The Fordson Tractor Pages Forum

Hi chaps so this afternoon I put the major to work ploughing an old grass field. I used my mates 3 furrow bamford plough.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kbPJzWn ... ata_player

Fantastic Steve. How chuffed are you now to see what all your hard work has led to? That engine sounds perfect. The Major is making light work of the ploughing.



Best

Adrian

It was blooming brilliant Adrian! she pulled like a shire horse all day. the only problem I had was that my hydraulics wouldn't hold the plough up with out the PTO running all the time. Am I right in thinking that its possible that the Hydraulic piston seals are leaking??

Cheers
Steve

Untitled by fixersteve, on Flickr


Untitled by fixersteve, on Flickr

Nice and shiny.

The piston seal is the first thing to replace. When removing it, be careful not to alter any of the adjustments on the qualitrol/draft linkage mechanism. If it still drops, you are going to need the help of one of the expert team on this site. I have only limited experience of the workings of the hydraulic lid.

Re your ploughing, the soil looked quite light. Just wait until you try it out in heavy soil. That fantastic engine will have a very satisfying growl to it.

How do feel about the work you've done? Major engines still start and operate even when they're very worn - you could have left it. But now you have an engine that you know is putting out full power and which will thrive on the hardest work and, with regular oil changes, will do so for donkey's years to come. That for me is more than enough justification for the extensive overhaul that you gave your great tractor.

Best

Adrian

Even the old dog is happy to see the Fordson at work. The engine sounds nice. The plow could use a little grease for the wheels or culters as I hear them squeeking. It is not uncommon to have plugged or missing grease fittings. Dandy Dave!

Hi Steve

Here's a photo of what's lurking when you remove the lid, just in case you haven't taken it off before.

Best

Adrian

[URL=http://s1216.photobucket.com/user/ ... .jpg[/img][/url]

Cheers Adrian, I have had the top cover off before, so hopefully it will be a quick fix with a new seal.

Spent the afternoon working the ground that I ploughed yesturday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQzqOswq ... ata_player

Cheers Adrian, I have had the top cover off before, so hopefully it will be a quick fix with a new seal.

Spent the afternoon working the ground that I ploughed yesturday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQzqOswq ... ata_player

Tractor, and driver, I suspect, in their element! Tractor looks and sounds great. Still hardly trying - you've got oodles of power there.

I notice your temp gauge is in the blue sector, as you said before. Your gauge has a red sector for the third segment - mine is white for some reason. Yours is a replacement, by the looks of it, as is mine. The gauge scale starts at 100F and ends at 230F. If the graduations are linear, as I think they are, then the mid-point would be 165F. The Operators' Manual says that 'for optimum performance the cooling system should be maintained at a temperature of 160-190F.'

The needle on your gauge, Steve, has not reached the mid-point, so she's still running rather cool. You're into fine-tuning now after all the major works you've completed. Getting the right stat to get her to run higher up the recommended operating range is well worth looking at, IMHO. You get more complete combustion at TDC with a hotter cooling system, whereas with a cooler system the combustion is still completing after TDC, meaning that full power is not achieved and exhaust gases are hotter (that extra heat should have been converted into power). That's the theory and I have well and truly put it to the test with my rebuilt engine. She quickly warms up to 185F (ish) and once there the needle doesn't budge all day, even on a hot day pulling a sub-soiling plough that makes the engine give a lovely snarl!

I said I wouldn't get back on this hobby horse - but I think I just did!

Time for a quick exit!

Best

Adrian

Cheers adrian, At the moment im having problems transfering all that power into forward motion due to the lack of tread on my tyres!

Untitled by fixersteve, on Flickr


Untitled by fixersteve, on Flickr

Not bad for 50 year old tractor! Thing is, there's no reason why she won't do the same job in another fifty years' time. Quite a thought!



Best

Adrian

welldone steve you have done the tractor proud sounds like she is running sweet as a nut You should ask your friend if you can have ago with some power harrows or a rotavator that will make her work nicely

just goes to show a 50year old tractor is still capable of a good days work, the modern tractors have air con, 50k and computers ect ect but i would be very surprised to see a current tractor still working hard in 50years time

cant wait to get my tractor back together to have a play

all the best dan.

Cheers Dan, Well if i didnt have this problem with my lift ram seal leaking i would have used her to spike rotovate the field. But as time and weather are against us to get the field reseeded, I had to use a green machine to do it

All the best

Steve