The Fordson Tractor Pages Forum

Hi
Not new to this forum, my problem is how to identify the type of tractor I own. Is it a major - Super major - power major. The deacl on the bonnet says super major, but is it the original bonnet? A description of the difernces would be of benefit because I need rear mudguards and I think that there is a variance in shape and fitting plates to the different types. PLEASE HELP.

Hi,

Make some pictures of the rear and pulley side of the tractor and we will help you. Do you have the engine number?

Will move this topic to major forum

Welcome to this board.

Take a look at http://www.fordsontractorpages.nl/wiki/ ... Major.html
The login name is the name of the site. The password is dotty.

Better take time to read a number of post in the Major board and you will find a lot of answers.
Also the wiki is a source of info about a lot of things.

Yes Taff the mudguards are different because the Super has different brakes to the other variants, the Super has disc brakes inside ribbed housings which are behind your heels when you are sitting in the seat, whereas the [older] Power and Diesel models have drum brakes, which are on the end of tubular housings; and the mudguard has a cutaway around the drum.

Thank you Blackbob, that was the information I needed. I am hoping my originals will be reskinned but if needed I would need to know the difference to purchase the correct mudguard. It is certainly not a Super Major.

I have a feeling when I take off the winter wraps, some time about Easter, that I will perhaps find that the clutch may need changing. The last time I uesd the m/c the clutch was difficult to operate, pedal did not seem to have enough travel, Perhaps it may be possible to adjust the travel.
Any help please. If I have to change the clutch, it will be done on a hardstanding of patio slabs. What advice to prop up the engine / transmission when split?????

Taffdavies

'They' say you shouldn't use concrete blocks to support a tractor, as they can suddenly crumble and collapse; however I have never seen this happen. But you must have the transmission securely supported, on big wooden blocks or strong axle stands, as there is always a certain amount of wiggling when mating the engine and transmission back together, and you don't want it falling on your toes.
I am not at all sure about doing this job on paving-slabs, they are not thick and the soil underneath them may not be very supportive. Maybe you could get some pieces of steel, channel or flat plate, that you could roll your trolley-jack on? And remember to put triangular wooden wedges above the front axle, to stop the engine falling over.

If you're not confident, we can talk you through it, but get prepared beforehand, and don't have accidents!

Worst case scenario taff they are perched on 3 blobs of mortar - I'd want a couple up to see first, not a job spoiler as you can always spread the load over a few slabs with some stout planking . 2x3's or shuttering plywood.

The pukka gear was a short length of angle iron rail track back end held up on a decent screw jack, front end jack on a little low trolley this one on ebay id serious overkill for the checkbook restorer but should give you an idea
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TRACTOR-CLUT ... ctupt=true

I've always had loads of heavy timber about so have always slid the sump along a bit of channel fixed on top of a heavy stillage, the compromise is that last little wriggle needed to get the toe bearing located

ISTR there is something different with the Super mudguard ribbing -an hour on the Wiki here will find you loads of info and if photobucket have quietly returned the linked photo's this would be a good time to save them locally.

Good luck

Thank You Both, Shouldn't have a problem with slabs, they are 50mm thick.

Just an idea:
this is how i did the split of my tractor the last time:


I put wooden blocks between the front axle and tombstone, otherwise the engine can flip over.

If not too late, when I split my major I moved the front away from the rear on a trolley jack on a sheet of plywood put on the concrete floor. The jack sank into the plywood and rejoining the 2 halves was a nightmare trying to push a wobbly engine over the ruts.I feel I was lucky to have got away without dropping the engine onto the floor or onto myself. A friend then told me he blocked the front half of his major and pushed the back end away on a trolley jack as its much easier to turn the rear wheels and keep it all lined up straight.

Thanks for the help, my first chance will be at Easter time. The holiday park is closed until then, Perhaps there is some adjustement in the clutch travel, this would be far better for me. Heres HOPING.

Hi All,

The time is almost right to start on the "Clutch". First off and possibly the easiest, is to change the stub axle on the draw bar pivot point. I have bought the "new" stub axle (EBAY) but problem is that the 3 bolts are badly corroded, thinking to grind off the bolt head and use the remainder of the bolt to unscrew (hopefully) using ERWIN extractors.
Question: Would it be alright to apply heat to the casing which is full of oil?

Managed to change the pivot stub axle which controls the hydraulic height adjustabel arms, after some 50 plus years there was not a lot of the bolt heads left, but some judicious heat helped to extract the bolts. Never can I recall seeing /using 9/16ths dia UNC bolts before. Time taken 2.5 hours for 3 bolts. Did have a problem, due to a leak in the fuel line which was drawing air, hope to have tractor running after delivery of new parts.

Well done Taff, those trunnion plates are either bone dry and rusting or oil soaked and like new, no two majors seem to mark their territory in quite the same way.

Mine has predominantly spent it's life pulling trees and stumps out by repeatedly hurling it into chain or steel hawser, so you can imagine the wear on those stub shafts and the pins and holes in the drawbar vertical adjustment, although following the recent dousing in degreaser and pressure washing I found traces of empire blue still on the drawbar!

Do problems go away? Having not used the tractor since last AUGUST I am having a problem starting and monce started maintaining revs. It seems like fuel starvation, the only place I ccan see where there could be the problem is the fuel filter housing. The original had a bleed screw, why I changed I cannot remember but the new housing does not have a bleed screw and I think that the body is holding air. Any advice would be appreciated.

Turn the fuel line a bit loose. First the one on the tank side, than on the diesel pump side. Pump until no bubles.

A week at the caravan working on the tractor and boat.. Pleased to say that the tractor is now working fine, had to spend a lot of time bleeding air out of the system.
Also fitted a pair of mudguards made for me by a very good friend, reckon they will outlast the tractor, what a tremendous job. Don't suppose he will see this post but THANK YOU Dale. Incidentally boat ready for the sea.

Glad that its running well. It would be great to see some pictures.

and yes

Can't get the beast to smile

how the hell do I upload pictures.... keep pressing mg but all I get is: ????

Hello Taffdavies,
Upload you pictures to a site, could be your own if you have one or something like fotobucket.
Copy the propperties and past that between img tags. Put img at the front between the [ ] and /img between [ ] at the end.
I's just a link to the place were youre pictures is on the net. Be sure not to put the picture behind a login. Than others will not see it.
Looking forward to your pictures.

Photo's ask requested (FINALLY !!!!!

Re: viewing my recent photo's, you need to click on each photo and view in different TAB to get full picture

Well I suppose everyone is in the same predicament, in LOCKDOWN. This means that the cravan site is also in lockdown and my tractor is sitting in isolation. I was hopine to fix the problem with the clutch, 2nd prize. I do have a problem with the fuel and engine running. Problem it will start then cough and (hope not corvid19) then cut out, I have fuel coming out of the pump breather and from injectoe connectors in good supply with no bubbles. Not being a diesel mechanic does it seem that I need to take pump to specialist to have it serviced, or of course, any help would be appreciated.- Looking forward to the future when I can actually work on the Fordson, in fact travel more than local.