New Member with Fordson Major Diesel

[Ozmajor]

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Hi all,

Thought I'd introduce myself, if this is in the wrong area I'm sure mods will move to suitable area.

Anyway,

My name is Terry and I live upside down in Australia.

I've just bought my first tractor

This one


http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/singleto ... 1049811125


Haven't got it home yet but it's only a 50 minute distance from me to get it here, just got to find an unloading ramp near me.

I've also bought a front end loader kit from a different seller and it also came from another Fordson Major tractor so hopefully when I get it home ( and the Fordson ) , it should be a relatively easy bolt up and play kind of job.

I have 1.25 acres and I bought this tractor to do work around the yard. I'm also a mechanic by trade though I've worked in a law enforcement area for past 25 years so I've been away from the tools for a while.

I restore cars as well and the tractor will come in handy moving cars and parts cars around to save me dragging the family out for a gym workout every time I need to move one.I have a lot of car engines/gearbox/diffs that need moving around so the tractor will be used a fair bit.

I have operated tractors many years ago in my early teens when my father worked on a farm every afternoon after he finished his day job as a postman so jumping on the old Fordson that I've bought and going for a test drive was like reliving these old memories when I was a kid.

I wish the Fordson had power steering as I found out yesterday I've torn a rotator cuff tendon in my right shoulder and need surgery so power steer would have been a handy thing to have for me at this moment.

Guess I'll have to build up my left arm muscles now ( I'm right handed ) and just learn to live without PWR Steering.

Anyway, that's a little bit about me, and the Fordson I've bought and what I'll use it for.

I'm sure once I get it, I'll be fiddling with all sorts of things on it so I'll be asking some questions from the Fordson think tank here.

Go easy on me, I'm new to all this,

Cheers from stinking hot/dry ( at the moment ) 40 deg C ( about 105 deg F ) Australia,

Terry.

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[Pavel]

Welcome,Terry. Just hope you're not in the Blue Mountain's area; that's a bit hot and smoky at present. [too lazy to look it up!]

Pavel

[Ozmajor]

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G'day Pavel,

Thanks for the welcome..........

It's hot where I am but I'm about 3.5 hrs drive from the Blue Mountains so I'm safe from the fires there. I live about 1/2 way between Tamworth and Newcastle in NSW.


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[Ozmajor]

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Hmmmm.........

Been trolling through previous posts and came across discussion about power steering conversion for Major tractors back in April 2012.

Here's the post

http://www.fordsontractorpages.nl/phpbb ... f=2&t=4054

Since I have a complete torn rotator cuff in my shoulder needing surgery I reckon a power steer conversion would help me now and after my shoulder repair surgery and since I'll be fitting a front end loader eventually It'll help there as well.

Here's one in the discussion post.

http://www.agrilineproducts.com/Catalog ... ID=b0bcbf0


And here's another

http://www.powersteeringkit.com/

Anyone done these conversions ?

My shoulder would be happy to hear ,

Terry.

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[Matt in WI]

Welcome Terry,

[Pavel]

I sympathise Terry. Mine has no PS and I'm waiting for an op for a tummy hernia. If you have to use it, first make sure you have oil [90 gear oil] in the steering box [filler hole near the drop arm] and grease the steering knuckles and king pins. Not in the good book, but I keep my front pressures [also with a FEL] at 30psi. It all helps.

Pavel.

[Ozmajor]

Welcome Terry,

Thanks Matt

Thanks also Pavel,

I know when I took the tractor for a test drive all the greasable areas looked VERY dry and the owner said he'd had it out in the weather for at least 5 years so I'm going to go over everything that's got a nipple on it and anything that holds oil ( or was supposed to hold oil ).

The front tyres didn't look to be pumped up too high, probably because they were split and perished so I guess they were lucky to hold air at all.

I've been thinking of getting a pair of those 3 rib front tyres so I'm guessing they would also help lighten the steering?

One other thing,

I haven't got the tractor home to check, but, do our Australian Majors have cast iron front wheels with built in hubs ?? , instead of what I see in pics of overseas Majors where they have a separate hub with wheel studs ( wheel " Lugs " to the US fellas ), wheel nuts and unboltable steel rims ??.

I wouldn't mind a spare set of front wheels but I don't see any cast ones for sale anywhere, maybe time for a conversion to steel rims ?

Cheers,

Terry.


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[oehrick]

Hi Terry and welcome from upside down England Pavel will be glad of the extra support preaching to us heathens

Sounds like you've started out with a nice tractor, the front wheels varied here from cast 4 hole to cast 3 hole (abt 1958/9) to pressed steel fromthe supers onward, someone will know where to point you to check what yours would have started out with.

I'm keeping an eye out for a cheap steering ram as I've a decent Volvo steering pump looking for a new job.

As a coincidence, a friend on a model engineering / machinists list has also been diagnosed with torn rotator cuff tendon, must be a common complaint amongst machinists or steamers as several others have mailed in telling him to do the physical therapy he's given or he'll regret it, (now these are Yanks so perhaps even worse than us whingeing Poms from the opposite 80 degrees but I pass it on in the spirit of the International Brotherhood of THE Blue)

Sorry to hear you are part crocked too Pavel - must be all those contortions reading the screen upsidedown while trying to type the right way round..............

In mourning here, my fluffy grey & white purring companion of 18 or so years (who is generally on the bed with me here head-butting for attention while I look at my email & forums and then snuggles up between the wife and I after lights out) quietly expired in his sleep a few hours ago, not ill as such but the vet warned his heart was not good a year or so back, still, a nicer end than the one in Eric Bogle's song !

[Ozmajor]

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G'day there Rick ,thanks for the welcome

Can't wait to get the major home, have jobs lined up for it already, I think I should have bought a tractor years ago , but , at least I'm getting one now.

I've got the phone number for Agriline in Worcestershire for the power steering conversion so I'm going to give them a call when I get home from work tonight, here at 11 pm Monday night it's 12 midday Monday there.

The shipping from UK to here might be a killer though , I've been shipping parts out of California to here for a US 1959 Dodge sedan I'm restoring and the shipping from there is expensive enough , never shipped anything out of the UK that's been any bigger than a book ( so far ) so the shipping quote for a conversion kit will be interesting.

Sorry to see you've got a hernia there Pavel, had a couple of hernia repairs meself in the same general area and they aren't fun at all.

I feel your pain

All good once their fixed though......

My torn shoulder tendon ( apart from the pain ) is really giving me the shites big time, can't do much at all with it now since it's a complete tear, can't wait to have it repaired so I can get on with life.

Sorry to here of your puddy cat's demise there Rick, 18 years is a pretty good innings............

Got two attack cats here at home as well, funny buggers at times..........

I'll let you know how I go with the Agriline kit.

Cheers,

Terry.

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[Pavel]

Even with postage Agriline prices can't be as bad as a PS kit advertised on Ebay here in Oz as over $1000 -- and it appears to be the same kit.

Sorry to read about your Moggie, Ricky -- one grows quite attached to them. When ours died some while ago we got a young one to fill the void. Unfortunately it started to stalk and kill the birds that drank and bathed in our bird bath -- and we couldn't have that so it had to go.

Pavel

[Ozmajor]

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Agree Pavel,

I saw that one on ebay at $1145 Aussie dollars

I contacted Agriline and their kit ( same pic as the Evilbay one ) was 250 pound and shipping to Australia was 170 pound.

So paid for and shipped to me from Agriline , 420 pounds ( about $715 AU )........... $430 AU cheaper than buying the same kit here !!

I'm sure my torn shoulder will appreciate the pwr steering especially since I'll be fitting a front end loader/bucket so I think I'll order it once the tractor arrives here late this week/early next week.

Normal postal packages arrive here from the UK within 7 to 10 days , maybe the kit will arrive in similar time.

Once I get around to fitting it, I'll take some progress shots and throw ' em up here.

Terry.

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[neilarmo]

It will cost the same to ship 2 power steering kits as one.

[Dandy Dave]

Welcome aboard Matey! I haven't been on in a short bit. Looks like your getting good advice already. I'm a yank that just slipped in a big pile when I was given my PM a number of years ago. It came with factory PS, a raised PTO, Two stage clutch, and a double acting hydraulic remote control. I had no idea at the time that these were all options and some of the onlookers on here were a little green. Anyway, I feel your pain as I have had shoulder problems in the past also, and knee trouble, and a few other things.... Dang them guys in the white coats... Here they come again...Gotta run and hide... Dahoo, they slipped down the hall with out noticing me. I gave em the slip.. Back at you Fordson Lovers later. Dandy Dave!

[Ozmajor]

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Hi there Neilarmo and Dandy ,

I would have liked to bring in two sets of Power steer conversions Neilarmo, but the budget and the Mrs wouldn't allow it . I guess that's what the Aussie Ebay seller of the same kit may have done with his asking price of $1145 for the same conversion kit , getting one kit for free by selling the 2nd kit for that amount to recoup costs.

Dandy,

You yanks are OK guys , I'm rebuilding a 1959 Dodge Coronet sedan that came in from California a few years back so I'm a member of a US based forum for this era Mopars and buy 99.999999999% of the parts for my Dodge from the US so I get to liase and deal with you fellas a fair bit.
It takes a while for me to pick up on some of your " sayings " there and the different customs but us Aussies probably have some weird things we do and say as well I guess .

Now , back to Fordson's and Major's ,

And an update,

Have just ordered my Power Steering conversion kit from Agriline in the UK. Did it over the phone with credit card, easy blokes to deal with, all went well and ordered some other needed parts as well.

Should be here in about 3 to 5 days they reckon ( DHL couriers ) but with things I've bought from the UK in the past I'm thinking more like 7 days or so, especially now the xmas international parcel trading will be hotting up.

Dunno if my Mrs is gunna make me put it around the Crissy tree for xmas day or not but I'm hoping to fit it ASAP because my shoulder operation is scheduled for Jan 22nd next year and I won't be able to do anything at all for 3 to 6 months after it.

I'll whack up some photos here when the conversion arrives.

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[Kim]

Being laid up while you have a project you want to get to is frustrating, to say the least! I've had my right shoulder opened up four times(they finally got it right), and a knee replacement (need the other now). Wasting time while doing nothing is miserable but please, please make sure you do the therapy. You will benefit GREATLY from it and be sorry if you don't! It's a good time to memorize the repair procedures you will be using!