Help with 1966 Ford Lawn Tractor?

[TheUser]

I guess I'll start another non-Mustang post and ask for help with something else.

I have an old 1966 K181 serial Ford 80 Lawn Tractor. The thing hasn't been used in 10 years or so, but did run when put away. I pulled it out (it's my moms) and tried to get it running the other day. I cleaned the gas tank, changed the fuel hose & battery, put another spark plug in it and some gas. It cranks over fine, but it doesn't seem like the coil is firing. This is where I'm confused. I don't have a manual on it and can't find any wiring diagrams online.

I created this diagram to show how it's currently hooked up. My brother is the one who did the wiring, so the connections are less than 100% and I'd like to rewire it semi-correctly, but the connections should be good enough to start it once as long as they are CORRECTLY CONNECTED which is my problem. It doesn't make sense to me how it's wired:

THE DIFFERENT COLORED WIRES DO NOT REPRESENT ACTUAL WIRE COLORS! This was simply done to make it more legible. The red wire from the start button to the starter does not represent a power wire, I believe it's ground since the top portion of the start button is ground.

I don't understand why the positive battery cable goes to the frame of the mower. I don't know where the coil is getting power from. I do know that it cranks, and that amazes me. Did these older units run ground through the body and then provide ground to the starter via the start button? That seems to be how this one is doing it. If that's the case, then the little black wire to the neg. side of the coil must be pulling the power from the body and then the pos. side gives it to the lights.

Any help appreciated. I joined a Jacobson/Ford Garden Tractor forum and posted yesterday, but the moderator still hasn't approved my post nor posted it, so it may take a while over there.

Any ideas? I'm interested in this thing just to play with, but if I can't find any help, it's a lost cause. I don't know anything about "points" or any of that stuff, nor lawn mowers in general as far as that goes.

 

[BK_CAULEY]

wait.. the + goes to the frame and it turns over? must be a reverse polarity starter then? and its probably turning the wrong way. and the reason the coil isnt firing is because it has a negative wire hooked to it.

 

[88mouse]

WTF

 

[TheUser]

Tell me about it...this is the weirdest thing, but my mom is sure it ran when she put it up 10 years ago, so I'm hesitant to move stuff around without knowing for sure.

Do you think there's a way for the coil to get the power through the body of the mower? That sounds kinda stupid and I guess the mower would be carrying voltage all the time providing it had ground, so that's not safe.

The coil has a Pos. and Negative side just how it's illustrated in the pic. Since the wire on the neg side goes to the alternator and to the coil holder/frame, I kinda am thinking it's set up to pull the power through the frame from the battery. How else would the alternator charge the battery? I would think the Pos. battery cable would run to the start switch and then the alternator wire would run to the top of the start switch as well to attach to the pos cable and charge the battery when the mower is running. Then, obviously ground would be provided through the frame like normal.

Does anyone know what the unknown box is? It bolts to the front of the body behind the "dash" of the mower under the hood. I was kinda thinking the "unknown" box pulls the power from the battery though the body (since it is attached) and it then gives power to the starter (ground from start switch to starter) and then the "unknown box" also sends power to the AMPRES gauge.

The battery ground does not attach to the body/frame of the mower at all.

I kinda think it's partially how it's supposed to be, I just don't understand it enough to know why it's like that. I doubt my bro would rewire it all wrong and he has worked on a lot of stuff, so he knows a little about wiring...he just didn't put much effort into solid connections (twisted wires w/ no solder, connectors, or tape.

If I could figure out what the "unknown" box is and exactly how the coil should be wired, I think I could probably rewire it. However, doesn't it have "points" to tell the coil when to fire or whatever? Where would the wire come for that, or is there something else to take care of that task?

Thanks for the help so far, any other ideas? That Yahoo forum blows so far, he hasn't even posted my question.

 

[Hickfied]

Looks to me like the battery is in there backwards.... Try switching the battery cables around.

 

[TheUser]

do you think it would crank w/ the battery backwards? The red cable goes to the frame and the black cable goes to the start switch. When I got it out, the black cable was attached to the NEG and the red cable was attached to the POS. I'll prob. try that and feel really stupid if that was the problem, but I really doubt it would crank if that were the case?

 

[HISSIN50]

It looks like a positive earth set-up, doesnt it.

James, PM sent.

 

[TheUser]

:SNSign: Thanks for the help guys! Hickfied...the simple approach is what I needed. lol, don't I feel stupid. Although the battery was hooked up like that when I first got it out, I should have used my common sense to know that wasn't right. It's not mine and I know nothing about lawn tractors, so I assumed it was right...especially since mom said it ran before. Either way, I still had to run the coil wire to the voltage regulator, and the light switch is pointless since it doesn't have lights.

Also, I must mention that the guys over at the Jacobsen Ford Lawn Tractor forum at Yahoo were all over my question. My dumbass didn't figure out how to use their forum (it's a little different than any other forum I've been on), so I didn't see my question posted, I didn't see the 2 replies I had within 3 hours, and I didn't see the wiring diagrams and manuals they have in the files section

All the help from Stangnet re-enforced that this really is the best forum I've ever been a member of. Thanks again.