The Fordson Tractor Pages Forum

Hi all,
With Dave's Farm Major appearing a couple of days ago I've become a bit curious as to which bits are Major Mk2 and which bits are Power Major. The dash, throttle and primary gear lever are definitely Power Major (the wiring I would expect to be Power Major too), but it would be great to know If the engine is just like the Mk2 or has a mix of Mk2 and Mk3 bits. Also, did the Farm Major retain the Major transmission and hydraulics or did it have the Power Major parts (strengthened diff, modified unloading valve and control valve)? That will help Dave and other Farm Major owners in getting the right spares. Was it true that Farm Major grilles were orange? In an old post when Brian went to Australia he said that they were orange, and a page from Barry on the old site shows the instruction book cover with orange grilles too (it has the same picture as the Power Major one but with slightly different colours). I think I'm also right in saying that the wheels were different on the Farm Major, Dave's rear wheels look like those used by Ebro for their narrow tractors, although the sizes might be different.
Please correct me on any mistakes, as I'm very unlikely to see a Farm Major in person (unless one has been brought from Australia, which I would't expect)
Sandy

I went looking for data from the Farm Major. In the club magazine of the FFCN of April 2013, I wrote a piece about Major models outside the regular models that we know. The Farm Major was one of them.

quote: In Australia, during the Power Major period, the Ford Motor Company supplied its own model. This is a stripped-down Power Major, so without options with an MK1 engine. There was probably still a large stock of older engines in Australia or perhaps the stock in England was bought up. We don't know exactly. Buyers had the opportunity to choose this model where a lower purchase price and lower fuel consumption were an advantage.
end quote.

The export models to Australia, New Zealand and America were shipped without wheels. Importers supplied the tractors with wheels and tires.

The above says that it concerns the MK1 engines. Dave's Farm Major is a 1960 engine. That is new to me. This would then be a Power Major engine as they were built until November 1960. I think casting codes are the only way to get clarity on this.

Not necessarily just casting codes, what we need to work out what they used is a complete inspection of all parts with as many parts books to hand as possible in order to see what each bit comes from. From what you say I think the difference could be as small as different pump calibration, as the quoted power of the Farm Major sounds like that of a Mk2. I say this because Dave's Major has the pump stamped 527, which was used on Power Major's until the 647 appeared with the new governor. A Mk1 pump is stamped 380, and I very much doubt they used Mk1 parts as that would have made it more expensive. Dave has Mk3 parts as far as I can see, the injector nozzles are also of interest for their hole size will affect the running. American Majors had Sankey oversize wheels (7.5-16 and 14-30) as supplied in most areas, but they had them as std. rather than optional, and I think New Zealand had the usual std. wheels. The Farm Major had all the extras of the Major Mk2, whereas the Power Major had many of them as std.
Sandy

Just found a Farm Major pic, this one looks as though it might be original.
https://d3lp4xedbqa8a5.cloudfront.net/i ... 21/095.jpg
Sandy

Sandy,

It has the breather in front of the dieselpump, so it's a Power engine.

As the Farm Major was produced from 1959 to 61 (or so it says on the old page) it would have a breather as it's a Mk2/derated Mk3 (need to see parts in detail to get that far) engine, not a stock Mk1 (remember Dave's Farm Major: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=8365). I also think it's a Farm Major from the pressed steel rear wheels.
Sandy

Hi,

I wouldn’t be surprised if the difference between a power major and a farm major is just the badge, price tag and may be some bolt on accessoires.

Can’t imagine that on fords production scale it was economical to manufacture an old type engine next to the mk2 engine.

Current tractors can differ in engine software but I doubt that was common practice back then

They might have used stock parts and calibrated the injector pumps for less power, but I agree it certainly wouldn't make sense. We need to get good in depth pics of an original Farm Major so we see what bits come from what Major.
Sandy

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source= ... S-zglhwB46
Not exactly sure what i'm doing, but i think if you click the link it will download automatically, it's the Australian test report on the Farm Major

Great find John, the Farm Major tested is from April 59.
Sandy