New Fordson Major Diesel owner.

[marveltone]

Greetings from northern Minnesota.

I've recently purchased a '57 Major Diesel to assist me with the field work on our farm. My other tractor is a Ford 1510; great for grounds keeping, but too small for any serious plowing and planting. The FMD starts easy, seems to run good, but has a slight "chuff chuff chuff" sound going on with a little light grey to white smoke when started cold. The smoke seems to clear up after it's been warmed up a bit. Is this normal? The sheet metal is rough, but I'll work on that. Biggest immediate concern is the seat is woefully inadequate, as it's been beat on something fierce, has no suspension, and no pad. Other than that, the tractor has most of the features I've been looking for in a small-time ag tractor.

I'm hoping to glean all sorts of useful information on restoring, maintenance and sourcing parts for my new stable addition.

Thanks!
Joe

[halloween]

Welcome Joe!

You'll get plenty of help on these pages!

[Dandy Dave]

Welcome Aboard Matey! Older Diesels will sometimes chuff a little when they are cold. Could be a worn injector or low compression on a cylinder. Gray smoke indicates unburned fuel. As long as it clears up and runs good after a few minutes of warming up then it is not a real big problem. Run it. Dandy Dave!

[marveltone]

So who here has had to replace the seat, and what would you suggest? Mine is in rough shape, and I'd like to get something with some suspension to ease the burden on my poor back. I've heard about the Rest-O-Ride seats, but am guessing they're made out of unobtainium and priced accordingly. Would I be better served by buying a more modern Grammar style instead?

Joe

[whirly]

My seat was in pretty bad shape so I went to a suspension seat:

Right click an choose View Image to see the whole picture




I had to modify the original seat mounting bracket to get it to work and you sit about 4" higher which has a tendency to bruise your left forearm when shifting if you don't pay attention but it's very comfortable.

[marveltone]

Thanks, whirly! Do you happen to know how high your current seat pan is? If I can find something close to the original height, perhaps the aforementioned bruised forearm syndrome can be avoided altogether.

Joe

[whirly]

I have almost all of the spring tension backed off so when I sit in the seat it's about 4-5 inches higher than the original. I had to raise it up that high to be able to move the seat back far enough for my long legs. The spring mechanism takes up about 2-3 inches which, when pushed back against the Lift arm "T", made it very tight.

You may be able to find just the seat without any suspension that would fit close to the standard height.

[Pavel]

Had the same problem with my SMD. With 2 crook discs in my back, going across ploughed or rough paddocks threatened to add another one.
Bought a sprung seat and fitted it. Was reminiscent of sitting on a Field Marshall; and even with the setting on the lowest weight had to stand to reach the pedals.
So removed the runners: cut the bottom plate off and drilled fixing holes. Then removed 35mm from the bottom of both side plates [leaving 50mm uncut at the rear ends to allow the pan to move up and down] then welded the bottom plate back on. I also removed one of the springs to allow better sprung movement and readjusted the tension screw.
Works a treat.
Pavel

[marveltone]

Pavel, that sounds like a viable alternative. I'm not above cutting and modifying other seats to get what I need. Could you post some pictures of your set-up so my feeble brain can comprehend it better?

Joe

[Pavel]

Ah, now Joe. There's a problem.
Even though various members have posted instructions about how to post pics. to me it comes across as double dutch [sorry Henk et al]. If I knew how to I would.
Pavel

[halloween]

Pavel, if you want to email the pictures to me I will upload them for you

I'll PM you my email address

[Bensdexta]

Pavel, that sounds like a viable alternative. I'm not above cutting and modifying other seats to get what I need. Could you post some pictures of your set-up so my feeble brain can comprehend it better?

Yes please!!

Try posting pics like this: http://www.fordsontractorpages.nl/phpbb ... 02&p=29864

[Pavel]

Thanks Halloween & BD. I'll probably take up both your offers -- but give me a few days as we have some wet ones at present plus family visitors from the big smoke.
Pavel

[halloween]

Whenever you like Pavel, just send the pics and any text you want to go with.

[marveltone]

Can't wait to see what you guys work out with the pics. Hopefully it will give me some ideas to work on.

Joe

[Pavel]

With help and encouragement from Halloween, Bensdexta and Kiwi Kev I've managed to post pics on my seat mods. -- but I"ve posted them in "Miscellaneous Topics"
Pavel