The Fordson Tractor Pages Forum

Hi All, we got ourselves a petrol dexta a few weeks ago just thinking its an old tractor but a bit special as its petrol. When we brought her home I started to google and realised she is something collectable. So we are excited and wanting to know all about them. Firstly I cant work out her exact age it seems she is blue with white guards and wheels, cant see any trace of orange anywhere. I have looked up the numbers i find on her but dont seem to come up with much more than 59 to 63. So if I post some pics and find the numbers I wrote down can any of you guys help me. Shes a lovely old thing I slashed 4 acres with her the other day and it was fun! Hope to gain loads of info here and make some good mates Thanks Julie

Ok if someone can tell me how to attach a pic?

Hi Jacet, Welcome on board... Vell, give us some pict and the chassienumber (leftside on bellhouse..standing letters) You have to use "Photobucket" (or something like it)for your forumpict.
-- upload to the photobucket from (your pictures) then mark out the pict you want to send to the forum.

blue32

http://www.fordsontractorpages.nl

If you go here, use the code "fordsontractorpages" and "dotty" you will find pictures and an article on identifying your Dexta. It will show you where the casting codes, serial number and engine number are.

I am making a register of all the petrol Dextas we can find. There were only around 4000 built for Ford by Turner Engineering at Wolverhampton and 98% went overseas from the information we are gathering. The most so far have been found in Australia, Canada and the USA. Some are making their way back to England from Scandinavia.

I have one and there are two others within two miles of me.

Please post any casting codes, engine number and serial number and we can see when she was built.

I feel so left out There are still quite a few Petrol Dexta's in New Zealand They still come up on "Trade Me" quite often. Some have been returned to the UK too... TSG.

The NZ guys then need to send me some details! At the moment, Australia and Canada are the top dogs in the register!

PS. Dotty comes from New Zealand.

Hi All

Here are the numbers i have found...

Next to the coil = FPL1064E

serial no ( where the motor and gearbox join) = 95786983

on motor = 957E 7505c T1

on gbox = 957E 7005 T4 H22F

on diff = 2D25H 957E 4013B T3

Thanks for those, I will add them to the register.

Your engine number fits straight in the list in 1961, I already have FPL1063E in Australia.
Serial number is not right for a petrol could you please check it again for me. Yours starts 957, there should be an "E" in there, then the rest of the number, 957E....... However if the number does indeed start 957E then it is a Diesel with a petrol engine fitted at some later date, or a petrol that has had another clutch housing/back end.

All the early petrols had serial numbers that start 959E.........

The casting codes are the H22F part of the number, the rest is casting mould number and the same for all Dexta tractors.

Clutch housing .... June 22nd 1961.
Dif.Housing .... April 25th 1962.

So she looks as if she might be made up from different tractors or had a number of new parts. A Petrol Dexta ASP in fact.

Thanks Brian she has had us baffeled. It has the 2nd fuel tank too dont know if that makes her special lol. Ill get out and take some pictures tomorrow. What do you mean by petrol dexta ASP?

Julie

The second fuel tank was on most of them Julie. They got taken off though for some reason. Mine had one but not by the time I got it.

ASP stands for All Spare Parts.

Brian,
This may be opening a can of worms but I wonder if there is some missing production information regarding serial numbers. As you know I have a petrol with a serial number starting with 957 as well. I have done some research with the previous owner. The tractor has been in the same family since new just a few miles from here and all of them are sure there have been no major repairs such as a bell housing replacement.

Julie, what part of the world are you in?

Peter

Peter,

As far as I know all petrols were 959E as that was the Ford designated code, as 957E was for the diesel Dexta until November 1961 when they changed to a common format.

Out of the 60 plus Petrol numbers I have collected so far, only 3 have 957E starting numbers and one of those is an ASP because the engine is 1963 and the rear end from the clutch backwards 1958/1959.

This is why I need as many serial, engine and casting code numbers as we can find.

Could it be that, if a customer ordered a Petrol and the dealer had Diesels in stock, that dealers changed the engine. It would be quite a simple job. We do not know but it would be nice to find out. The dealerships I worked for did things like that.

We need more numbers! I am doing my bit, travelling to Australia to get some! Please support Brian's wallet and send him numbers over the Internet!

Just did a check on the Petrol Numbers list. There are now 5 with a 957E number including Julie's one.

One is an ASP as I said in the previous post, If Julie is in Australia, the remaining 4 are all there and are very close in engine numbers, 1064, 1069, 1070 and 1078. Also the casting codes are close together in 1961.

I also have 1063 recorded but have no serial number or codes for that one.


Australia 1063 FPL1063E 1961
1064 FPL1064 957 (8) 6983 H22F D25H 1961
Australia 1069 FPL1069E 957E83549 6BM961/5718/3527 D26F / F4F 1961
Australia 1070 FPL1070E 957(9)E84601 5574/3527 1961
Australia 1078 FPL1078E 957E89601 J25F J18F K22F J26F F24H/J17F 1961

1070 has a query on the number, unsure whether it was a 7 or 9.

This one may add to the confusion. All the casting dates seem correct. Bell housing predates petrol production I think, but has the extended starter bulge so I can only assume they were casting parts in advance. When did petrol production start Brian?
Hydraulic A18F – Jan 18th 1961
Engine FPL 468E – 468th engine produced?
Bell housing K16D – Aug 16th 1960
LH trumpet housing A16F - Jan 16th 1961
RH trumpet housing A18F – Jan 18th 1961
Rear axle -
Frame Number 957E 73663 - 1961
Gearbox A12F – Jan 12th 1961

That fits in nicely right at the start along side Dotty and her sister. I already have FPL467E, she came back from New Zealand with Dotty (FPL487E) and is still in the container although I have had her running.

The bell housing is a bit of a "red herring". When we first started looking into Petrol Dextas we were told that only petrols had the special bell housing for the inertia starter. Fords changed the bell housing in August 1960 about 2 months before petrol Dexta production started in November 1960, for all tractors.

Dotty's bell housing was cast on the same day as this one along with the rear axle and one axle trumpet.

The lid comes further off the worms now. These tractors seem to be assembled within a few days of each other, if not on the same day and in (possibly) the same batch. All have a 959E Serial number except FPL467E which has a 957E one.

All subsequent tractors in that number sequence also have 959E numbers.

They were not built at Dagenham along with other Dextas so it is ulikely a mistake was made in the stamping.

Very interesting.

Brian,

Curious about this:
Over here (Canada), I have seen 2 Petrol Dextas with the triangular zero used within the serial number.
(It shows up on some diesel Dextas and Super Dextas as well. I believe even some Majors may have it.)

Would that suggest that the serial numbers for the Petrol Dextas were stamped at Dagenham?

But.. was it before they were shipped to Turner? (so maybe a few housings with 957E got mixed in a truck load?)

Or... Maybe the assembled units come back and had the serial numbers stamped on them? (and then the wrong die picked up?)
Was the tin work was also put on by Turner Engineering?

Regards,
Les

As far as we know, Turners assembled the tractor and sent it back to Dagenham. They also modified the bonnets.

The serial numbers went onto assembled skid units on the line before tin work was fitted. As the pipework covers the number, I cannot see it being stamped on a completed tractor.

The only thing that works is that the numbers were put on the bell housings before assembly and some got sent to Turners with the wrong numbers on. Wonder if there are any 959E Diesels out there?

The other point is, why Australia and not the rest of the world? Were petrols assembled from parts by Ford Australia?


England 373 FPL373E 959E70372 N29D N29D 1961
NZ 374 959E71798 N8D F25D 1961
England 467 FPL467E 959E73709 A12F A16F / A18F 1961
Australia 468 FPL468E 957E73663 K16D A12F A18F A18F / A16F 1961
England 487 FPL487E 959E72831 K16D K18D N14C A17F P20D / A10F 1961
Canada 661 FPL661E 959E75667 1961
USA 673 FPL673E B17F 1961
Canada 753 959E75373 1961
Canada 759 FPL759E 959E75986 B23F B21F 1961
Canada 852 FPL852E 959E78048 1961

Apologise for the number jumble. It is all in nice columns when I hit the "Submit" button.

hope this works, some piccies of our girl http://s1076.photobucket.com/albums/w456/jacet77/

Great pictures. Good to see it's being put to use and that you are all enjoying it. I bet the kids can't stay off it?

Peter

Great pictures, wipe her down with an oily rag and don't paint her,

If you copy the image code then paste it, the picture will come up in your posts like this: