My not for export Major

This forum is for the Fordson New Major, including the Super Major and the Power Major.
BearCreek Majors
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Re: My not for export Major

Post by BearCreek Majors »

I got a pump out of one of the organ donors in the barn, got every thing cleaned up and installed, put a new seal on the PTO shaft and added some oil, I had already installed a pressure gauge so I fired her up and the three point looks to work great, except that when it hit the top I saw the gauge go past 3000psi and I don’t believe the relief valve tripped. I opened up the relief valve and there was over a ¼” of shims on top of the spring, took them all out and tried it, she tripped around 1900psi, put half the shims back in and it tripped at 2400psi, works for me!
Looks like I’ll be using one of my three point plows at Uncle Vic’s.

AdrianNPMajor
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Re: My not for export Major

Post by AdrianNPMajor »

That is one lucky tractor - lucky it met you! Otherwise it would be in the scrapyard by now.

Best

Adrian :thumbs:

BearCreek Majors
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Re: My not for export Major

Post by BearCreek Majors »

Plow day was at Uncle Vic’s this Sat and the girl is running great! I got concerned on the first few passes when I saw smoke coming out from under the bonnet until I realized it was just burning the old grease & grime off the exhaust, it’s the first time that manifold has got good and hot in a long time. The temp and oil pressure stayed right where it should and the only problem I had was turning around just in time to see a brake drum and shoes get buried in the plow furrow, I’d guess that the bolt and washer got “barrowed” at some time and as I hadn’t had time to go through the brakes yet it just got overlooked. I marked the spot and a few of us went out later with a rod and started poking around and found it within a few minutes. I was afraid the rear tires were to bad to be able to do much but I actually had a hard time keeping the front tires planted in the furrow, especially on the sides of the hills, I’m going to have to get some weights on the front.
Pat


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Daves rusty bits
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Re: My not for export Major

Post by Daves rusty bits »

Well done Pat, your skill and determination have won through and a nice piece of engineering goes to work in its working clothes. How deep do you plough? It looks like deep mouldboards. Dave
1960 Power Major, 1975 International 475 - well no ones perfect.

AdrianNPMajor
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Re: My not for export Major

Post by AdrianNPMajor »

What a lovely scene. A great tractor restored to fighting condition by some inspired engineering. Lovely countryside. Wish I had been standing on the side of your field whilst you worked. Bet that engine sounded great.

:clap:

Best

Adrian :thumbs:

BearCreek Majors
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Re: My not for export Major

Post by BearCreek Majors »

Thanks guys, spending most of the day out there with no breakdowns make all the effort worth every minute.
Dave, we are plowing down around 8” maybe a little less depend on the conditions. This plow has 3-14’s and I was pulling in 3rd gear all day, I could probably pull it in 4th in better soil conditions.
And it is beautiful country up there, Uncle Vic’s farm is about 20 miles north of my place and it is right on the edge of the glacial ridge, thus all the hills and valleys from the glaciers’, and the rocks….holy crap the rocks! There are rocks up there the size of automobiles, if you look close at the far fence line of the field you can just kinda see that the fence line is made of rocks, every fence line, on every field, on every farm, is piles of rocks. They trip the plow heads, they throw the whole plow out of the ground, and the will stop you in your tracks. And it s not just a few here and there, it is every single round of the field, they pick them every spring, some are so big they have to be buried in the field with a excavator, and they just keep coming up. Vic tells me years ago when they used trailer plows it was a two man operation, one guy to drive and the other guy to jump off and rehook the hitch every time the plow hit a rock. Now I know why he had six kids, he needed that many to pic rocks in the spring!
Now that I am happy with the mechanicals on the tractor I will probably park her away for the summer, I have way too many other things that need to get done this summer and we can get her back in the shop this fall and ready for some paint.

Pat

AdrianNPMajor
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Re: My not for export Major

Post by AdrianNPMajor »

What sort of crops does your uncle grow?

Dandy Dave
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Re: My not for export Major

Post by Dandy Dave »

Nice, Glad to see the old girl up and running. :clap: :beer: We have conditions here varying from rocky, to clay, to clumps of shale in the middle of a field in spots. Sounds like your uncles farm is a little like south western Connecticut. My folks grew up in Long Hill and Easton. My dad came to upstate NY in 1958 when urban sprawl pushed the farmers out. I have never seen rocky country like there is in that area of Connecticut. It is not uncommon to see rocks as big as a house along the road side near old stone walls that were laid up by settlers. The early settlers could farm the land with horses, oxen, and hand work, but the modern tractor can not go there. It is no small wonder that many died young. Dandy Dave!
Have a Fordsonful day Folks!

1960 Fordson Power Major

BearCreek Majors
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Re: My not for export Major

Post by BearCreek Majors »

Uncle Vic retired several years ago and sold the milk cows so there is no longer much need for hay fields and I’m not sure if he has a soybean head for his combine so I’d guess he puts in mostly all corn.
The neighbors across the road have a small pasture beside the barn, probably 20 acres of land that was never cleared, it is almost solid rocks, one has to wonder what possessed these people to think this land had to be cleared and farmed.

Pat

super6954
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Re: My not for export Major

Post by super6954 »

Hi Pat
We have land like that round us it's cleared and down to pasture but it's still so much crap the Gophers live in holes up the middle of the road round there :lol: . Glad to see you got the old girl out workin for a living. and Im not talking about the wife :lol: :run:
Regards Robert
A Fordson is for life not just for Christmas !.

Dandy Dave
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Re: My not for export Major

Post by Dandy Dave »

super6954 wrote:Hi Pat
Im not talking about the wife :lol: :run:
Regards Robert
LOL... :lol: Aint that what their for.. :D Dandy Dave!
Have a Fordsonful day Folks!

1960 Fordson Power Major

Pavel
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Re: My not for export Major

Post by Pavel »

You obviously like living dangerously, DD.

Pavel

Dandy Dave
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Re: My not for export Major

Post by Dandy Dave »

Pavel wrote:You obviously like living dangerously, DD.

Pavel
Oooohhhhh, when I was a little younger.... :wink: ... Dandy Dave!
Have a Fordsonful day Folks!

1960 Fordson Power Major

BearCreek Majors
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Re: My not for export Major

Post by BearCreek Majors »

We’ve been busy getting ready for winter so we put the old girl to work, not much of a workout but it still keeps her busy.
The last pic was taken this summer at the Symco Thresheree, being parked alongside of a nice shiny Selene and two County’s and the old girl still got some attention!

Pat


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fnoller
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Re: My not for export Major

Post by fnoller »

How much weigth can the forklift lift? :D

Regard

Kenneth
Fordson for life...

1955 Fordson Major (restorating)

1963 Fordson Super Major New Performance (New Project)

BearCreek Majors
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Re: My not for export Major

Post by BearCreek Majors »

I believe the mast is off a 5,000 lb forklift, it will lift much more than the tractor can handle with only 400lbs of weight hanging out front. It can probably lift all of 5,000 by setting the mast on the ground and then using only the mast cylinder to lift. When picking up something heavy that the tractor is still capable of moving I will pick it up as far as possible until the three point overload trips, and then pick it up more with the mast cylinder.

Pat

ford5000y
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Re: My not for export Major

Post by ford5000y »

Looks like you've got one of those automatic clutch release mechanisms in her, probably that's the reason why you're looking for the parts for those mechanisms as I have seen on one of the discussions here :D .

Looking at the not for export major of yours reminds me of my uncle's fordson which I dream of(I have recurring dreams of my uncle's fordson, in those dreams the tractor is in the yard and we own it :mrgreen: ), because it looks exactly like the not for export (it also had the clutch release mechanism in it), except, that it has got "38" rims, one of which hasn't got any tyres or inner tubes in it, the remaining 3 tyres were also deflated, and the worse, it's not running :cry: !

She's a great lovely lady, anyway, and I'm talking about the major, not, the lady posing at its fuel tank in the second pic!

BearCreek Majors
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Re: My not for export Major

Post by BearCreek Majors »

Damn Juan, I can barley pick out the clutch release in that pic and I know its there!
When we brought the “Lemon” home there was no three point on it as it probably had a backhoe on the back. I stole the top link off of this 54 for it and when we put the 54 back together the clutch release style is all I had, but I had been toying with the idea of putting the whole setup on her as I don’t have a major with that setup anyway.
The young lady in the pic is our Granddaughter Willow’s Mommy, and even I will admit that she isn’t too hard on the eyes.

Pat

ford5000y
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Re: My not for export Major

Post by ford5000y »

I could even see that the left hand link rod came from a super major,isn't it?

BearCreek Majors
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Re: My not for export Major

Post by BearCreek Majors »

Yup!
OK smarty pants :) , can you tell us what the starter is from, maybe you hadent noticed there is a tractor in the second picture. :roll:

Pat

dexta roadless
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Re: My not for export Major

Post by dexta roadless »

Dexta!! :lol:
6o Dexta Roadless
62 Dexta
63 Super Dexta
75 Shilter UT
62 Aebi

ford5000y
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Re: My not for export Major

Post by ford5000y »

Well, I know that the starter isn't original to the tractor but I do not know where it came from. It is because I have never seen a dexta

But, looking at your other pictures, it looks like your dad's major has rear wheel weights on it, once. Am I right?

BearCreek Majors
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Re: My not for export Major

Post by BearCreek Majors »

Yup you’re both correct!
With about a ¼” of shims under it the Dexta starter will get you by on a Major until you can find the correct one.
The missing weights on dads Major was some of my reason for bringing home four tractors this summer as I just don’t have enough weights to go around, between the four new tractors there are a dozen or so…..not to mention three front wheel weights.
Pat

ford5000y
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Re: My not for export Major

Post by ford5000y »

You're lucky, then. Rear wheel weights were very hard to find for fordsons around here. But the weights weren't the type of weights that was fitted to your fordsons. Here it is a large round piece of cast iron with only 5 mounting holes. That means, if you want to fit, let's say, 3 weights each wheel, you must replace the mounting bolts with longer ones. Probably the weights were made by the dealer. It is because ford thousand series weights that are sold around here were of 2 types, one was the original which says "ford" in it, the other one looks exactly like ford weights, except that it has a rough finish and it has the words "GAMI" in it. Probably the fordson weights were made by the same dealers because the fordson weights were of rough finish, also.

BearCreek Majors
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Re: My not for export Major

Post by BearCreek Majors »

OK so its been a few years since I posted any updates of the 54. Last year we picked up a real nice front cowl with the headlights that have the beveled lens, and then changed out that ugly red fuel tank. I finally found a set of cast iron front wheels last fall, and its rather embarrassing to tell how much I had to pay for them but I'm sure it was less than shipping a set over from across the pond. A few weeks ago I got some real nice fenders from a junkyard and this weekend she will get stripped down for painting. I need to get my butt in gear as the Symco Thrasharee is only three weeks away!

Pat

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