Ford Distributor Rebuild & Troubleshoot: Points, Coil, Cond.: Ford 9N, 2N and 8N Front Mount Tractor

if your ford tractor no longer has spark then this is the tutorial for you i'm going to show you how to put points condenser rotor inside the distributor and install it in time on a ford 9n 2n or early 8 end with a front distributor before we get started it is important to do a little bit of troubleshooting a lot of people when their tractor stops running they'll start throwing parts at it and that gets expensive and frustrating so instead if we can troubleshoot from the get go it'll save some of that frustration and expense i prefer to use a tester like this one it works for both six volt and 12 volt applications you hook up one end to a ground right here i have it connected to this bolt where my ground cable attaches to the frame that's a really good ground and then the light in the handle will light up when it's making good contact so i always like to test it as soon as i get started and just touch it to the other end of the battery make sure the light comes on just to make sure that my ground is good my tools working etc then i want to test the distributor here's what i'm going to do this front distributor is inside the front of your tractor like this i'm going to touch my tool to this post right up here at the top of the coil on my distributor when i touch it then i'm going to touch the starter button on the tractor to roll the tractor over if everything in my distributor is working properly this light will flash on and off if it stays solid then i know that my points are not working if it flashes and then i know everything's working in the distributor and i still don't have spark my next test would be to use a spark analyzer like this one between a spark plug and a spark plug wire to make sure that i am getting good spark there so let me show you i have a distributor torn apart here that i'm going to show you what happens when we do this test you can kind of see an inside view here so this little probe right here on the bottom of the coil has to touch the screw right here and that connects all the way around the points and then grounds so when that light is flashing on and off that's telling me that the spark is going through the coil all the way through the points and then to ground and it's working properly this will flash onto high lobe and low lobe and that's the open close open close the light on and off that you see on your testing tool so this tool will really help you pinpoint exactly where the problem lies on your tractor so i'm going to go ahead and do it on this tractor and you'll be able to see exactly how this test works and i'm going to show you so i'm going to turn the switch on on my dash here my tractor is in neutral so it's safe for me to start it right here and then let me get my tool right down in there got to be able to see it there we go okay you can see i have a light on now it's just solid and then when i press the start button that it flashes back and forth my tractor just wants to start right up but you can see that it flashes back and forth that tells me that my distributor is working as it should be working if you don't see that then you know that you have a problem inside and i'm going to show you the steps to fix the problems inside your distributor the distributor is really tucked into the front of the tractor tight so i want to tell you how to take it off with this distributor off of the tractor because if i were to do it there you wouldn't be able to see a thing it's obvious that there are two bolts that's the easy part the harder part is what to do about the coil and the cap so the coil is fastened onto the distributor with this bail so you can just slide this bail forward every once in a while i'll see the spark plug wires that have been like zip tied to the side of the bale if that's the case you would just clip them off so they're for free and they're loose from the distributor and coil when you pull this bale forward then the coil will come off and you can fish it out of the tractor it might be easiest if you just set it aside at first and then fish it out later after the distributor is out i'm going to set that aside look how bad that is inside there it's really bad i'm going to set that aside and then you can take these two clips off sometimes you'll have to use a screwdriver if they're really tight and your cap will come off this is the part that you really need to pay attention to once you have your cap off of the tractor pay careful attention to which direction the rotor is facing it can face any direction when you are on the tractor and it doesn't matter which direction it's facing you just have to remember which way it is facing so that you can put it back in the same way okay if when this moves the back side this gear moves here as well so let's say you took your distributor out of the tractor and your rotor was facing up and when you put it back in in order to get your gear to line up on the back you put your rotor down your distributor will still fit in the tractor but when you reinstall you'll have backfiring and all sorts of problems so pay very special attention to which way your rotor is facing so that when you go to reinstall your distributor you can put it back on in the exact same way so once you have that taken a look at you can then remove your two bolts and the distributor will just pull right off of the tractor your cap you can either leave setting there and then reattach if you're going to use the same cap or if you want to replace yours if it's in bad condition like mine you'll definitely want to replace it just pop the wires off you can number them so you get them back in the correct order and then you can pull your cap out as well we'll begin disassembling the distributor now first i want to remove the points there are a few screws in the bottom here that hold it in so i'm going to take this one out first then this one next this screw that has the more phillips type head on it you can leave in place that is just for the points adjustments you don't need to take that out those two hold the bottom plate in next i'm going to take this one out from the side here you can just reach in there carefully and screw that all the way out like that there's a little washer behind it you want to keep track of that up here usually there's a little clip across there or a pin here's the new one that you normally see across the top mine doesn't have that so i'm just going to pick that off and then oops the washer comes out behind it you can see i got my washer out here and then our points are free enough to come out so i'm going to just use a pair of needle nose pliers to grab onto the points here and it just kind of pulls off in one sweep like this looks like i left one screw right there on i forgot about that one that's right let me reach in here from this this one holds the very tip of the points on let me undo that real quick and then they'll come out because i pulled that out already it's a little bit crooked inside there so it's a little trickier to get removed but we'll get it there we go you can see it's loose now then the points come out just like that screw came inside there i'm gonna pull this bottom plate out as well to disassemble that portion the next step will be to remove this bail across the bottom this bale holds that plate in and it sometimes can be pretty tight but you can just kind of pull it out like this there we go it's out like that then the only other thing that holds the plate in the bottom is this screw right here this is actually the timing adjustment so we'll talk about this later on but it does hold the plate in so we'll just pull that out of there and then the plate should just come right out like that and we see all the weights inside let me get the plate off the top here we go so we're going to clean this all up before we reassemble to tune up the distributor on your own tractor you will need some parts this in front of me is what we call the tune-up kit which comes with the points condenser rotor and gaskets we also offer many of these pieces independently if you only need a portion of the kit new spark plugs are always a great idea we offer a new cap which has the firing order on it and we also offer a new coil in either 6 volt or 12 volt this bale goes inside the distributor and is broken quite often so if you need a new one of those you can order as well all of these tune-up parts are available on my website farmtractorrepair.com you can purchase the parts on my site to help to fund future tractor tutorials again the site is farmtractorrepair.com i was able to get the case of my distributor very clean as well as the plate i used a wire brush on it to make sure that it's clean and ready to be reused with that i am now ready to put my points into place i have found that it's a lot easier to put your points in when the plate is off of the distributor this screw on the edge if you try to put that in when it's in the distributor it can be really tricky it's even hard out but even inside it's even worse so your points come around here and your screw goes through both both parts of your points this tab as well as into here and if this tab is broken off then you would want to purchase a new plate as that tab is really essential so i'm going to chase this around here and line it up once it's lined up i'm going to tighten the screw in there okay i got mine started so i just got to tighten it up the rest of the way and then once that screw is tightened we'll be ready to go back over here and talk about the case so here is my gear and my dogs are here before you put yours back together you should inspect these dogs make sure they move in and out freely like mine do look on the bottom side here for any wear that's probably where the most common spot where they will wear and be damaged if yours appears to be in good condition you can go ahead and put it back in another thing that you want to check is the bushing on the bottom let me put some anti-seize along the bottom here and i'll show you what i'm talking about i just got a little bit on there when i set this into the bottom of the case i want to make sure there's no play this is really nice and tight so i can reuse these pieces if you discover that yours has play at this bushing then you'll probably want to purchase a new case or a new distributor all together as that part is really essential so with that inside now i'm ready to set my plate down into place when i set it down i've got to move this bake light on the points here just a little tiny bit so that it doesn't get hung up let me set that down it's going i'm just trying to be really gentle so i don't break that so there you can see that that is into place as it should be the next thing i'm going to do is tighten up this plate so it's in position i'm just going to slide it around until i see the hole for my screw here and then i'm going to set the screw into place and just get it started then i'm going to make sure that i have this centered as i mentioned before this is has the timing adjustment in it so i want to start with this in the center of the plate and when i move it it moves the whole entire plate so i'm just going to move it over i need to go to my left a little bit more there we go now i'm in the center and i'm just going to tighten it down we can adjust that later if we need to but for most fords right in the center is exactly where you need to be now i'm going to continue with securing the plate with this new bail this piece is directional notice that how it has this flat spot on it so the i'm going to start with it in one corner here and then i'm just going to set it in with my thumb until it's down into the groove you can see that the one end ends right here at the notch and then this flat spot comes and matches the curve of my points that's the position that you need your bail to be in your next step is to set the points i'm choosing to use a 25 000 gauge you can set your points anywhere from 15 to 25 thousands depending on your personal preference with the 25 000 gauge i'm setting it right in between here when it is on high lobe so let me move this gear around and i'll show you high lobe you see that this bake light touches the lobe right there this would be low lobe and this is high lobe you make your points adjustment when it's on high low so with that i'm going to set my gauge right in between here and it's i can get it in there but it's kind of tight it should be tight but that's a little too hard to get in there so i'm going to loosen up just a tiny little bit you want it to be just snug and you move your points back and forth with this screw right here that kind of has the phillips type head on it so with that movement that's a lot better i like how snug that is at the 25 thousandths so i'm going to set this down i'm going to leave my gauge in there and then i'm going to tighten up both this screw and this screw to hold the points right into place and i'm leaving my gauge in there so they're kind of held where they should be and once that's tight then i'm going to double check it and it's still good at that 25 000 mark next i'm going to put this washer on top and then this little cotter pin through there let me see where the hole is just like that and then i'm going to bend it over with a small pair of pliers i did install my condenser on the end here it's really simple you just set it into place use your screw here and then the wire traces through here and it connects right on the end where your screw is for the coil connection so make sure that yours is in just like that and then before you set it onto the tractor you can do a test just to make sure that you haven't made any mistakes and nothing is shorted out on your tractor or on your distributor i should say i'm going to set one here one end of my meter here and the other here and then let's figure out how i'm going to do this with two hands hold that on there maybe i can put this here what i want to do is open and close the points and make sure so that's my points are closed there my points are open and i have no connection so if i had some help here i would hold this on here let me see if i can just set it there there we go okay so when you turn this around you can tell that the points are opening and closing and i don't have a short or anywhere like that i have a good ground connection all throughout my distributor this is a good double check that you can do before you proceed any farther just helps to eliminate any little mistakes that you might have made in the distributor with that checked your dust cover can go on top and just rest down in there just like so that comes in either your gasket kit or your rebuild kit and then you can set your rotor on go ahead and set it on it will come all the way down and then you can turn it to wherever you needed it to be from when you took it off the tractor then there's a round gasket here that goes into the cap i'm going to trace that around it fits kind of snug but you can get it in there and make sure that it's not crooked or twisted with that then you can put your cover on just like that snaps over on the side here and then you have a gasket up here and then when you set your coil on this is a spot where a lot of people will mess up see this little probe here on the bottom that has to go exactly onto that screw that means that if you set your coil on crooked at all then this isn't going to make contact and you'll have a problem with your coil here or you could break it off if you're too rough with it so be very careful when you set your coil on that you're setting it straight down directly into place you're not being going to get it crooked at all and then your bail will just go over top like that the last piece in your kit is this gasket which goes right on here make sure that your rotor is in the right place and then you're ready to put it right back onto your tractor one final test you can do before you put your distributor onto the tractor is with your own meter again you just set this around here and make sure that you hear the points open and close with your meter if you don't you probably bent the probe that is on the bottom of your coil when you installed it onto the distributor so if you have a problem that's why i would recommend popping that back off and taking a second look at your probe down there if you do have your points opening and closing your meter beeps on and off then you are good to go go ahead and put it right back onto your tractor with that we are ready to start this tractor up you can see that the distributor is working properly and that this tractor will start right up and run well at the beginning of the video when i went through those troubleshooting steps and talked about the spark analyzer and the 12 volt tester to see if your coil and points were working if that test isn't successful for you and you find out that your points are working your coil is working then your problem is likely with the carburetor that would be the next thing that i would suggest to you to test we do have a tutorial that goes through the complete carburetor rebuild process so if that's something you want to work on on your tractor then you could watch that video for yourself and it would help you rebuild your carburetor if that's the next step you need to take i hope that this tutorial is helpful to you and that it gives you the confidence to put new points and coil into your own n-series ford tractor please subscribe to our channel so you get a notification every time a new video is released and you can also give this video a thumbs up you

Channel: Dan Gingell and Rachel Gingell

Views: 73,627

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Id: NmB9ME4M7vI

Length: 17min 20sec (1040 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 16 2021