s and those parts are harder to find. My other choice was to drive the cereal starter to Greeley and track down a different elderly mechanic who knows about these old tractors and could rebuilt the starter again. In the interest of saving time and gas I just ordered a new starter and said a little prayer that it was the correct one for my tractor.
When the new part came in we were lucky that it was nearly identical to my old one. So I took it home and installed it on my tractor, and voila! It started right up. I was able to move large hay bales and work the arena footing. Of course I end up doing all this stuff in breeches, boots, and half chaps, but at least it earns me my title of The Grease Monkey in Breeches.
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