The Fordson Tractor Pages Forum

Hi all, a bit off topic I know, but i recently bought a Ransome TS63e 3 furrow plough for £50! its in good order, just needs a few things unseizing and a few bolts replacing which im doing at the moment.
Am I correct in thinking my major will pull it???
It has a land wheel.
Also once ive proved it works properly, I want to paint it up. What colour should it be, empire blue?
I will take some pictures of it once I get it hitched up, hopefully this weekend.

Hi Nick
Although I don't have any personal experience of the TS63E, looking at the Ransomes book I would say you are right in thinking that your Major will pull it without much trouble - it may make it work a bit in hard ground but you should be alright.
The book shows the TS63 as being a 2 furrow plough but if you have a 3 furrow version the Major shouldn't have any trouble pulling it.
The TS63 was introduced in 1951, when Ford had a commercial link with Ransomes, for implement manufacture, and both were painted empire blue.
Good luck getting the nuts unseized - I used much heat when doing the same on my TS59
Cheers
Chris

Three furrows is a lot for a Major on unbroken clay soil.
The tractor has the power, will usually pull 3 furrows in 2nd gear.
Wheelslip will be the limiting factor, if you have a Super Major the diff. lock will make a lot of difference.
If you drop off the back furrow and replace the second one with it you will probably cover almost as much ground by travelling in 3rd gear.

As fenhayman say, two will be the limit if you have strong soil en deep ploughing.
The TS 63 is the successor of the EP plough and made for the Major.
Ford used another construction for the depth wheel as Ransomes, so a picture would be welcome. For mine EP plough I have made a new bearing for the depth wheel.
Read next topic http://www.fordsontractorpages.nl/phpbb ... =ep+plough

Finally got round to finishing the plough, ready for the spring. It needs the front two points replacing, Ive managed to remove the two original points which look knackered to me, only thing is there is only one place I can find points for this plough online, and they are £37.50+vat EACH!!!!! They are RNF117 points, whatever that means! Is there anywhere else I can try to get points?

I assume other ransomes points wont fit?

Try westlake plough parts - usually very good - helpful guys- if they ain't got them a they may be able to point you in the direction

You need to know the body style you have to get the correct point. Even the cast "knock on" ones have different sockets. Post a picture of the point front and back.

Hi brian, at present i cannot get any photos from my phone onto my laptop, but if you search 'rnf 117 points' in googles search bar, you will see the ones i need advertised at westlake plough parts.

I may just bite the bullet and buy them from there as i want to get out in the fields in the spring. Ive just bought four fomoco front weights from someone in beverley in yorkshire, my brother inlaw is shooting there this weekend so he is picking them up for me

Hopefully, I will now upload some pictures of the plough, fingers crossed!

With those bodies you will only be ploughing at 3 to 4" with 10" furrows so the Major will handle it with no problem. You will need to get really busy with an angle grinder and a wire brush before she will work at all looking at the state of those bodies! A few years ago it would have been OK to take it onto a beach some where for a couple of hours ploughing in the sand to brighten her up but no longer allowed. The bodies really want to be so you can see your face in them as, with that twist, the soil needs to flow over them as easy as possible. If it sticks you will find the plough will get pushed away from the furrow and make a right mess.

I thought I might have some points here but most of mine are for EPIC and Digger bodies not the YL that you have. If you go to Westlake make sure you are sitting down when a price is quoted.

Does the plough not need couter disks and skimmers or can it be used this way?

I have a small sandblaster here, would that clean them up well enough? I also have a flap disk on a grinder, and a wire brush on a grinder. There are a few little pits of rust on them aswell, could i fill them with weld, them grind it back? I take it they are cast?

All those items will work but you may find the sand blaster would use a lot of sand. The "old" way to clean them up was with a soft red brick and a bucket of water. (Don't ask how I know)!

If the boards are pitted there is little you can do, the pits should not be too much trouble and will polish out as you use the plough. Do not try welding to build them up, you may destroy the temper in the board.

Thanks for that brian, im sure we have some old red brick lying around in the yard (usually where its fallen out of a building) so I might try the 'old' way and see what results I get.
Good job you said about not welding it! I had started to clean up one of the mouldboards with a flap disc, it did come up quite well considering, I will have another go at the weekend whilst waiting for paint to dry between coats on bits i'm painting for one of the majors, and I will post some pictures if it goes well!

hi

very interesting thread .

r they yl 165 bodies ??

Hi, to be honest, I have very little knowledge on ploughs. I dont know what they are really, ive not seen another one like it!

ok

they SHOULD , but mine don't , say on the back of the mould board / bodies the model / style number , yl 185 , yl 165 ... epic ect.

arched ransomes crest + model number .
half way along ish on the revers side , not the soil side .

I'd attack them with course flap disc on the 4.5 " grinder at first , ( sanding disc with a plastic backer is a much cheaper option , mega course grit prob 60 .)
to get a shine which u need takes along time , 10 /20 acres ploughing , unless u have some good hard land . the change to work as they shine up is huge , as Brian rightly said.
then oil / grease to keep clean .
any time spent on prep b4 you enter the field will not be wasted , I've blamed lots of other setting on plough/ tractor . when they problem went away as the bodies cleaned up.
west lake , mark ,, may seem expensive but I think he knows his stuff and usually has what you want .
I think all this sort of reasons is why match ready ploughs seem so mega expensive ??
hope this makes some sence m8