The Fordson Tractor Pages Forum

Hi All,new member and new Major owner also!
We bought the neighbors land which included anything and everything on it including the Major! I'd offered to buy the tractor years ago but the owner used it quite alot on this land,mostly using it for scrapping purposes.He had it for as long as I remember 35 years or more.
Heres the first of many questions: how to start without key? Yes I've searched but any more advice would be great.It has not run in two years or so.I can do the basics as far as priming fuel,filters,battery etc.
I will also post later today year of tractor,and hopefully some pictures!
Oh and if anyone is interested in a Lord Loader we have one ,now off the tractor.
Thanks , Lee

Welcome to the board Lee.

It is quite easy to start a Major without the key but be very careful and make sure it is out of gear as you will need to start it from the ground.

First follow the battery lead and find the solenoid. This switches the power to the starter motor. There are two large terminals, one connected to the battery lead, the other to the starter motor main power. Also on the solenoid is another small terminal.

With a short piece of wire, touch the large terminal from the battery to the small terminal. The starter should spin. If it does, get someone to hold the starter lever in the engaged position and touch the wire on the two terminals as above.

Please , please, PLEASE be sure you are in neutral if you try this as I got run over doing this last year (40+ years of running equipment and knew better and was VERY lucky to have gotten only slight injury). We all tend to take shortcuts once in a while and a friend with a green and yellow machine put his through the side of his barn this way a while back. The safest way to start it is from the operators seat!

Hi neighbor, I will be carefull with this and appreciate your concern for others.Hoping this is short term.

Kim wrote:Please , please, PLEASE be sure you are in neutral if you try this as I got run over doing this last year (40+ years of running equipment and knew better and was VERY lucky to have gotten only slight injury). We all tend to take shortcuts once in a while and a friend with a green and yellow machine put his through the side of his barn this way a while back. The safest way to start it is from the operators seat!

Hi Brian,
This did work but unfortunately would not start.Fuel seems to be going where it should.Same fuel has been in tank for 2 years +- I'm thinking I shoul drain tank and add fresh diesel. It would not turn over unless the decompression lever was up.I know this is frowned upon but I could not help trying it as I remember watching the previous owner starting it and then pushing that lever down once she fired. I also think ether was used.Should I refrain from using both?
Thanks,Leeroy

Pictures(Hopefully)
http://s1105.photobucket.com/albums/h35 ... G_3379.jpg

leeroy wrote:Pictures(Hopefully)
http://s1105.photobucket.com/albums/h35 ... G_3379.jpg

Hi Lee
Welcome to the nut house ( er I mean Fordson Forum ) I just looked at your pictures Shes gonna be quite the restoration project with all the missing parts If that's what you're going to do . Hopefully if you have all the junk from the place some of the stuff is laying around in the bush .
I have just been out working on a major that i am buying it is a bit more complete than this one but around the same age. I hope to get it running this weekend. it was -20 out there today but should be close to 0 oc tomorrow and Sunday so all being well i'll post up pictures next week and we can compare tractors.
Regards Robert

Hi leeroy, as im sure brian will also tell you, the decompressor lever should only be used for turning the engine by hand in cold weather etc to circulate oil. The lever should not be used to start the machine with the battery as it could damage valves/valve gear.
The starter motor should turn the engine over with the decompressor lever down, so i reckon you either have a bad earth or a dragging starter motor, also check your battery is fully charged and big enough.
I would try not to use ether to start it, it should start on its own unless there is something wrong with the engine.
If you cant get the starter motor to go properly i would be tempted to tow start it and go from there.......have fun !!!

Well you have certainly got a lot of work! Engine does not sound good either, A Major fires up as it goes over the first compression, even if badly worn, usually but if ether and the decompressor have been used to start her in the past it does not sound good.

A tow start could be the best way to get her running, then see what you have.

Hope to find help today for a tow start.Have plenty of room,which gear should Major D be in? The hose from the air cleaner has a large tear in it.Will this effect starting and if not, will it cause any damage for the time I'll be finding out if it will even start? It is far from dusty here.
I will take advice on not using ether and decompression lever but I am curious-do any of you use ether on any other diesels? I ask because we own a forwarder with a Cummins that has an"ether start kit".

Welcome Aboard Matey! She looks like a Honey badly in need of some TLC. You do know that you need to use the excessive fuel button on the injection pump for starting. Don't you? I believe I would try to tow it to start it also. If it sounds OK, then proceed with fixing the other problems. Dandy Dave!

Thanks Dandy Dave,I just found that while doing a search before I checked back here-so now I don't have to post a question about it!
But I do have another question:The fuel shutoff on mine has no cable.On a picture from this site I saw one that simply had a spring holding it pulled towards front of tractor. I was just leaving it in the straight up and down position? So I'm hoping these two might get her started?
Regards,Lee

You will need to be in top gear, 6th. The fuel shut off should be forward. The hole in the breather pipe will make her rev faster so be careful but otherwise it won't be a big problem for a short run.

Regarding the ether question, there is a lot of difference between a system that has a metered amount of ether for cold starting and just squirting it into the air intake. When it is just squirted in, engines can break pistons, rings and bend connecting rods as well as have ether wash the oil from the bores so that the pistons run dry at initial start up. Engines become addicted to it as the wear increases and soon the will not start, even hot, without it.

Good luck, hope all goes well!

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE SHE IS RUNNING!!! Combined all the tips+no ether and no decompression! Did not have to pull start. I wish I could have taken a picture of my boy's smile when the smoke started out the exhaust!Momma was cheering loud too! Started real easy idles nice.
Now I'll have lots more questions I'm sure!

So what direction should I go to rectify the missing key? Can I wire in a switch that I could use from the seat that would replace the wire trick? The wiring is a mess- alot of cut wires.Wires on back of alternator/generator(how do I tell which it is?)are cut,so I'm not charging right now.I think the previous owner kept a solar trickle charger on battery.
I sure am thankfull for the help I only wished I had looked into this sooner.I want to rake and bale hay in a bad way!
Also wonder if 3 pt arms etc. from a Ford 2120 would work on the FMD.

You need to wire a live feed via a switch to the switch on the starter. One of the two wires goes to the small terminal on the solenoid the other goes to the ignition switch that has no key. If you replace this wire via a switched one you will be able to return her to original if you find a key.

She has the standard dynamo by the look of it. I have just added a Lucas Service Book to the "Misc" forum. Check it out and come back with any questions. The regulator is in the dash panel with the light/ignition switch. I would suspect that your easiest way to repair the charging system is to replace the dynamo with an alternator from a scrap car. Again come back to us on it when you decide.

Hi Leeroy, nice toy you picked up there.
The hyd pump shaft should come out the front after the bracket on the (tombstone) is removed. Most of them are a splined shaft slid into a hub that is bolted to the front crank pulley, or a keyed shaft with a setscrew locking it onto a hub bolted to the pulley.
You can get correct repop 3 point drop arms and leveling box from Agriline products as well as several others. I would recommend purchasing a few small items the first time you buy parts from across the pond as they will probably get stuck in customs for a week or so. After the paperwork is done correctly and you received your first order the parts will get through customs without a hitch.
The drawbar will probably have to be obtained from a junkyard or e-bay. The fenders, rim, drop arms, etc can usually be picked up used reasonably.
Make sure you get the bolts back in the front of the frame rails as these are what keep the tombstone in place, without them a good jerk on the front axle could break the oilpan or wishbone and rip the front end off the tractor, that would probably suck.
I would also recomend hooking up the original fuel filter with a new filter element installed, those inline fuel filters may be fine for a thre fity cheby quadrajet, but not for an injection pump.

OK guys, am I on crack or does it look like somone drilled a few holes in the bellhousing just back of the starter???

Pat

Hi Pat,
Thanks for the tips ansd advice! Still unclear on the hyd pully though.It was free floating throgh the bracket when the loader was on but now the bracket is also off.It is not bolted onto the pulley in any way,it slides back and fourth.Its just a shaft with a collar on each end wwith a 1'' square opening on outer end and 1" square male that slides into pulley. I just need to know how the male square comes off the shaft.I'll look close for a set screw ,it is pretty rusty,might have missed that.
Has anyone had a draw bar machined from another?
And are FMD keys the same for other FMD of same year? Like John Deere,Cat, come to think of it my Ford 3600 has a key that fits many other tractors:2000,3000 etc.If so has anyone copied said key? Not that I won't go with your advice Brian,I think that the previous owner had it that way.Before we got it someone messed with the tractor slightly stole battery etc.
Pat you are right there are holes in the bellhousing(this saves me from posting another question!) Should I address this and if so how? JB Weld?
Bolts are back in frame rails , and as soon as I figure out year it will be back to original filter.
Is the PVC lower radiator hose original?

I cannot seem to get the parts book to come up and Wiki asks for user name and password but then states it is wrong password?

I see you are in Road Island. There is a yard back here in Freehold N.Y. that has some parts Fordson Majors. It is probally a 3 or 4 hour ride for you but would be well worth the trip. I'm just North West over the N.Y., Mass, Conn line close to Rt 23. The yard is about 45 minutes from me. http://www.smileysequipment.com/ Dandy Dave!

leeroy wrote:I cannot seem to get the parts book to come up and Wiki asks for user name and password but then states it is wrong password?

I guess there has been problems with the page. You can also go to, "New Holland Ag" and "parts lookup" Type in, FMD. The tractor parts books are at the bottom of the list that comes up. Glad to hear you got her running. Dandy Dave!

Dandy Dave wrote:I see you are in Road Island. There is a yard back here in Freehold N.Y. that has some parts Fordson Majors. It is probally a 3 or 4 hour ride for you but would be well worth the trip. I'm just North West over the N.Y., Mass, Conn line close to Rt 23. The yard is about 45 minutes from me. http://www.smileysequipment.com/ Dandy Dave!

Thanks Dave- a fellow logger commutes to NY for work 5 days a week.I'll see if he is working near there might be a great lead!