The Fordson Tractor Pages Forum

Hi,

I've talked to someone who said they've got a non live drive Fordson Power major and the high/low range lever is down in high range and low in high position, but it still has the U shape bracket under the clutch, is the high/low range lever the best way to tell whether a Fordson power major is definitely a live drive or non live drive? Any help would be appreciated!

Regards, James

Hi,

The high/low lever tells you 100% sure if its a live drive or not

Hello James

Sorry to cloud mathius advice but my 1958 Mk2 Major has high range lever down, low range up and a cast bracket under the clutch pedal but is not live drive.

I don't know any way of telling for sure other than to try the clutch out while running, if your friends tractor was a runner then I guess the question would not have been asked........

Thanks for your replies, just to confirm so if its a non live drive the high range is with lever down & low range with lever up? Regards,

James

I thought that they all had the u shaped bracket below the clutch pedal. The live drive tractors had a hole each side of the bracket.
When using hydraulics and not pto you put a pin in the holes across the bracket limiting clutch travel. The second part of the clutch pto/hydraulics was then permanently engaged and wear reduced.

If high range is up, then you have a live drive

Sounds good, does anyone know if the non live drive gearbox would be stronger than the live drive gearbox as it only has one input shaft as opposed to 2 shafts? Just wondering as I'm thinking of fitting a bigger engine in a fordson power major with non live drive. Regards

James, my advice would be to learn to appreciate the tractor that Ford engineers designed.
The extra power you wish to add will be out of balance with the tractor, and in any case you will struggle to convert that extra power into traction, especially given the lack of a diff lock.
That's my opinion for what it's worth!
Best, Adrian.

On my PM, dual clutch. Lever up on high. Look up a previous post by Brian, hope you are well, regarding how a live drive can cause great damage to a tractor. If you have it running. as you release clutch the pto will start up first before the transmission to running gears starts. Good luck.

Thanks, that's appreciated, is there much difference between a 1950s Fordson major E1A & a Fordson diesel major or is it just a matter of higher horsepower. Thanks,
James

All of the later Majors from 1952 are E1A's, that is the designation of the range, they had a variety of names on the bonnet, including Fordson Major and Fordson Major Diesel, some time in 1952 the slightly improved Mark2 engine was quietly installed with no change to the name, then in 1958 (once they had a year field testing the slightly more powerful engine) they rebranded it as the New Major , 1962 the Super Major was launched which had a different back end (you can tell by the disc instead of drum brakes and Top link draft control operating mech) and front wheels with three instead of four cast holes, or pressed steel wheels. Then finally the New Performance Major finished the run of the E1A.

While there were variations in engine components and output, the bulk of the engine and tractor remained much the same as the originals

HTH get hold of a copy of Haynes 'Manual' for the E1A Major as it shows a lot or the parentage and evolution or use the search on this forum as this has been discussed in some detail in past postings by people with more authoritative knowledge than me !