The Fordson Tractor Pages Forum

Rebuilding my 1963 NP Super Major

http://flickr.com/gp/73163549@N07/802bkd

http://www.flickr.com/photos/73163549@N07/6601745115/

Another image. Sorry for not posting them in the right order. This photo shows the tractor just after I bought it. It had been standing in a hedge for over twenty years and was overgrown with ivy.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/73163549@N07/6601830127/

Cab and rear wheels off, getting started on the rebuild.

Adrian,

Just put (img) before and (/img) behind with [] instead of () on the propperties of the picture and you will get


Sorry won't work. I think it's protected.

Rear linkage pins seized with rust, lift rods (wrong type) bent, PTO shaft bent. She'd 0bviously suffered some rough handling before being parked in the hedge.

Hi Henk

Many thanks for your guidance. I tried what you suggested but the image didn't appear. I'll remove the copyright tick on Flickr and see if that works.

Best wishes

Adrian

Oops! Still not getting it! Apologies for my lack of web skills!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/73163549@N07/6633614373/

I have added a few more photos of the dismantling stage of the rebuild (please click on this link to see the photos on Flickr - so sorry I am not web savvy enough to post them directly). Hope you find them interesting!

Best wishes

Adrian

Looks good what you have done so far, how much work is there to be done?

Hi Kipper

Thanks for your kind comments. Tractor is now back together and I have put her to work to run the engine in. More photos to come finishing with some of the old girl at the end of the process pulling a subsoiling plough.

Best wishes

Adrian

http://www.flickr.com/photos/73163549@N07/6640332207/

More photos showing progress of the rebuild. More to come!

Best wishes

Adrian

More photos!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/73163549@N07/6646118513/

Photos of the gearbox being removed and the revealing of the cause of the ominous rattle!

Hope my photos are of interest.

Best wishes

Adrian

http://www.flickr.com/photos/73163549@N07/6651624375/

Photos are alway of interest. You are lucky that the rollers did not drop out. Dandy Dave!

Thanks Dave. Ford has made some amazing products throughout their history but the Major has to be up there with the best of them. As an American you must be very proud of such a great company. I would be.

Best wishes

Adrian

Not much over here compared with the toughness, horse power, and fuel economy of a Fordson New Major back in the day when they were built. They were light years ahead of the small Ford 9N, 2N, and 8-N. And also the NAA and the first number series of Ford tractors. The popular little Ford tractors were tough, but could not compare in weight and HP. The Farmalls and John Deeres of the 50's had no three point hitch. and most were gas guzzlers. The early Diesels in these lines were plaged with problems.The Massy Harris, Oliver, Allis Chalmers, Case, and Minniapolis Molines lines were not much better. The biggest problem we had here was the mind set of the farmers that had farmed with Fordson Model F's, which were tough, but had their quirks and drawbacks. It took years to live down the reputation of the Fordson F, atleast in this country. In 1960, when my Power Major was made. The others were just starting out with the 3 point hitch and developing better Diesels when Fordson had already been doing it successfully for years. I have run a lot of older American equipment over the years and speak from experiance. The only tractor over here that had a tough diesel back in the day was Caterpillar, of which nothing could compare in the construction line of equipment. From what I can see, Europe, and Britain, was futher advanced than America in diesel tech in tractors, trucks, and automobiles in the early years of development as fuel was not as available, and cheep, as it was here in the gas guzzling USA. Just my two cents. Dandy Dave!

Hi Dave

Many thanks for the great insights into tractor development in the USA. Dear Friday, my friend and mentor, who recently died very suddenly from a brain tumour, was an agricultural fitter and he was of the opinion that nothing came near Caterpillar in terms of build quality. Having said that, he looked after a fleet of 30 or so Fordson Majors in the 60's working for a land drainage company and he had the utmost respect for the robustness of the Major in all its variants, including and especially the ones that drove the trenching machines.

When your Power Major arrived in the USA in 1960, I wonder how it felt for dock workers to see a product of an American company being imported (as opposed to exported). In a really nice way, there is something paradoxical about that, isn't there?! It just goes to show the reach of the Ford company, which continues of course today. Ford is so much part of our culture that we almost consider it to be British. The same feeling exists, I'm sure, in many countries (as an example, my nephew had a 1950's F150 truck built as right-hand drive by Ford of South Africa).

Best wishes

Adrian

A few more photos showing further progress.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/73163549@N07/6662246621/

Axle half-shafts and block rebuild.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/73163549@N07/6666591109/