Rescuing an old Major. (Maybe)

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west oz
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Rescuing an old Major. (Maybe)

Post by west oz »

Hey fellas.

The other week I was offered a Major for $100. The story is it's a 1958 (I believe it's earlier than that, it has a 7.0mm pump which I think means Mk1 engine?) and this fella bought it in 1960! He reckons it was last used 4 years ago but it seems like longer than that to me.

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We put some diesel and a battery in it but no go, motor is seized. It's been under a tarp, but with no exhaust so I was worried one of the cylinders was going to be a mess.

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I pulled the injectors out and stuck an endoscope camera down into the bores. These are brilliant, I think they're around $10 on ebay and just plug into your phone. It doesn't come out that great in this photo, but here we're looking at the edge of the piston.

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With this I could see there was nothing too bad in the motor, just some very light corrosion in cyl 3. I poured a mix of ATF and acetone in and I'll let it soak for a while.

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This Major seems remarkably well equipped. Raised PTO, live PTO/hydro, cast front wheels, rear wheel weights, belt drive. The loader is funky to say the least but more on that later. :)

Hopefully over the next couple of days I'll be able to unstick it. Naturally I don't have a 1 7/8 spanner for the crank nut but I do have the right socket, I can't get a breaker bar on it but might just go for a big pipe wrench on the socket or see if I can weld something up. Honestly I've just been using a pipe wrench on the crank nut but I'm only going to knock the corners off.
Last edited by west oz on Fri Apr 12, 2019 2:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.

oehrick
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Re: Rescuing and old Major. (Maybe)

Post by oehrick »

Nice find

To bar mine over when I got a hydraulic lock due to a head gasket leak I found a right angle bend socket extension bar and a few straight extensions just fitted in the starting handle dogs and cleared the side rails.

Glad to see another ATF & Acetone convert :)

Loader looks unusual, will await the story ;)
Best regards
Rick - Bogside on Bure


1958 Diesel E1A Mk2 s/n 1470165 - still in working clothes

blackbob
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Re: Rescuing an old Major. (Maybe)

Post by blackbob »

It's not really a loader is it, more of a dozer blade, it looks like something you would use to uproot bushes and small trees, with that substantial-looking steel plate preventing branches damaging the radiator. It won't have the power or traction of a 'proper' tracked bulldozer - but it will be more mobile, and versatile, and much less expensive!

Is the blade lifted by some some sort of links from the 3-point linkage at the back of the tractor? Intriguing - I hope we get more photos once you get the tractor mobile :)

As an aside... I'm not surprised the tractor/blade hasn't been used for 4 or more years - we aren't really allowed to do that kind of land 'reclamation' (clearing of wild vegetation to allow crops or grass to be grown) here nowadays, and I have the idea that it isn't allowed in Australia either? There was a YouTube video of someone sowing wheat with a huge articulated tractor and wide seed-drill in a big 'paddock' dotted with trees which he had to manoeuvre round, someone asked why they didn't just remove the trees to make working the field easier, and the reply was that that wouldn't be legal?
1440276 - 1957 - working
1335674 - err - one day..
Claeys combine M103 - 1963 703129 - working
Ford 7710 2wd, 1983 - working

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west oz
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Re: Rescuing and old Major. (Maybe)

Post by west oz »

oehrick wrote:Nice find

To bar mine over when I got a hydraulic lock due to a head gasket leak I found a right angle bend socket extension bar and a few straight extensions just fitted in the starting handle dogs and cleared the side rails.

Glad to see another ATF & Acetone convert :)

Loader looks unusual, will await the story ;)
Cheers. In the end the pipe wrench on the socket worked great, I got her unstuck! I had a 1.5m long cheater pipe on the end and I needed every bit of it! The loader really restricts access but I got there in the end. :)
blackbob wrote:It's not really a loader is it, more of a dozer blade, it looks like something you would use to uproot bushes and small trees, with that substantial-looking steel plate preventing branches damaging the radiator. It won't have the power or traction of a 'proper' tracked bulldozer - but it will be more mobile, and versatile, and much less expensive!

Is the blade lifted by some some sort of links from the 3-point linkage at the back of the tractor? Intriguing - I hope we get more photos once you get the tractor mobile :)

As an aside... I'm not surprised the tractor/blade hasn't been used for 4 or more years - we aren't really allowed to do that kind of land 'reclamation' (clearing of wild vegetation to allow crops or grass to be grown) here nowadays, and I have the idea that it isn't allowed in Australia either? There was a YouTube video of someone sowing wheat with a huge articulated tractor and wide seed-drill in a big 'paddock' dotted with trees which he had to manoeuvre round, someone asked why they didn't just remove the trees to make working the field easier, and the reply was that that wouldn't be legal?
Yeah, I don't know if it was ever used for much clearing, the tress are massive here. I'd say it was probably more for firebreaks and pushing up bonfire piles. I'll ask him. The fella is 85 years old so I think he's not too keen on clambering in the old tractor anymore! It was his only tractor and there's an assortment of implements, hopefully he'll sell those also. There's certainly little clearing of virgin land these days but previously cleared land is generally alright with approval, it largely depends on how it will effect water ways/wetlands ect. I don't think there's anything stopping us from knocking out single trees in paddocks and we can clear up to 1 hectare without approval but that's just our shires rules, it's a big country!

The loader/dozer does run off the 3PL. I'll grab some pics once she's out. :)

Hopefully this arvo or the next I'll have a shot at getting it going. I expect a stuck plunger in the injector pump as that seems common. The fuel that came out when I bled the pump smelled more like off petrol than diesel but at least it was clean!

west oz
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Re: Rescuing an old Major. (Maybe)

Post by west oz »

I got quite a bit done on it this arvo but I ran out of light. No start yet but she's turning over well and the injectors are back in.

I stuck a battery in and blew the ATF mix out of the cylinders. You might be able to see the vapour leaving cylinders 2&3. You can also see a bit of how the loader works.

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I spent quite some time trying to figure out why the fuel wouldn't come through, then I realized I hadn't turned the fuel tap on. :lol: I bled all the old, rancid diesel out of the system. The tanks leaks so I only had to get the fuel out of the filter.

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I thought you guys might appreciate my air compressor system. I needed something to blow the crap out of the injector bores. The tyre acts like a tank. There's no pressure regulation but it's easy if you keep your wits about you, though I wasn't letting the pressure get very high with that super old tyre! I've found 30-40psi to be plenty good enough for using the air gun, I haven't tried it with air tools but maybe one day. I normally use this setup with another tyre inflator hooked up so I can pump up 2 tyres at once after we go down the beach. There's just a nitto fitting after the T.

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Unfortunately I'm only getting fuel out of no.1 injector line. I guess I've got 3 stuck plungers or maybe something blocking a delivery valve from closing. I was really hoping to not have to pull the side cover off the pump here as it's absolutely filthy and there's no water ect where this tractor is. I might pull the pump off and take it home. I guess I'll see what I can do to tidy it up there and then make the call.

Any tips on getting the plungers unstuck?

west oz
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Re: Rescuing an old Major. (Maybe)

Post by west oz »

I had another crack at the old girl today. I got the rocker gear all back together and started work on the pump. It was only not getting fuel to cyl 4 today.

I pulled the side cover off and it's pretty grimey in there. Plunger 4 was stuck up in its bore and the fuel rack was jammed in place. I loosened the fuel rack by levering it back and forth. The plunger came unstuck with some light tapping from a brass drift.

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Back together and we had fuel at all 4 injectors but still no fire. It cranks over really slowly and struggles to get past compression. I cleaned some contacts but it didn't help. Hopefully the battery just needs a good charge but it's almost new. It cranks over quite well with the decompression pulled. I'll bring a couple of different batteries next time, I brought a jumper pack but it didn't help much. Hopefully I'll have it running this weekend.

I finally got the serial number off the firewall and it's 1294121, a may 1954. that makes it 65 years old this month. :)

Daves rusty bits
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Re: Rescuing an old Major. (Maybe)

Post by Daves rusty bits »

Do you know about the excess fuel button ? its on the bottom of the stop lever in your picture, push it in and it should flick back out when the engine starts. Good luck, your going the right way about it, nice and methodical and a bit of ingenuity,I`m sure you`ll get it going soon. Dave
1960 Power Major, 1975 International 475 - well no ones perfect.

west oz
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Re: Rescuing an old Major. (Maybe)

Post by west oz »

Daves rusty bits wrote:Do you know about the excess fuel button ? its on the bottom of the stop lever in your picture, push it in and it should flick back out when the engine starts. Good luck, your going the right way about it, nice and methodical and a bit of ingenuity,I`m sure you`ll get it going soon. Dave
Hey Dave. Thanks for the compliments. Yes I've been using that fuel button, though it took me a while to figure it out. I'm surprised how much extra rack travel it gives. There's likely a lot more power potential in this pump, turbo major anyone? :lol:

So in recent news, I put a fresh battery in it and it fired right up! YEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

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The hydraulics work great and lifted the blade with ease (I was a bit worried about that). I drove about 15 meters and then the radiator hose split. The hoses are super old and gummy so this wasn't really a surprise.

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I'm going to try and repair the hose and hopefully drive it home tomorrow. I don't live very far away and almost unbelievably, it's still road registered!

henk
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Re: Rescuing an old Major. (Maybe)

Post by henk »

:clap: :clap:
Kind regards, Henk

Fordson New Major February 1957 Mark I

Daves rusty bits
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Re: Rescuing an old Major. (Maybe)

Post by Daves rusty bits »

I think getting an old engine started after its been stood up for a long time is the second most exciting thing you can do, good job. Dave :beer:
1960 Power Major, 1975 International 475 - well no ones perfect.

west oz
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Re: Rescuing an old Major. (Maybe)

Post by west oz »

Daves rusty bits wrote:I think getting an old engine started after its been stood up for a long time is the second most exciting thing you can do, good job. Dave :beer:
I certainly agree! Though I'm not sure I want to ask what you consider no.1! :lol: :beer:

Some super glue and tape fixed the radiator hose and we were away. :)

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No real problems, it goes faster than I thought it would!

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A good 5 hours of cleaning later and I had a much more colourful tractor. I doubt it's been washed this century, the grease on the rear end was more like cement! I couldn't even scrape the baked on stuff off the exhaust side of the block. Much degreaser and pressure washer later and most of the muck is gone.

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I changed the engine oil and pulled the air filter off to soak. The air filter oil actually looked alright but there was a heck of a lot lot of crap in the bottom.

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She needs a couple of things before she goes back to work, I'm waiting on some radiator hoses and a filter kit. I also need a new fan belt, does anyone know the size?

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Re: Rescuing an old Major. (Maybe)

Post by henk »

Ah, she's blue aftherall
Kind regards, Henk

Fordson New Major February 1957 Mark I

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Re: Rescuing an old Major. (Maybe)

Post by oehrick »

Now that's a happier looking Major :)
Best regards
Rick - Bogside on Bure


1958 Diesel E1A Mk2 s/n 1470165 - still in working clothes

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Re: Rescuing an old Major. (Maybe)

Post by JC »

That looks a lot better! It looks like the air cleaner was doing its job.

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Re: Rescuing an old Major. (Maybe)

Post by Big Jim »

Wow good work Sir. Nice to see your labor and time investment work out. Quite enjoy following your story about your tractor rescue. My injection pump delemma followed yours but you had better luck. Mine was rusted solid after 10 years of British Columbia weather. Can't wait to read more about your adventure. Big Jim
1964 Super Major 5000 with FEL and Backhoe. Unfortunately no PTO or Three Point Hitch

west oz
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Re: Rescuing an old Major. (Maybe)

Post by west oz »

Thanks fellas! :beer:
Big Jim wrote:Wow good work Sir. Nice to see your labor and time investment work out. Quite enjoy following your story about your tractor rescue. My injection pump delemma followed yours but you had better luck. Mine was rusted solid after 10 years of British Columbia weather. Can't wait to read more about your adventure. Big Jim
Thanks mate, I think I really did get lucky with the pump. I'd read posts about broken springs and was fearing the worst, though they are fairly cheap second hand on eBay. It's actually very lucky the motor was seized being that that the fuel rail was stuck on full fuel, if it had have fired up she would have run flat out and I wouldn't have been able to shut her down. With hindsight I could have pulled the decompression lever but I didn't know what that did on the first day and I wouldn't have been expecting a stuck fuel rail anyway.

She has cast wheels front and rear. I think these were standard equipment here and maybe unique to Australia? The fronts are a bit painful being spindle mount.

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Surely the original front tyre? It's so rotted I can't even see any writing on it, the other side is different but not much better!

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Raised PTO which seems to be a fairly common option here in Aus. I'm pleased it has this as we need the pto always on with that blade on the front but with this we can have the PTO not spin. Note the farmer special pins in the drawbar.

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It's a live PTO model, though that's not working. I don't know if it needs adjusting or if something is just stuck, I'll look into it.

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This is the mods for the loader lift. It's a bit farmer happy but it has lasted all these years. I can tell you right now, driving down the road looking at all those old cobbled together bolts and brackets is just plain scary! It needs some new pins and some welding.

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The filter mesh is solid goo. I cut up a 10l oil drum so it can soak. Dunking it and lifting it back out over and over again seems to be a pretty effective way of cleaning it. Hopefully tomorrow it will be grime free.

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It'd be nice to have the instructional manual, anyone know of a PDF one online? I can't find anything, I've downloaded the workshop manual but that's not much help for the service type work I'm doing.

west oz
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Re: Rescuing an old Major. (Maybe)

Post by west oz »

The tach seemed to somewhat work but you can't really see anything, it hard enough to just see the needle. That's not vapour on the glass, it was very hard to remove and somewhat like resin.

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I pried the bezel off and got it apart. It's stuck on 695 hours, the plastic worm gear that drives the hour meter has stripped. The paint on the dial was super fragile so I couldn't really clean that. The needle was very bouncy when I tested it with a drill so I lightly oiled the shafts using a drip on the end of screwdriver and that smoothed it out a lot.

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All back together with a polished glass. :)

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The nib for the radiator overflow was broken off and loose, someone's done a messy job of trying to solder it back on. It drips into the fan and sprays coolant at you and everything else as it warms up.

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It was a tricky part to solder, I used a combination of my most powerful soldering iron and a blow torch. I think it's water tight, we'll see.

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The bowl on the lift pump was proper nasty

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This was about half of the crud inside. The little brass filter was almost free of muck, I gave it a once over with an old electric tooth brush and it came up like new.

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Much better. :)

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Is this the correct level for the air filter oil? It's at the rib in the tin.

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The fuel tank had a slow leak. I found where it was leaking and did the bush mechanics trick of rubbing it with a bar of soap, this fixed the leak instantly! :) I'll leave it for a couple of days and see if it leaks anywhere else and then epoxy up the hole. It's hard to see, but the white spot is soap on the hole.

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west oz
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Re: Rescuing an old Major. (Maybe)

Post by west oz »

I was looking through the workshop manual and saw the cover comes off the sump so you pull the oil pickup out to clean it. Even though I'd just changed the oil I was pretty keen on doing this as there was a lot of sludge and ick under the rocker cover.

So I dropped my fresh oil and removed the oil filter to see if it was all blocked up. It was actually pretty good. I've ordered a new one but it's not here yet. I just wanted to pull it out and check as my oil pressure gauge doesn't work.

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I pulled the sump cover off and pulled the oil pickup out. Holy heck! I cleaned a spot for reference.

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Many hours of soaking and a lot of scrubbing later, good as new!

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I made a new bracket to hold the battery down. I slit a piece of vacuum hose and put it over the seam on the tank incase the battery touches it. It's an N70zz battery and a 7.62mm ammo can fits perfectly beside it. Fantastic as there's no tool box on this tractor! :)

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Big Jim
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Re: Rescuing an old Major. (Maybe)

Post by Big Jim »

You sir are keeping me from getting lazy about going through my machine. That oil pick up screen was enough to put the "dump the sump" and pull the screen at the top of the list. Was just going to change the filter and oil and live with it until I hook up my new from india gen, oil pressure guage and see what it was. Not no more.
I really enjoy reading about your problem solving ways. But when It came to a battery spacer I'm going to use a piece of wood. Saves my ammo can/ tool kit from getting covered in battery junk over time. Please don't stop posting these are the posts I enjoy reading. Thanks again. Big Jim
1964 Super Major 5000 with FEL and Backhoe. Unfortunately no PTO or Three Point Hitch

west oz
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Re: Rescuing an old Major. (Maybe)

Post by west oz »

Big Jim wrote:You sir are keeping me from getting lazy about going through my machine. That oil pick up screen was enough to put the "dump the sump" and pull the screen at the top of the list. Was just going to change the filter and oil and live with it until I hook up my new from india gen, oil pressure guage and see what it was. Not no more.
I really enjoy reading about your problem solving ways. But when It came to a battery spacer I'm going to use a piece of wood. Saves my ammo can/ tool kit from getting covered in battery junk over time. Please don't stop posting these are the posts I enjoy reading. Thanks again. Big Jim
Thanks again Jim. :) I also scooped out handfuls of oil sludge from the bottom of the sump. I think it's worth pulling that pickup out when you give it a service, though my tractor had a particularly bad case of nasty oil. There's a bypass valve in the pickup for if it's all clogged up. It's a very small valve though.

I also cracked the drain bungs for the trans and diff to see if there was any water in them. The trans certainly has a bit of rust colour to it but it feels nice. The rear end oil came out about the consistency of cake mix, I've never seen anything like it. I've ordered 60L of transoil, that was a painful amount of money to part with!

I haven't really been able to drive it because the lower hose leaks like a sieve. It looked pretty bad on the outside, but geez the inside! I've never seen a hose this buggered!

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I'm sure you guys can relate but I often feel like I'm the only person in the world who does hoseclamps up in a way that makes them easy to get back off. This was ridiculous, the radiator has been out for repair at some stage and they did up this clamp with the front sheetmetal off. I had to pull the bonnet off but I eventually got the clamp off using a 1/4" ratchet with a flat head bit in it. Naturally the screw was already mangled. It must have taken me about 45 minutes!

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Flushing the block out I could tell the thermostat was stuck open. I totally destroyed it getting the remains out. I was surprised to find it just takes a universal 54mm thermostat and funnily enough, a package arrived with a new one the morning I pulled this one out but that's for my girlfriends work car. I've ordered another 180f/82c thermostat and have just put it together with no thermostat for now.

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I fitted a 50 cal ammo box to the side, there was 2 unused bolt holes so it mounts with those and is up as high as possible. The loader arm just rubs on it when you push on things a certain way with it right up. I think it will be okay, I'll weld a little spacer in so the arm can't slide across as far.

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I rewired the lights, it had this hokey switch that didn't work and a bunch of nasty wiring. I soldered it back into the factory loom so the switch around the key does the lights again.

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Both lights worked great initially but a couple of days later they're both blown. Gotta expect that with such old lights I guess.

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I pulled the banjo bolt out of the injector pump level drain and squirted some engine oil in there. As it's been sitting so long I couldn't be sure the level is a correct and in the shaft seal seems to leak a bit. I squirted a heap in there to get the old stuff out, it was pretty cloudy and brown so I'm glad I did that.

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I finally got to have a bit of a play with the tractor. I pushed up some piles of greenwaste and attempted to grade the driveway. Boy has it got some pushing power, with a weight on the back and water in the tyres I reckon it'd be unstoppable! Though a diff lock would be nice. The oil pressure and temperature gauges don't work so I was paranoid about engine temperature because cooling systems have often been the bane of my life. I guess I had nothing to worry about here, a whole 46°c coolant temp after all that messing about! :lol:

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I put a multimeter on it and the charging system isn't working. I'm not sure right now but I might convert it to negative earth and an alternator. Also I really need to sort the brakes. The left one doesn't work and the ratchet for the handbrake slips, though the blade makes a good handbrake if you're pointing down hill! :beer:

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