Australian rear solid rims

[Godfrey.harmer]

Greetings again

We have bought another Fordson E27N 4 cyclinder, to go with the garden ormament, it was from an orchard outside of Perth Western Australia. It has solid rear wheels as does our other one and a spare on the Shark it came from. I am wondering if that is what was exported to Australia as they are faily thick metal and would be good ballast. I have only never seen the the solid rear wheels on the numerous photos of English tractors on the net..

It is a bit weathered but has very dood tin work, a very good fuel tank inside and out, a complete draw bar and side pulley set up. Genetrally it is in good condition has loads of compression and hopefully will start in a few weeks when we have the time. Of the 3 tractors (our 2 now and his spare) only one was fitted with the spark advance lever the other 2 have no lever, rod or even brackets on the cylinder head but all had starter motors and no generators. Does anyone know if the models with a starter motor ceased to have the spark advance lever.

I will post some pictures when i get back to the machines. I have sourced a handbook and workshop manual from Plough Booksales of Melbourne and my brother and I are looking forward to getting one to go and hopefully restore.

regards

Godders

[Tim W]

Hi Godders,
I think (hopefully someone will correct me!) that the E27 was shipped without wheels as "knockdown" and the wheels fitted where sourced in Australia, hence why you won't see them in UK pics - I think they where also painted a different colour?

With the mag, all were fitted with the adv/ret/off lever, and most had the Lucas RF mag. Often what happens is this mag is replaced with the SR mag as it is cheaper and easily available, but doesnt have the adv/ret, so the lever is removed. they run ok, but the RF with correct levers is better. Replacement control rods (and mags) are available (in the UK at least).
All E27's had optional electrics, as standard all they had was the starting handle and a blanking plate over the starter motor hole.
The electric kit consisted of starter motor, dynamo mounted on brackets on the cylinder head, a pair of headlights mounted on arms on the radiator, together with a horn.
Also, there was a cast battery tray mounter on the steering column together with a small dash pod.
All the electric parts are extremely sort after, as not much is available new.. If you have any spare electrical parts let me know - i could be interested!!

Hope this helps
Tim

[Godfrey.harmer]

Thank you Tim

We spent our first half day working on the blue tractor (spare is green) and running through the numbering etc. Blue is 1947 and green 1950.

It was a bit confusing at first as the green one has no starter but one was fitted, it has generator brackets but no generator and some wiring with a cast battery tray and indicators as a later add on. The blue one has a starter but no generator or mounting and one headlight mount with limited wiring etc. Both have levers on the magneto for advance and retard but the green one seems broken and spins a full 360 degrees whereas the blue one appears funtional and has a limited range of travel consistant with one I saw the other day. However they both have no advance or retard lever on the dash or any of the mechanism.

Luckily we sourced a manual and handbook so most of it is starting to make sense.

I agree the rims are probably a special for Australia, they are solid cast metal and will weigh a great deal. We are thinking of getting a second hand engine hoist to save the old backs.


regards

Godders

[Tim W]

An engine hoist is a good investment - everything on the E27 is heavy!!
If you want to replace the adv/ret lever, Cotswold Vintage Tractors are doing remanufactured ones,
( http://www.cotswoldvintagetractors.com/ ... hp?cat=264 )

not sure what the postage would be though.

Tim

[Godfrey.harmer]

I have been advised by Barry of The Fordson Tractor Club of Australia that the majority of E27N's came to Australia in a knock down form and the cast rims were manufactured locally with different rims being made in various states. This makes sense as all 4 tractos I have seen locally have the same heavy cast rims. I beleive there were a number of sizes 26', 28" and 30" with some being manufactured as a split rim which can be identified by the extra bolts. I spoke to a farmer friend who suggested removing the tyres in situ which is what we will do.

regards

Godders

[moretoot]

Hello,
I'm very new to your forum, this is my first posting. Your discussion regarding cast wheels fitted to Australian E27N's is interesting. I have a 1950 P6 reimported to the UK that I have rebuilt. I think you are correct that there were several different foundries casting wheels as although most of the fronts I have seen in this country seem similar the rears do vary enormously. (That was certainly the case here when the previous model, the N was put on/converted to rubbers instead of steels, there were many different manufacturers before and after Ford started producing their own). All the 'Australian' E27N tractors were reputably fitted with pressurised cooling systems as mine is and most of the P6 versions sported an extra Vokes fuel filter. They reportedly were also fitted with spark arrestors, if so mine was long gone. According to reports I have read the tractors were exported without wheels for tax reasons.
You raise an interesting point about wheel colour, in the UK they were orange but I suspect that they may have been some shade of yellow in Australia? I would be really interested to hear your opinion on this point.
Strangely I was offered an ex Australian E27 fitted with an L4 that I shall hopefully look at this weekend.
Best regards
Pat

[Godfrey.harmer]

Greetings

The restored tractors I have seen all have orange rims so I presumed they all were.

regards

godfrey

[Brian]

Among the many strange things we saw on our recent trip to Victoria was a Duck billed platypus and.........



Pressurised radiators on E27N's



Spark arrestors.



E27N's with six gears and louvred radiator shutters controlled from the drivers seat.





B****y great heavy Red rear wheels!!!

and, of course ............

[moretoot]

Greetings

The restored tractors I have seen all have orange rims so I presumed they all were.

regards

godfrey

Hi Godfrey,

Many thanks for your comment re colour. Mine have been over painted silver but it looks to me, having had a little scratch, as if the original colour was yellow - does this make any sense to you? Actually 'empire' blue and yellow would look just as good as the blue and orange, reputably the Essex farm wagon colours chosen by Fordson for their tractors. Look forward to your reply.

Regards

Pat

[Aussie Frank]

Hi Pat,

The colour of Australian Fordson E27N wheels has come up in a discussion regarding identifying your Fordson. http://www.fordsontractorpages.nl/phpbb ... heel#p7469 It was mainly a discussion about how to identify the different models of early Fordson but the information that came up regarding the colours different states in Australia used on the E27Ns was very interesting. Depending on the year of your tractor you may be able to identify which state in Australia it came from.

Regards, Frank.

[moretoot]

Hi Frank,
Thanks for pointing me to this post, it was really interesting. My tractor has 1950 Feb / March casting codes so even allowing for 'casting curing' which often didn't happen and shipping time it would almost certainly been in Australia in that year. So the yellow I found under the silver could well be the correct colour? From the post Victoria looks a likely starting point but there may be other possibilities?
Best regards
Pat