The Fordson Tractor Pages Forum

Hi all,
new here on the forum, although I have been lurking for a few years now and then.

A few years ago we bought a six cilinder 1964 fordson major. Some things have been altered in its life: of course a 6 cilinder combine engine has been dropped in it. Also it has the power steering system of a Ford 4000. Its rear wheels have been reinforced.
We were informed it was used in tractor pulling previously. Some (pieces of) brackets for weights are still welded to the tractor.

It has its little problems, as its an old machine:
-need to source two new rear tires as these are quite fatigued
-there's a hydraulic leak (probably a paper gasket) on top of the rear axle.
-there is a whine when driving the tractor, coming from the diff housing; which we didn't hear when we bought it, due to it having no silencer in the exhaust....

Already done:
- fitted an exhaust with silencer
- bought a pair of cheap rear wheels with tires... just incase.
- bought some stuff to fix up the hydraulic sytem
- bought paint

Update's to follow when I have the time to fix some of these issues... In the meantime it gets used aroud the house with no major problems

Welcome to the forum, you'll have to post some pics of it along with your progress. I have an old major made up from about 3 others, the engine is getting very tired so i plan on putting a 6 cylinder in one day when i get chance, always fancied having one. It's at the back of the queue at the moment though, behind a Power Major i'm currently doing, a Marshall 804, a Leyland 253 and an Audi 80 coupe, i'll get to it eventually! If there's any advice you need or hard to find bits you are after there's always plenty of help on here
John

Welcome Evans,

Show us your sixpack

All Major gearboxes whine, so you might be fine as long as you have good seals between the gearbox and rear axle and therefore the oil levels are correct, if they're not the rear axle will be higher than full and the gearbox a bit or right down depending on which seal has gone. If the gearbox level is right down you'll have to replace the PTO seal urgently as there will be no oil in the gearbox. As for the leak in the hydraulics if you can show us a pic of it we can find a solution before you order anything, there are several plugs in the external service valve block that very often leak. Inspect the whole tractor for damage from the pulling as you might find a nasty surprise.
Other than that enjoy your Major and the forum!
Sandy