very early E1A major rebuild

[neilarmo]

I'm rebuilding a 1952 diesel major which has been in the family from new. It has undergone various modifications etc to keep it running and I am trying to please the tractor show pedants (and myself) and get it as close as I can to original spec. from the massive pile of parts I have been left and accumulated over a few years.
I am refitting the wide fan belt pulleys and it still has the under bonnet air intake and the vertical injector pump mounting.
I have a flat belt pulley, four bolt injector pump (actually 2 - to recondition ) and a selection of engine oil filter housings.

First question, of many over the next weeks, which oil filter and housing would it have had when new, long filter, but I have 2 heads, one alloy and one steel with a nut on top?
I'll try and take photo's today.

Thanks
Neil

p.s. I can't get the homepage links to open to have a look at the manuals?

[Brian]

Have you been to the headings on the top of this forum and tried the Homepage link? Seems to work fine for me.



Top of the filter of a 1952 Major shown here.



Whole filter here.

It should be a long Purolater one.

[neilarmo]

This is the response I get brian,
Firefox can't find the server at fordsonlad.dyndns.org.

any clues?
ta.

[Brian]

Not the expert on the workings of the site Neil but your details quoted look wrong. "fordsonlad" is the name of a web address of another member who writes for Vintage Tractor magazines.

The link at the top of this forum should take you straight to the home page without problems.

http://www.fordsontractorpages.nl

[neilarmo]

I can get to the home page, open the link at the lower left for 'fordson manuals', open the 'new major repair guide' but then not see the pages.
Has fordsonlad's archive gone down?

Just asking

[Brian]

Hi Neil, just checked the manuals page and as you say, get nothing. Will do some checking but possibly the server may have gone down.

Regarding your question on authenticity. Not all Majors had decompressors, you could remove the lever and fit a plug as non-de compressor tractors had. The sort of things I would look for if I were judging:

Flat rear wings with only a curved ridge and no pressed bars.
Foot plates. Early tractors had foot plates that extended over the bull pinion housings.
Gear lever knobs.
Front grills, wire, not the later diamond shaped metal ones.
Grill colour, blue not silver or orange. (Orange grills would get a 50 point reduction)!!!!!
No grooves in the sides of the nose cone. On the 1952 tractors the joins in the nose cone were filled with a hot sprayed metal filler called "Instant Loy".

[neilarmo]

Has anyone the dimensions for the wide fan belt, in my rebuild 'kit' that I bought a couple of years ago I got a wide belt but it is six inches too short, even with the dynamo pushed right against the block.
I'm reluctant to order another 'vap / agriline /sparex etc' one, I'd rather have the measurement and get one from local bearing and belt stockist.

Ta.

Engine bolted onto gearbox again, fuel bled through, oil in sump. Tappets are next.

[AdrianNPMajor]

Hi Neil
Any chance of photos?
Best
Adrian

[neilarmo]

I managed to get from photo1 to photo2 on my own with just the help of a couple of pulleys and a long bar. Heath Robinson would have been proud of me.
This was, I'm claiming, the same tractor in its very early days.



and a before shot.

[BearCreek Majors]

Nice looking old girl you got there Neil, you just cant help but to like em.

Pat

[AdrianNPMajor]

Lovely. I'm envious!
Best
Adrian

[neilarmo]

Thanks for the comments BearCreek and AdrianNP. I'm trying to get this one of the first majors and one of the last (my NP Super) in my shed side by side. Almost there.



This is the full pic of the tractor when 'new'. They had bought the tractor but were still using the horse plough on a chain, or might have been ridging a bit up for potatoes for the house?

[Pavel]

A lot of people have difficulties sizing up and obtaining the correct fanbelt they need -- especially if they modify things by replacing a generator/dynamo with an alternator with its different body and pulley sizes. In this case I've found the Bosch fanbelt catalogue very useful. Even though it may be more convenient to use another makes, example Goodyear, you can always use the manufacturers cross-reference chart because, surprisingly, they all conform to the same measurements.
For instance the belt listed by Bosch for the later Majors is a 13A1145, with 13 being the outer width in mm [actually 13.3mm], A being Automotive and 1145 being the circumference, again in mm.
The other listed widths are:
11 [10.7mm]
15 [17.3mm]
17 [18.8mm]
20 [22.8mm]
When measuring the widths remember they overlap the pulley flanges a little. Also bear in mind that V belts do not contact the bottom of a pulley when you are measuring the circumference.
Hope this helps.

Pavel

[AdrianNPMajor]

One word comes to mind to describe the man behind the plough in the photo above: tough.
Best
Adrian

[Brian]

Just measured the one on Henrietta and its 20mm across. Cannot get the length without stripping it out though.

[Pavel]

Two other measurements that I omitted to include for Bosch belts, which may help in deciding, are:=
Angle of the V = 38 degrees [for all]
Depth, or thickness:
11 = 8.0mm
13 = 9.0mm
15 = 11.0mm
17 = 11.0mm
13 = 13.0mm

With Brians measurement of 20mm the question is whether the narrower 18.8mm belt would bottom between the pulley flanges, and therefore not allow enough grip, or the wider 22.8mm one not fitting snug enough between the flanges to also provide enough grip.
In the past I have erred on the side of a wider belt, but not on a Fordson, because all new belts stretch and become a smidgeon thinner fairly soon after fitting.

Pavel

[neilarmo]

Only a starter motor away from being able to turn it over.

[Matt in WI]

Wishing you the very best on your first start. Well done so far !

[ford5000y]

Thanks for the comments BearCreek and AdrianNP. I'm trying to get this one of the first majors and one of the last (my NP Super) in my shed side by side. Almost there.



This is the full pic of the tractor when 'new'. They had bought the tractor but were still using the horse plough on a chain, or might have been ridging a bit up for potatoes for the house?

With that extremely long exhaust pipe I don't think that they do not have a problem going past through trees and parking the tractor in the shed. My grandfather's ford 4000 only has it's original ford aluminum exhaust pipe yet he managed to bend it when it hit the ceiling!

[AdrianNPMajor]

Always a great moment when you fire her up after doing an overhaul. Some photos of her running would be great.

You're quite right about the tall exhaust. I reversed into a shed that I wasn't used to parking in and just at the last moment I remembered the exhaust. I slammed on the brakes just in time to hear a little click noise. The exhaust was still in position but was touching a beam. I hopped off, had a look at the manifold U bend and saw the crack. If I had known any swear words, I might have used one!
Best
Adrian

[neilarmo]

I don't think it is a long exhaust, it might be a tele pole? I think exhaust is underswept?

[chriss]

Always a great moment when you fire her up after doing an overhaul. Some photos of her running would be great.

You're quite right about the tall exhaust. I reversed into a shed that I wasn't used to parking in and just at the last moment I remembered the exhaust. I slammed on the brakes just in time to hear a little click noise. The exhaust was still in position but was touching a beam. I hopped off, had a look at the manifold U bend and saw the crack. If I had known any swear words, I might have used one!
Best
Adrian

did the same thing u bend was ok but broke the manifold £50 lighter and 2 inches off the pipe I do know some swear words and used them all

[Dandy Dave]

Agree on the telephone pole. The position is wrong for an exhaust. Closer to where the air cleaner is. Dandy Dave!

[ford5000y]

I also think it was a telephone pole but I ruled it out at first because cannot see any cables on it. So at first I think it might be a "converted" underslung exhaust, bent upright and extended at that place near where the air cleaner should be.

But now I worked out how come the lights were mounted on top of the front cowl while the cowl hasnt got any holes in it in the "before" shot. What they have done is to make a bracket that is bolted at the original light mounting holes and is extended onto the top of the cowl.

[neilarmo]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBvRbM39sxs

It runs.