The Fordson Tractor Pages Forum

When the covid struck, I put the tractor up on axle stands and sheeted her over.
Getting it ready for a road run now, all well, but have a hydraulic problem.
The lifting arms went up alright. but now they are stuck. They always used to fall under their own weight. Any ideas what is wrong ? Tractor is a 1961 Fordson Super Major.

Moisture and lack of use can rust solid the lift shaft. Other possibility is a stuck hydraulic valve or linkage in the lift cover.

You might try to force it down without too much violence. Can the lift shaft still rotate a little?

Start by running the tractor with the lever in the raising position, load up the arms with 1200 lb or so and lower the lever slightly in qualitrol (you can stop the engine if you want) and see if the arms lower and how long it takes. If they come down normally under load they should be fine, if they don't try what Emiel says, and see what general condition the top cover is in internally. Make sure you lift it straight up for the first inch or so to clear the feed pipe without cracking the feed pipe bracket.
Sandy

The most obvious thing ( which presumably you have checked ?) is the position of the selector valve on top of the cover, is it pushed fully in to select the linkage service?

When the engine is running and PTO engaged can you hear the relief valve blowing off at all?

Clean up round the selector valve and undo the fixing bolts a turn or so each to let oil flow past the sealing rings between the valve body and top cover, put the control lever down and push the linkage down and see if it drops and oil runs out from under the selector valve. If so the hydraulics are not mechanically stuck on the cross shaft and the internal spool valve must be stuck in the hold position, there is a spring that returns the valve against the pressure of the position/draft control pushrod. Vigorous operation of the position/draft control selector lever several times and/or the hydraulic control lever might shock the spool valve free, if not it' s likely a hydraulic cover off job. See how you go and report back.

Road run on Sunday, tractor ran very well, brakes worked, diff lock worked, all very satisfactory travelling down lanes, along streams, I explained my problem and a forage harvester was connected to the linkage arms. Even with the two heaviest tractor drivers on site, the lift arms would not drop. Still stuck up.
The cross shaft is not stuck , during the covid sleep, the arms were down, when I went to use it again, the arms rose, but now will not drop.
Think I can hear oil swishing inside the back end, but a Fordson is noisy.
Taking the top off, I haven't done it before, but I read somewhere that there is a rubber "O" ring in the bottom casting, does the short stub pipe which you mention fit into this.Anybody know where you can buy a top gasket ?
Will have to put the tractor away for now, as I'm off to the Dorset Steam Fair, the last two were cancelled, and I have a need my five days in heaven.
Thank you for your advice, I'll come back to the forum when I take the top off. Will need to hire or borrow an engine lifter.

I think you'll need to remove the top cover, there's no o-ring as there's a different setup on Major and Super Major. You'll find the gasket from just about any aftermarket supplier.
Have a nice steam fair!
Sandy

I use a couple of guide rods (easy to make by cutting head off some bolts) this helps with removal and refitting to keep things square. Don't lose the split collets off the feed pipe, a lot of people don't realise they exist until after refitting they can't raise any pressure. There is an O ring on feed and return at the interface. Originally a gasket was used around top cover joint but some folk resort to sealant these days.
With top cover off you will either find control spool or unloader stuck. To get unloader freed up there is a small interference fit plug with a unf thread, this needs to be pulled out (quite easy to make a small puller with some tube, thick washer and a bolt and nut, turn nut while holding bolt steady to pull plug out) You can then tap unloader out from other end carefully with a long punch. Clean everything up but don't use any abrasive, polish with toothpaste nothing coarser. You can remove the O ring from the unloader, several people I've spoken swear by this and I have done the same on a few tractors with no noticeable issues. The spools are a fine tolerance in the bores hence don't use any abrasive otherwise you will get leakage past spools. At one time these were sold in different sizes so a dealer would try the tightest size that was still free to move to take account of any wear during an overhaul.
If you happen to be on Facebook we run a group dedicated to e1a majors and I have uploaded a few pictures showing how to do this job. I've not fathomed out how to upload pictures here.
Regards Ed

I don't think the feed pipe collets should come out just lifting the top cover, but do ensure they're there when you refit it. I think it's probably a stuck control valve, the unloading valve normally prevents lifting when it sticks.
Sandy

What is the Facebook page called that you refer to, Ed, about the E1A Majors?

It's called the fordson e1a major 1951 - 64 sales and discussion group.

shepp wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 02, 2022 11:47 am

What is the Facebook page called that you refer to, Ed, about the E1A Majors?

Found time to look at the tractor at the weekend. The lift arms are still stuck, but have dropped 2 inches under their own weight over 2 weeks. Marked it up on a stick.
The other thing i noticed was that there is oil dribbling out of the tipper pipe, that's new.

Went to check the auxillary services control knob to see if it was in or out, but it is stuck fast.
Is it in or is it out ? so a few questions.

The small casting on top of the hydraulic top, held on by four 11/16 AF bolts.I'm trying to take it off. It's been there for 61 years and won't move to hammering. Does the 1/2 AF bolt on the top go down to the main casting, or does it hold something that will drop down to the diff if I undo it. Put simply, do I need to remove four bolts or five ?

Is the service control knob in or out ? do I need to push it or pull it .If somebody with a supermajor, preferably with an early MK 1 hydraulic casting could measure the distance between the casting near to where the trailer pipe bolts on, and the top of the black control valve knob, that would help. Distance open and closed please. My measurement is 63 millimetres.

How to free up a stuck Auxiliary services spool valve ? If I take off the tipper pipe, can it be moved with a blunt screwdriver through the hole ? If I can remove the small casting, sorry don't know its name, can the spool valve be accessed from the underside ?

Would like to get the spool valve moving before removing the hydraulic top.

Thank you for your help and replies, only get to work on tractor some weekends.

Try pushing the valve in, it seems to me it's in the tipping position from your measurement if I've understood it right. If you still have the dust cover on it it should be bunched up, if you don't have the dust cover you shouldn't see much of the valve spool when the valve is pushed in. Running the tractor with the valve in the tipping position (pulled out) and the main lever in the raising position will cause the relief valve to lift which will make plenty of flowing noise and make the engine work a bit.
Don't dismantle anything yet, the tipping pipe leak is probably the result of pressurising it to 2500 psi for a long time.
Sandy

I have had the same problem a couple of times.
I needed to take off the Lift cover to get access to the Lift Cylinder Assembly.
I can't recall 100%, but I think it was the unloading valve that is stuck.
I just needed to push it loose and it has worked fine after.
This valve is supposed to have an o-ring, but you can remove the o-ring,
because it often make the valve stuck.
I think Brian also has mentioned that in a post

Uploading photos, I used to use Photobucket, but as they now want $399 subscription to upload photos to a forum, I've moved to Postimages, not too difficult, look about on google for a post from a guy on the Jaguar forum who explains it. Search uploading photos from Postimages to a forum. Takes a few hours for the password to become active.

Back to tractors, I made up a slide hammer to free up the auxiliary services spool valve. It was in all the time.

Tried all the combinations,

Position control and Qualitrol

Control lever up and Control lever down

Auxiliary control valve in and out.

In every case the lifting arm were up, and would not go down.

The arms had gone down a couple of inches whilst standing, but went up when the engine started.

Looks like the top is going to have to come off. I'm under pressure to build a new kitchen so the tractor will have to wait a while.

I'll come back when the top is off.

Anybody know what the 1/2 inch bolt, above the black flow control knob in the top two photos is for ?

Nice looking Super Major you've got there. I think you want to remove that bolt when you remove the external service plate. I must say it seems the control valve might have stuck in the raising position, with the top off that should be immediately apparent.
I don't use a password to post my pics with postimages, but I don't tend to want to do anything with them once uploaded. (there's a wee instruction here on pics:viewtopic.php?f=1&t=5024&p=53955#p53955)
Sandy

The half inch bolt is another securing bolt for the auxiliary services valve. If you loosen this bolt and the other four securing bolts a few turns it will let oil past the "O" rings between the valve and the top of the lift cover and the arms should drop.

Summers is here, time to to continue trying to get the hydraulics working.



This is a photo of what I think is the control valve. When the selector , by your right hand, is in the up position then the adjustable turnbuckle is up against the spool. If the selector is down, then the turnbuckle just flops around. It has a hemisphere on its end.

I thought the control spool, might be pushed up against the turnbuckle by hydraulic pressure, but the manual seems to show a spring.

Now for advice please. The control valve seems to be held onto the ram body by two 1/2 inch bolts. If |I remove them, will I be able to pull out the spool and the bush that it fits in as an assembly ?

Are the collets on the upstanding pipe with an "O" ring on it ?

I think the spring is broken, you'll need to remove the front cover to get in to that, when that's off refit the cover without the spring and see how the control valve moves in the bush, as if it feels alright that shouldn't need to come out, if it's binding then the valve and bush will need renewing, other than that look at the spring and get a new one if needed (part no. 957E-924B). The collets are indeed on the feed pipe, which also has an o-ring on it.
Sandy

Thanks for coming back so quickly. I've taken out the spring, looks OK, 60 mm long. Pity I think that would have been the cheap option.

My lifting gear is a bit Heath Robinson, so will have to wait for a bit of channel from ebay ,to offset the lifting position, before continuing.

Anybody know if the spool and bush are a push fit in the casting, or will I need a hammer and drift.

I think the bush is also meant to be a sliding fit, but see what the valve is doing, it's probably binding in the bush. There used to be new control valves around, but I don't know if they are around anymore. You shouldn't need to reposition anything for doing this.
Sandy

This was the first attempt using a straight lift using 4" y 2" off the axle trumpets. Didn't work, casting too heavy at the front.The piston and ram sit at the front,




Used a bit of channel to bring the lifting point forward,








The problem turned out to be a stuck spool valve. No threads on it to use a slide hammer, so used a brass drift.
All working well now.
One change is that high pressure oil is no longer forcing its way past the tipper valve.


Thank you on and all for your help and advice, I was a bit nervous about removing the top, know little about hydraulics.

I'll end with a photo of the tractor with the arms dowm.

Glad you've fixed it, very nice Major you've got there, looking pretty original. Your LH lift arm is a rare pick-up hitch type, not many of these around now. The exhaust also looks like a factory fitted type (not the spare type that is very common from repro companies as well as true Ford ones), but the earlier Power Major type as the upper pipe is on the short side for a Super Major with the seat being that wee bit higher.
Sandy