The Fordson Tractor Pages Forum

Hi guys i have become aware that my cooling fan is touching the front axle beam. the pulley is assembled on the water pump than the fan with the (spacer)? did aanyone every have this trouble after reassembly of their tractor? if it wouldnt cause a problem i would just bolt the fan direct to the pulley with no spacer.

You may find that the axle pivot pin and bush is badly worn. I would not remove the spacer as this would move the fan back from the radiator and reduce cooling.

yeah im not sure it would be worn a lot. its not a tractor that worked hard in the last thirty or more years has been parked mostly. it almost seems the axle moved toward the fan more when i installed because its not in the center of the pivot. i guess ill have to takea closer look at things.

islander wrote:it almost seems the axle moved toward the fan more when i installed because its not in the center of the pivot. i guess ill have to takea closer look at things.

Your radius rods should hold you axle in the proper place unless they're bent. Axle won't be centered on the pivot pin. Should be closer to the rear than front. Were there spacers on the pivot pin when you took it apart?
Are you sure your axle support bracket isn't bent or not mounted properly? Other that having the wrong size fan, don't know how this could happen. But then again I'm not a genius

Maybe these will help. I doubt wear in the pin would be enough to make it touch. Something assembled wrong, or the wrong fan. Assuming the fan belt alignment is still correct, and the correct fan is fitted, then you will be looking at axle mounting I think.

hi dont know if this has any bearing on the problem but the fan blades dont seem to be
standered dexta /s dexta blades , this is compared to a any i have had an seen,
they mybe off a massey but i may be complety wrong though sky blue

I see by your pics that you must have a petrol dexta. I'm sure someone on here can confirm weather the fan is correct or not. Maybe start a new thread with "petrol dexta fan" in the subject line. Might get the attention of other petrol owners. Sure doesn't look like the fan on my super dexta.

I think there is some misunderstanding about the pictures. They are not of the tractor Islander is asking about, but sample picture of my tractor that I have posted in the hope they will help Islander sort the problem. They will at least show if he has all the correct spacers on the fan and axle. I've been following Islander's previous posts and I believe the tractor he is working on is a petrol Dexta, but he will be able to confirm that for us.

Yes, the petrol Dexta's run a different fan, likely the same as a MF as they used the same engine. If I recall my diesel Dexta had a 2 blade fan.

Peter

no the pictures are the same as mine and i had everything correct so i just bent the blades towards the engine more..maybe they got bent along the way during restoration. so thanks guys appreciate it. my next problem is a sputtering tractor...probably the points or bad wires. sounds almost like running only on 3 cylinders

pjjms,
Guess I should have read the post with the pictures more carefully

Points, condenser or even mixture too lean. Had all these problems earlier in the year with mine. After renewing all the electrical parts including a new coil I finally gave her another half turn on the needle valve and she ran like a sewing machine. Also ran about 10 degrees cooler.

I have also noticed a strange thing with two petrol Dextas. When started and run for a short time the temperature reading rises into the red on the dial then will slowly return to the normal/cool band. Once there it will stay in the band all day, rising to the red and returning back when under load.

The immediate thought is thermostat opening and closing but neither tractor has a thermostat fitted. Dotty is one of the tractors and she has a new water pump, radiator and the block cleaned out. The other was a tractor in Australia. I did fit a new thermostat to Dotty but this seemed to make the problem worse. Could have been a faulty thermostat though.

The fan used in Australia is the six bladed version used by MF on the 35. I have been trying to find one over here for Dotty but have had no luck yet. May have to "import" one on my next trip.

yout turned your mixture screw out another half turn...so you are 4 turns in total? i had my carb off last week before the trouble started to adjust the floats because they we sticking inside. took it for a short drive worked good and than the trouble started...will try the mixture screw but im leading more towards the ignition parts. i dont know what temp my tractor runs at ...never had a working gauge but it never looked to be getting hot.

The book gives two settings for the main jet. Up to Engine Number FPL971E the needle should be screwed in then turned out 3 and a 1/2 turns, after FPL971E the needle should be turned out 2 and 5/8 turns.

Both these figures are approximate figures and really it is where she runs best. Too far open means black smoke and high fuel use, too far closed means the valves will burn out.

well mine is set at 3 and a half out ...don't think she is too lean though. when i take 2nd cylinder wire off seems like she doesnt change much in power and sound..must be bad wire or points. i was thinking about buying a pertronix ignition ignitor with the flame thrower coil. i heard it makes quite a difference and maintenance free.

If you pull one wire and the sound and power does not change it would not be the points. Can you get a spark to jump from the wire to the block?

Try moving a plug to Number 2 from one of the firing cylinders.

More likely to be bad valves on that cylinder rather than other electrical faults.

bad head gasket between number 1cyl and number 2cyl. Water comes out of exhaust at start up with bit of white smoke. More parts to order
CYL 1- 80psi
CYl 2- 75psi
CYL 3- 105psi
CYL 4- 110psi