The Fordson Tractor Pages Forum

Thanks, Rick. My annual outing with the plough.
The thing is, I'm playing at it. You are doing it for real. Hope your problems with the wet weather turn around quickly and you get the harvest in safely.
Best wishes
Adrian

Begun a new field. Two-thirds the way through since taking this initial shot.
Halfway through it rained, sustained rain, first time for many weeks. Conditions much easier now.
Best, Adrian.

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Just finishing the second field.
Best, Adrian.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJPvYF_ ... e=youtu.be

Began ploughing a third field today.
Best, Adrian.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WMdlqTGjg0

Nice to see! In a year or two I hope to post similar pictures.

What is the fuel consumption for work like this. What gear and rpm do you normalt use?

Hi Adrian looks good! Had my ts82 behind the NP super the other day for the first time. Had trouble keeping it shallow enough, round here 6inches is max whereas it seemed to want to run at 8-10 inches and the draft lever was fairly near the top. Tweaking it much more resulted in it lifting right out. Wondering if top link sensing is working properly.

Hi Guduell
It all depends on the conditions. First of all the soil type, then how dry or damp the soil is.
Here in this part of Suffolk we have heavy land. When it's dry, it's quite a challenge, both pulling the plough and keeping the plough in the ground. Hit a compacted spot on a tramline, and the plough wants to ride out of the ground. When it happens, hard not to give it a bit of this!
Unless it's bone-dry, the going is good and you can pull in third gear in the tramlines, and fourth gear between the tramlines, where the going is easier.
As a rough guide, a tank of fuel (65 litres, I think) keeps me going through an eight-hour day.
I have no experience of other soil types, so can't advise on how the tractor pulls in those conditions. It's going to be very different.
Hi Roadless
You are doing the right things. Here where the land is heavy, the draft is sufficient to provide positive feedback to the qualitrol linkage, and I find the slightest nudge up or down on the control lever produces the desired response. Positioning the control lever halfway down the quadrant, or just shy of halfway, works well in our soil conditions. I wonder if you are ploughing in light soil. I'm just guessing, as I have only ploughed in heavy soil.
Could you explain why you wouldn't want to go a little deeper? Is the topsoil layer thin?
Any chance of photos?
Best, Adrian.
ps Lovely silhouette of the wrong silencer!

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Hi Adrian yes it's quite light soil and below 6" you can be pulling chalk up. It was set up at 14" furrows as that's how I bought it and it didn't seem to know it was there.

You need a depth wheel to plough at 6" with a TS82, what bodies do you have becuse 14" usually indicates SCN bodiesthat are semi-digger and designed to plough around 9" to 10".

One thing to try, take your top pivot pin out where the yoke goes into the lift. With the selector lever in Draft and the quadrant lever against the bottom stop, how much forward and backward movement do you have? Try screwing the yoke into the lift, the free movement should get less. If it seems to get more, try screwing the yoke out.

At some point you will find the point of minimum movement, one turn either in or out will increase it.

When you reach that point put the pin back in the yoke/rocker.

Thanks Brian, I'd say the bit you are suggesting to adjust is not original as it has different paint on it and it has been on my mind to check if it is adjusted right. I can't remember without looking if they are tcn or ucn I don't think they were scn. I guess down our way on the Hampshire downs yl stuff was more common? Hadn't considered needing a depth wheel, good point. Best take it up my pals farm in Cambridge where there's more to go at before turning up subsoil!

The levelling box handle kept rotating during ploughing, thereby upsetting the vertical alignment of the plough. I tried securing it with string, which was unsatisfactory, and a friend suggested cable ties, but in the end I have decided to remove the levelling box lift rod until I finish ploughing.
I have replaced it with a Diesel Major lift rod that I had lying around. Having no levelling box, the problem is now solved.
Re the Diesel Major lift rods, they are so much better than the Super version. Sturdier, and with lots of adjustment options.
They must have cost a lot more to manufacture, so perhaps it was a cost-cutting exercise.
Best, Adrian.

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Hi,

That lift rod is a E27N one, with the two hole yoke on the bottom end.

Be careful with it. I've spent ten years finding one in the Netherlands

Rgds Emiel

Hi Emiel
Many thanks for informing me. I didn't know this.
I love the design.
Best, Adrian.

Last field this year completed.
Up close to the hedge you encounter tree roots, which need chopping.
Best, Adrian.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzJe382 ... e=youtu.be

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Thought I'd add a few photos of my Major at its most recent ploughing match 1 day ago!

This was the tractor's first outing since rebuilding the gearbox and the transmission brake. 20 mile drive to the match, all day ploughing then 20 mile drive home and all seems to be well with the old girl bless her!

The plough is 2 furrow Ford Ransomes and the tractor's fitted with a Ford 6d Thames Trader engine.

Ah, the 'Frankenstein' model

I've several times heard this conversion referred to as the model Ford didn't make but ought to have

Looks a good job and doing a good job

Frankenstein but she's beautiful and surprisingly nimble at these ploughing matches

Roadless, Muir Hill, County and no doubt others made them instead, I guess therefore Ford didn't need to bother.

It's only the second time I've used the plough and Major for ploughing and am quite impressed myself with the work, thank you

Just kiddding

Apart from the air cleaner, the striking thing which took me a few minutes to suss was why it appeared to be wringing its hands - with a six lunger, the radius arm wishbone no longer reaches the sump so has been reversed as a handy front hitch - neat but have you put anything else in to stabilise the axle instead ? if not is it putting a lot of faith in the trunnion castings if you run the front wheels into something ??

Hi Rick,

Looking closely, it is pinned to the plate that is bolted to the front of the tombstone. Are you worried that this mounting arrangement is not strong enough?

Cheers,

SR

You must have a better screen than me SR - I can't see it Yes my comment was regarding that radial force on the front axle which the wishbone limits, given how much damage the pulling boys seem unable to do to the transmission with huge engines, it may well be equally overengineered but cast iron is fickle stuff and a sharp knock can do a lot of damage so I thought I'd do my prophet of doom bit

Neat bracket to mount a hitch for moving caravans & trailers about with

To be honest, I had to down load the photo and zoom in to see it...

I agree though, I would not be comfortable with allowing the axle trunnion casting to bear this load alone. The leverage that this area is exposed to, if unsupported, is huge.

Cheers - SR

Correct SR It is pinned to the plate (made from 20mm steel) that's bolted to/through the tombstone. It's particularly handy for reversing the four wheel shepherd's hut and the hay trailers about
The air cleaner looks a bit naff now I think, but there wasn't enough room between the bonnet and inlet manifold to fit a pipe to connect the original air filter (which massively starved the engine of oxygen as did having to squash the pipe work to fit under the bonnet).
I may even paint it this winter

Glad its restricted - potentially an awful lot of turning moment without - As for the air filter, it looks a bit strange compared to the normal sleek, thoroughbred look of the original bonnet but it certainly looks the part and business like.

Painting, I joined this forum secure in the knowledge that one day I would tear down, scrape down, knock out or fill in every little dent or blemish and then paint my old lady to within an inch of her life, then it crept up on me after the exposure to several here, the realisation that cleaning, rust stopping and oiling a mostly original specimen was going to keep her in a minority of 'as was' rather than 'as left Dagenham' condition, particularly having found out just how rubbish their paint jobs could be . I reckon yours looks pretty presentable as a conversion / earlier restoration era machine

To paint or not to paint, that is the question.... I probably won't it's just that I'd like the wheels orange, and if I do them I'd have to do the rest! Having restored fully just two tractors I know the work involved hence why I've only ever done two, one of which led to me being the cover boy of one of the more red and grey enthusiasts publications

Hang about here long enough and you may just chuck the paint brushes away

Mind you, if you've not done a proper blue tractor yet

This may be a mite heretical but, I do like grey wheels, the Orange and Oxford Blue of the Standards and E27N fit well together, I always thought the Orange with Empire Blue a bit strident anyhow one of mine is rust & orange, the other rust & red due to the original rim having been made out of putty. I have used a near orange red oxide primer over the red and then linseed over that and the rust, doesn't look too bad.

My bottom line has become do what is needed to preserve as much of the original as possible.