Sears suburban 12 no spark and help with motor id

Hey im new to the site, i just recently inherited an old sears suburban 12 my plan is to get her running so every time she runs i see my pap...  so anyway i got her tore down and she isnt getting spark, i just re did the wiring from the ign switch to the volt regulator and the starter, i have pulled the flywheel and now im stuck because i know nothing about magnetos and spark mechanisms. thanks in advance  

HI AJ
WELCOME TO THE SEARS SITE, WILL TELL YOU ALSO YOU HAVE JUMPED ON A BEAR. THE TECUMSEH MOTORS HAVE TWO TYPES OF IGNITION, I AM NOT QUALIFIED TO EXPLAIN EACH TYPE, EVENTHOUGH I HAVE EACH TYPE & UNDERSTAND EACH.
MABY SOMEONE WILL JUMP IN & EXPLAIN ANY TESTING PROCEDURE FOR EACH ONE. NO LONGER AVAILABLE NEW, SOME ARE LISTED ON EBAY, BUT REMEMBER THEY ARE AS OLD AS YOURS, BUT STILL MAY WORK FOR YEARS OR MAY NOT, PEOPLE ARE ASKING IN THE $200 RANGE FOR USED. SOME PEOPLE ARE CONVERTING TO AUTOMOTIVE TYPE ELECTRONIC IGNITIONS, I THINK SOMEONE IS OFFERING KITS. TO ID. THE TRACTOR POST MODEL # ON PLATE AT GEAR SHIHT LEVER AND ENGINE MOD.# OFF BLOWER HOUSING 143----
GOOD LUCK
JIMMY

Welcome to the message board! Thank you for the post.

I assume your engine is the standard Tecumseh HH12 that was installed in the tractor.

There are different ignition systems installed on these engines depending on the year.

The first and most elementry test is to disconnect the ground from the ignition to see if that is causing a no-spark situation.

Past that it becomes more technical and beyond the scope of this message board. Ed Stoller has covered all angles of the ignition system. There is a ton of information there, much of it technical. Even a shadtree mechanic like myself can understand the logic behind most of what he is writitng about, although the Electrical Engineer stuff is beyond my grasp. His page is here:

http://home.earthlink.net/~edstoller/index.html

You may elect to try to find a replacement ignition module, but beware that they are costly and you are not normally guaranteed money back on used electrical components.

You might find other information by reading related Sears sites as provided by my Links Page:

http://vintagesearsgardentractors.com/links_page.html

Good luck and please keep us posted on your tractor.

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