I am working on THE DARK SIDE!

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Brian
Grumpy
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Joined: Wed Apr 16, 2008 2:07 pm
Location: Norfolk, England.

I am working on THE DARK SIDE!

Post by Brian »

It is the time of year when the ploughing has to be done and potatoes planted so all the fleet are working flat out. this year I had delivered around 40 tons of well rotted pig muck so that has got to be spread and ploughed in. Nuffy is on the Howard Rotospreader and Henrietta is on the single furrow deep digger ploughing the freshly spread muck straight in so we do not get complaints from the neigbours, Harriet is doing the loading as usual.

Whilst loading the second load on Thursday I suddenly noticed a warm feeling on my right leg and my boot was also feeling warm and wet on the inside. I glanced down and saw a stream of oil from the gasket between the top cover and the rear axle housing, pumping out as I lifted the loader and aimed straight at the top of my boot as it rested on the foot rest.

Cursing under my breath because things had been going so well, I managed to raise the loader and lock it up before trundling home to start to remove the hydraulics and replace the faulty "O" ring on the pressure pipe. The last TE20 lift I worked on was back in 1964. This was going to be a test of the memory. I stripped the arms and weight from the rear and took off the two side plates, one either side. Life would be so much easier if she did not have the MIL loader fitted but soon I was ready to lift the top off.

One thing to remember with TE20 hydraulics is the control valve is in the pump at the bottom of the axle housing and a couple of long arms go down to it from the top cover, these have to be removed before the lift can be lifted off otherwise the control valve can be damaged, I had rembered that bit so I sprung them apart and removed the linkage. Then I lifted the lift and found my first mistake :cry: NO "O" RING! all that seals the pressure pipe to the ram cylinder pipe is the top cover gasket and a large lump had been blown out of this.

This brought "play time" to an end as I now have to wait until after the holiday to get a new gasket and get her back together. So I started to clean up the parts ready to go back when the gasket arrives.

We have had Harriet for over 35 years and, as I have said before, she has been the neglected tractor in our collection but this is the first time she has let us down. Apart from plugs points, a head gasket and a new radiator she has been trouble free for an old tractor. Now I have the hydraulics apart I noticed something I had missed and am now wondering what it is.

On the right hand axle side plate, instead of just a plain side plate, Harriet has a hydraulic valve of some sort. There is also a blocked off port on the hydraulic pump just below it.

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As you can see, the side plate has two hydraulic pipe connections, I would think one in and one out. I started to wonder if it was an Auxilliary Service Tapping but then I stripped it out and found:

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This valve system. As well as the two external hydraulic fittings there is a port to let the valve pass oil back to the rear axle.

It looks like a Pressure Relief Valve of some sort but there is no adjustment to set it and the external hexagon stud at the top of the valve, does not screw but rather lifts to allow the internal valve to come off its seat and pass oil back into the rear axle.

I have never seen anything like this on a TE20, remember it is not piped up on Harriet and all the pipe work must be external. It does not appear in the workshop manual. It does however have a Fergy part number.

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The "54" at the end of the number is 1954 I think.

Anyone seen anything like it or can give me a clue as to what it does?
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Brian

frode
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Re: I am working on THE DARK SIDE!

Post by frode »

Never seen anything like that side cover!
frode

1957 County MarkIV Crawler
1964 County Super-4
1967 County 654
1977 County 7600-FOUR

Brian
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Joined: Wed Apr 16, 2008 2:07 pm
Location: Norfolk, England.

Re: I am working on THE DARK SIDE!

Post by Brian »

I have found out what the valve is on the side plate of the Ferguson, it is indeed a form of AS valve. It is controlled by another lever mounted to the left of the seat and this is the part that I am missing.

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Fordson Tractor Pages, now officially linked to: Fordson Tractor Club of Australia, Ford and Fordson Association and Blue Force.
Brian

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