The Fordson Tractor Pages Forum

Hi,

my name is Peter. I'm living in Germany and got a 1963 Super Major last year as a gift from friends in France. Because you always ask for pictures, here are some from last year's transport: http://predecke.auge.de/html/traktor.html

I did a bit repair and a lot of cleaning and painting during the last winter. Now I'm looking for the color of the front logo. I found different versions on the web (http://www.flickr.com/photos/rileyfarme ... 097135924/ and https://www.flickr.com/photos/k_garrett ... 9862733296). I think the first one is the original one, because mine looks similar.
Can anyone confirm that?

Greetings,
Peter

Welcome to the forum Peter
You have got yourself a very tidy Super Major there, with front weights and all panels appear to be in there, just surface rust. Well done.
Looking at your supplied photos of the grills, (and I don't have the correct one at hand) I would say that the third photo of the second link is very close.
Keep the photos coming as you progress with her.
Kiwi Kev

Chek this link :arrowhttp://www.ebay.de/itm/Betriebsanleitung-Handb ... 3f26f4606d

At lesat the 61 Version should have those coloures.

Gruß aus Trier

Hi,

more photos: http://predecke.auge.de/html/traktor3.html
Up to now I'm finished with electrics and waiting for the rear wheels.

@county654: I know that manual but I think, the real logo was painted not so complicated. The hand in the middle e.g. is orange on mine. I can see no white color, but maybe it's gone while standing in the sun the last 10 years ...

Peter (sorry for my english, reading is easier than writing and Google translate is not always the answer)

Excellent work Pete, it’s always great to see another one brought back from the dead!
I believe the emblem with the orange background and black lettering is correct for your blue/orange tractor. My blue/grey Supers have a grey background, grey hand, and grey lettering, I have never found one with any of the more elaborate gold/red in the wheat as were the older emblems.
How much mechanical work did you have to do to the old girl?

Pat

Hi Pat,

I changed oil, diesel, cleaned the filter and with a new battery she was running. Where is my youtube link, wait ... here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ylghV1S0N4 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWPOFzHdabA

I changed all moving parts on the front axle, they all were worn out. Breaks are new, one was dry and hard to disassemble, the other was oily and easy to replace. The sealing of the pto is new, electrics are completely new, water pump is new. Tyres will be renewed, a few rubber parts (cooling, air intake), exhaust is new, too.

The rest is "as is". I hope, there are no more problems, when she gets real hot, like oil leaks or so. My test drives so far were only around my garage, without registration I'm not allowed to go on a road.

Peter

Hi Peter

There were two types of Super Major. Blue Orange and Blue Grey. You have a Blue Orange. Below is a photo of the two types of cowl badge.

Best

Adrian

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

Hi Adrian,

thanks a lot. Rests of the color on my logo look like the red version.

Peter

Hi Peter

How does the oil look in the gearbox and rear transmission? Probably a good idea to drain, flush and change both if the budget allows. Good idea to check that the gearbox oil is at the right level. It can leak into the rear transmission - this is a sign that the seals need replacing.

What a great find. I'm sure a few members are a little envious of you. I know I am! How wonderful to find such a great specimen just parked in the bushes. Love your lorry. The Major certainly rode back to Germany in style.

What will you use her for? What kind of agriculture takes place in your part of Germany?

Best

Adrian

Hi Adrian,

all oil is new, the oil from rear transmission looked like caramel pudding. I think it was the original filling. Maybe it's the reason, that the hydraulics did not work properly anymore and the tractor was parked.
The lorry was the least expensive way to get her home. 1200km for 1100 Euros was a lot money, but carrying her self was a problem due to the weight. All trailors for cars can do 2000kg and that was not enough. And I have no heavy car for towing and and and ...

Later use will not be any kind of hard work. German insurances for oldtimer tractors forbid "original use", but are cheap (around 35 Euros a year). Main agriculture here is wine, sugar beet, corn. For wine she is too wide, ploughing or towing trailors would work. I have a friend, who is farmer. I'll see, if I can help him sometimes.

Peter

My daughter's grandparents live in Neustadt-an-der-Weinstrasse. I have seen the vineyard tractors trundling along the roads there. I can see that the Major would be too wide for that job. Great for general farm work though. I use mine on a saw bench also, but it doesn't exactly strain the tractor! Useful though for sawing wood in situ, in a wood say, or next to a hedgerow. One of my favourite jobs.

Be great to see photos of her working.

Best

Adrian

AdrianNPMajor wrote:Neustadt-an-der-Weinstrasse

that's ca. 70km south from here.

I made a joke in my company when our new (2 years) diesel generator had a failure in the injection pump that I can deliver electrical power with my tractor. My boss offered me immediatly a parking place, but our generator has about 600KW, my Major has nearly 40 or so. Not that much for that job.

What are the technical parameters for the old generators on steam tractors? Modern generators all want 3000rpm, a pto delivers 540, a transmission is needed. It seems, that it's not a project for one winter ...

Maybe I start with towing trailers.

Peter

You are doing a great job.
Keep up the good work.
I should go for the orange badge.

Hi Peter

I have long had the urge to set up a generator on a three point linkage skid and run it off the tractor in case of a mains electricity failure. Trouble is, the mains electricity supply never seems to fail! So consequently I have never taken the matter further than the pipe dream stage!

Here in England we had (maybe still have) a well respected manufacturer of generator sets called Lister. They come with an engine and generator. If I were going to do this, I always thought I would by an old Lister set and replace the engine with a PTO drive coupling and any gearbox/pulley wheel gearing set up as may be necessary.

I'm not big on electrics, but I think a Major on a fast tick over would be enough to run a generator capable of powering the average house, but I may well be wrong.

Best

Adrian

Hi Adrian, hi Peter,

I do have an PTO driven Generator. If you ar interested in furthter Information, please open a new thread in order not to hijack this colour discussion.

peter2 wrote:Hi Pat,

I changed oil, diesel, cleaned the filter and with a new battery she was running. Where is my youtube link, wait ... here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ylghV1S0N4 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWPOFzHdabA

I changed all moving parts on the front axle, they all were worn out. Breaks are new, one was dry and hard to disassemble, the other was oily and easy to replace. The sealing of the pto is new, electrics are completely new, water pump is new. Tyres will be renewed, a few rubber parts (cooling, air intake), exhaust is new, too.

The rest is "as is". I hope, there are no more problems, when she gets real hot, like oil leaks or so. My test drives so far were only around my garage, without registration I'm not allowed to go on a road.

Peter

The good thing is , that it runs, because I always got a bad feeling if a tractor is left outside for many years without a rain cap, not even an old can or unused bucket to cover the exhaust pipe.

And, it looks like somebody has welded the left hand lift rod .

I forgot about this. plainly shows the orange with black lettering.

Pat

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gz8IqKV6GVU

Hi Pat,

fascinating. I love these old films from the 60s. But it comes to another question: The color of the grille. In this film it looks like white or clear (blank metal). I got new grille from my dealer in white. We thought they were grounded, but maybe it's the right color. He had them in orange, too. Used, however.
I was on the way to color it orange, but now I'll stop that and wait for answers here.

I have the lights outside the grille, so my has horizontal bars (only three ). In the end of the film they look blue painted. Can anyone confirm that?

Peter

Pete I believe your horizontal bars are blue but my knowledge of these is only from pictures, as these are rarely seen in the US.
If the grills are painted anything but silver the earth’s rotational axis will move slightly more out of position eventually leading to the end of the world as we know it, at which point anyone having a Major with orange grills will be deemed a witch and burned at the stake.
Ok it’s not quite that bad but this topic has come up many times, the Blue/Orange Majors had silver grills, I THINK the Blue/Grey Majors had the same grey as the rest of the tractors (you may notice the ones in my Super look to be blue). Some of the early pictures/films look to me like the grills are blue….but I could be completely wrong. Orange is quite popular but then you will have to try to convince everyone that you are not a witch.

Pat

BearCreek Majors wrote:Pete I believe your horizontal bars are blue but my knowledge of these is only from pictures, as these are rarely seen in the US.
If the grills are painted anything but silver the earth’s rotational axis will move slightly more out of position eventually leading to the end of the world as we know it, at which point anyone having a Major with orange grills will be deemed a witch and burned at the stake.
........................................
Orange is quite popular but then you will have to try to convince everyone that you are not a witch.

Pat

Hi Pat,

so I will go for a silver spray can on monday. I only see orange grills around here, but that does not mean a lot. The guys in the local tractor club also try to tell me, that white rims are correct, because it's a 63. The difference between early 63 and late 63 are very difficult for them.

Did the Dexta have the grill in orange? Maybe the error comes from there, here were a lot of Dextas around.

Peter

P.S.: I cleaned the linkage today, but keeping the most parts is not worth any new color. Nearly all parts are welded or bent, pieces broken or from other tractors (Renault I think).

AdrianNPMajor wrote:Hi Peter

I have long had the urge to set up a generator on a three point linkage skid and run it off the tractor in case of a mains electricity failure. Trouble is, the mains electricity supply never seems to fail! So consequently I have never taken the matter further than the pipe dream stage!

Here in England we had (maybe still have) a well respected manufacturer of generator sets called Lister. They come with an engine and generator. If I were going to do this, I always thought I would by an old Lister set and replace the engine with a PTO drive coupling and any gearbox/pulley wheel gearing set up as may be necessary.

I'm not big on electrics, but I think a Major on a fast tick over would be enough to run a generator capable of powering the average house, but I may well be wrong.

Best

Adrian

I have seen a few Lister Diesels around here from the 1930's and up. They are a very well built and reliable engine. Dandy Dave!

BearCreek Majors wrote:Pete I believe your horizontal bars are blue but my knowledge of these is only from pictures, as these are rarely seen in the US.
If the grills are painted anything but silver the earth’s rotational axis will move slightly more out of position eventually leading to the end of the world as we know it, at which point anyone having a Major with orange grills will be deemed a witch and burned at the stake.
Ok it’s not quite that bad but this topic has come up many times, the Blue/Orange Majors had silver grills, I THINK the Blue/Grey Majors had the same grey as the rest of the tractors (you may notice the ones in my Super look to be blue). Some of the early pictures/films look to me like the grills are blue….but I could be completely wrong. Orange is quite popular but then you will have to try to convince everyone that you are not a witch.

Pat

Dang, That is it ! I'm panting the grills on my Power Major silver Mateys. Welcome aboard Peter. Fordsons be fine tractors matey. But they not be floating so well. Aarrrhhhhhhh. Dandy Dave!

Hi all,

here is the silver grill: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwHbwU0_Qoo

And the rest, too. Some parts are missing yet, but for a first start after eight months it was ok. To my surprise oil pressure is at 50psi cold. It's a cheap gauge and may not show the real pressure, but I think that's a good sign.
Now the front wheels are off for painting and new tyres. The regulator isn't working at the moment so battery is not loaded and the transmission to to the speedo must be renewed.
Hydraulics seem to work, arms lifted and sunk. I have to test it with more load, two people were not able to push it down, but that doesn't mean too much, I think.
Break works, too. Driving backwards and breaking feels like the front wheels come off the ground.

Peter (happy )

Very nice sound