Massey Ferguson 65 won't turn over

[Slooby]

My dad has been fiddling about with it again and made no progress, last night I gave in and went and had a look, and rather than faff around anymore just tried a direct live from the battery terminal to the coil winding on the solenoid. Nothing. Check ergs with the dvm from the battery post on the solenoid to a ground on the a starter bolt and 12.x shows, so to my mind the issue is in the starter itself.

My dad is taking some convincing that he needs to simply take the complete starter off the tractor, get it on the bench and look it over...

[gecko.cx]

I've bee trying to remember how the field and armature are configured (series or parallel) . After a search, it seems there are way more options that that
https://constructionmanuals.tpub.com/14 ... ons-58.htm
but from memory the Lucas is series- that is, the current flows through the field, then the amateur.
If this is correct, the problem is most likely your brushes (or possibly the earthing bolt that grounds the brush holder).
Given the failure was sudden, I'd suspect the brush springs may have snapped.

[Slooby]

Well dad finally relented and has taken the starter off (after two days of fiddling with the wiring determinedly trying to find a fault despite nothing turning over when direct wired to the battery...)

It's now in the vice with the cover removed exposing the brushes, but noting look awry, currently charging a battery to test it

[Slooby]

Starter and solenoid worked fine on the bench with a different battery (borrowed from the ride-on)

Can you guess where we're going?

Yup, the main battery was dead after all

Dad went out to get a replacement today; first trip after being given the run around resulted in him going to Halfords in Tunbridge Wells, where the assistant afterlife to him about what ot was for sold him a Leisure Battery..

Seriously...

A Leisure Battery...

As soon as he got back with it I had to break the news to him that in now way was a Leisure Battery going to work, it simply cannot deliver the instant hit of current required to spin an engine over.

Second trip was to Halfords Tonbridge where he found a much more helpful assistant who exchanged the Leisure Battery for a car battery, more specifically one for a Range Rover...just like mine... 95Ah and 780A cold cranking.

I put it on for him and low and behold the tractor fired up on the first turn of the starter.

Sorted, eventually after exploring everything but the most obvious bit. I blame the too clever battery chargers, although it's odd that the old battery was showing as having 12.7 volts after a charge...

[gecko.cx]

Glad to hear you've got it sorted.
A crack in one of the batteries internal bus bars can show up like this: Normal voltage when just measuring the terminals, but goes to zero under load.

[Jeremy Rowland]

Glad you got it sorted Tim batteries can die instantly and it ain't just cold weather that can cause them to fail, they can give all sorts of positive readings but die under load as stated above.
Say no more about the store assistant they probably have an NVQ in something (Not Very Qualified) plus I try hard to avoid Halfords at all costs they are rather expensive to say the least.

Jeremy

[Slooby]

Halfords have their uses though, usually at gone 5 on a Sunday as their still open...but also for tools as their Professional/Advanced range are pretty decent for the money, especially as I have tested their Lifetime Warranty more than once and had broken stuff replaced, despite the original thing being now 23 years old!

[Slooby]

Next mission, should they decide to accept it, will be to tackle the clutch adjustment so the 2nd stage for the PTO works properly...

[MrF]

Ive had batteries go bad so that they still show a working voltage when charged and the smart tester's diagnostics say is fine, but they completely wilt when asked to supply cranking current and do nothing, and it was one day the battery is good, the next completely ruined. You can get old school battery testers that have a massive dummy load they drain the battery with to check performance under load, but I just swap the battery out for another one to diagnose here. I have in the past connected a external battery right onto the main starter studs with jump leads just to diagnose that the starter itself was ok also.

It seems there's now another firm believer in swapping in a known decent battery even if all the chargers and volt meters say its ok

Joking aside, glad you found it finally!

[Slooby]

Ha...

The main battle was trying to convince my dad of just about... well... anything...