1650 not starting
 

Howdy,

It's snow time here in good old Illinois and I went to start my tractor to plow my driveway, and it was a no go. The tractor was starting the week prior. It tried to crank over a few time and then nothing. It has power and the starter is spinning but not engaging. It will not retract the starter gear. It did this out of nowhere. The starter is about a year old. I will attach pictures. Please help.

:bash2:

Pull the starters. Remove the "bendix" portion off the starter. Clean, wash & lubricate same. Re-assemble in reverse order.

Maybe your WPS 761N starter was not such a good deal? :biggrin2:

Turn the engine in the reverse direction it normally runs, by hand, it usually returns the pinion gear back home.
But it prolly will happen again.
If you remove the starter as suggested, investigate the worm shaft/overrunning clutch to see why it over traveled.:beerchug:

I notice a great improvement in the action of the starter if I keep the drive assembly lubricated periodically. It's recommended in the service manual as well.

Yes it is recommended, and light grease.
I use the specified Kohler starter lube.
But in the real world, lube collects dirt and becomes gummy,
and in the extreme low temps, it is sluggish to engage.
His problem appears to be over travel of the pinion gear on the helix.

I’ll bet there is a problem at the end of the starter that we can’t see.
Something let that gear go too far. Looks farther out than it should be.
Maybe I’m wrong.
Cold weather will find all the weak links. If you want these things to start in bitter cold everything has to be top notch.

Wonder what WPS stands for?....... :ExtremeFunny:
Until I looked, I thought you made it up! :bigeyes:


That's funny.

I had a similar issue on my 1250.

The return spring/gear stop mechanism had worked it's way loose from a previous owner having jacked around with it.

It was allowing the flange of the drive gear to push into the flywheel. I caught it before it got too bad because I notice the starter making some abnormal noises.

I ended up having to fabricate my own spacer/gear stop and return assembly out of some tube steel and washers. It actually worked out really well.

I did the same for a temporary fix when it started happening to the starter in my 1204 with M12. Ended up buying a new starter as other bushings and pieces were worn and causing slop. Think I paid $45 for it IIRC