New Fordson Major Mk2 for the forum!

[spurtle]

After lurking on this forum for months and picking up a wealth of knowledge, I've recently acquired a Mk2 diesel major, s/n 1425858. My first 'proper' tractor, to be used for occasional lifting-and-dragging, road runs and maybe a few shows.

I'm really pleased with her! She has live drive, power steering (original I think), raised PTO and a SkyHi loader. She's in working clothes, but everything seems to work more-or-less as it should. My plan is to make the most of her as-is, and gradually fix her up over the next few years, keeping her as original as possible.

I have a few questions for you wise Fordson folk to kick off ...

I don't know much about the tractor's history but the seller thought it had been used as a prototype machine at Dagenham, spending its early life around the factory. The rear wheels are non-standard as far as I can tell - they don't match, and both are numbered in yellow paint. I think the rear tyres are original and are nearing the end of their life.

So, do I find new tyres for the current wheels, keeping them with the tractor as a curiosity and to keep it complete? Or do I find a set of original 8-spoke New Major wheels to make the tractor more authentic (I'm assuming most people, seeing the current wheels, will just think that someone has fitted the wrong ones).

Second ... the old chestnut about whether to leave the paintwork in its current state. I'll have to repair or replace bits and pieces, like the cowl which has rusted through in places, which means that there will be some shiny paintwork. So do I take the plunge and restore all the paintwork? Or do I keep the 'off farm' look for the bits that don't need work, and live with the fact that some of the tin will look much more 'blue'? I like the 'used' look, which seems befitting of a 59 year old tractor, but the contrast of old and new could be a bit dramatic.

Grateful for any opinions!

[AdrianNPMajor]

A few observations to get the ball rolling.
You've bought an excellent example. It looks right. The rear wheels are odd, but that's not uncommon, and can easily be remedied. As you intend to keep the tractor long-term, it's only a matter of time before the rim you need comes into your life.
I'd invest in some new rear tyres when that rim comes along. New treads make all the difference when you get stuck in to some work. Having a spinning wheel at the crucial moment can be frustrating. Re tyre makes, I believe the originals fitted at the factory were Firestones, though I may be wrong.
To paint or not to paint? If she's stored under cover, the tinwork won't deteriorate if left as is. If stored outside, I'd get the cowl repaired (it's a good one - no bashes), then give the tinwork a coat of paint, including the wheel rims. In time the new paint will weather. Looks like the mudguards have already been given a fresh coat at some point.
How's the engine?
Congrats on your new acquisition.
More photos would be good.
Best, Adrian.

[Brian]

Welcome to the board.
Your wheels are certainly different, one on the left looks like a Power/Super Major one until you look closely, the right one is a new design on me, never seen that on any make of tractor.

Tractors that worked at Dagenham were mostly stock tractors off the line, ones working at Boreham House would be the "specials" where an eye could be kept on them, these were then sold to selected dealers, sent to colleges or broken up. Tyres, back in the day, were from what ever company Ford could get the best deal from or could supply the specification, so you would get Dunlop, Firestone or Goodyear on your new tractor. If the dealer supplied a batch of tractors they would sometimes be exchanged with other new tractors in stock so that they all went home with the same tyres.

Your tractor is May 1957 and the live clutch was introduced in February/March so it would be built well into the production for a prototype so I do not think you have been given the right information. However, it will have the up rated engine, (42hp approx) the narrow fan belt, an inclined injection pump, breather on the timing cover and a few other changes inside the engine. You will also find six mounting holes in the block at the rear above the side channel mounts and a throttle linkage that goes around the block at the rear rather than through the block behind the injection pump. Another important change will be to the clutch housing where the clutch cross shaft has been moved back two inches from its original position to accommodate the live clutch.

The Ski-Hi loader could indicate a more "industrial" lifestyle as most farmers tractors would have been fitted with a Horndraulic or MIL loader.

All in all you have a lovely tractor, as to painting, that is your choice but I would advise not to touch her but instead, cover her with boiled linseed oil or Finnegan's Waxoil. The market at the moment puts more value on an unpainted tractor than a "spray can" reconditioned even if it has a few patches and "dings".

[spurtle]

Adrian and Brian, thank you so much for the insights and extra information! Further photos below as requested (and there will no doubt be many more as I return for advice)...

I'm no expert but the engine seems to be in fine fettle. Starts every time with little smoke, even in the recent cold weather (I'm in Yorkshire). Hunts for idle for the first 30 seconds or so but then settles down nicely. It has a decompressor which I was advised by the previous owner not to use. The oil pressure gauge is faulty so I'll look to source a replacement and see if the pressure is as expected. Any recommendations for the most authentic pattern gauges welcome.

Interesting note about the 'specials'. Various parts including the pulley and each wheel seem to have been hand-numbered (example in one of the photos below), so perhaps I've ended up with some parts from one of those.

Adrian, I think the mudguards have been replaced - they're old parts but have evidence of repairs and look to have been painted within the last few years. One of my first projects is to mount the sidelights. Am I right in thinking the late diesel Majors had sidelights and tail lights as standard, like this one?

I've changed the coolant - the old coolant was up to level, and not too murky, which I guess is a good sign - and ordered a couple of drums of S.A.E. 20W-50 Classic Motor Oil from Morris Lubricants to flush engine, transmission and hydraulics. Which filters and seals I should replace to get things nice and clean, and where I should source these?

[BearCreek Majors]

Looks like you have a nice Major there.
From what I can see of the power steering at least the ram looks to be the factory set up. And that is one unusual wheel on the right side, I have certainly never found one like that over here on this side of the pond!
I am also curious about the badging on the bonnet, I believe it should be the "Fordson Major Diesel" badge.

Pat

[Brian]

The picture you show of the injection pump shows you are missing the pig tail leak-off pipe that goes in that open hole in the housing. You need to get that sorted fast as that pipe maintains fuel in the bottom of the pump for lubrication. As it is at the moment your injection pump is running dry and that could be an expensive replacement.

If your tractor was sold less lights you would not have side or rear lights, lights were still an extra back then. Headlights would not fit in their original place with the loader.

Bonnet badges chopped and changed, she is only one year away from the Power Major and Ford did not re-order the Diesel badge and went back to the earlier Fordson Major badge. Old stock?

You only have two filters to change, engine oil and fuel filters. Old Twenty Tractor Parts or Agriline have them in stock.

As far as the oil pressure gauge goes, replacements are available but they are very poor quality and it is the same gauge sold by all after market suppliers. The mounting lugs are in the wrong place and the pipe adapter which goes through the dash panel is wrongly threaded. I had to get mine re-worked before it would fit.

[oehrick]

Hi spurtle and welcome

Mine is April 1958 and has the same legend on the bonnet sides although it has 4 hole cast wheels - our old Super had the same front pressed steels and power steering - it too was a loader tractor.

As for the rear wheels, should be the disc centres, the scallops coming later with the PM's but what the parentage of that oddball centre is I don't know - possibly from one of the firms who too skid units and built / sourced the rest? I take it you are in the UK ?

[spurtle]

Diagnosis by forum - I wish finding service issues with my car was this straightforward!

Brian, many thanks for the tip on the leak-off pipe. I found a discussion on this from back in 2008 here. I'm guessing that an 'original' banjo bolt will be near impossible to source (without the rest of the injection pump attached), but a short banjo of the appropriate dimensions along with a pigtail pipe will do the job - please correct me if this won't do the job.

I have headlights but I'm in a bit of a dilemma because as you say, they won't fit in the standard position with the loader fitted. I might see if I can rig up some form of easy release so I can quickly fit headlights when I'm not using the loader. I'm keen to have the option of lights so I'm not confined to daylight hours when driving on the road. I don't have much metalwork experience so I'm not really relishing the job of making the cutouts for the tail light 'stalks'!

oehrick, yes, I'm in Yorkshire. I was never much of a fan of the 'big D' badge, so I was pleased that the tractor came bearing the simple 'Fordson Major' bonnet badge (the little things). I prefer the look of the cast front wheels and picked up a pair at a local auction (well, I tried to pick them up - WOW those things are heavy). On closer inspection though, it looks like one is from an E1A major (EnFo on the casting) and the other perhaps from an E27N (Fordson on the casting) - is my detective work right and is it worth trying to fit them anyway?

Will stop asking questions and post more photos soon, I promise.

[SkidRoe]

Just thinking about your headlight dilemma. You could go with a set of grilles with holes in them (a la FSM) and put them there. Save having to mess with them when fitting and unfitting the loader. And you could always undo it completely if you want to go back to original at a later date.

http://old20tractorparts.com/585-thickb ... -holes.jpg

HTH - SR

[spurtle]

Hmm, interesting idea: I'll see if there's space.

I can see I'm going to need to resist the temptation to keep the tractor 'super original' if I want the convenience of the loader. As you say, simple to revert to original configuration if need be.

[super6954]

Hi Spurtle
Thats an interesting tractor with that odd wheel. from looking at your picture it has super major lower link arms fitted to. With fitting the headlights in the grills you need to buy the super major mounting brackets and the super lights. you can't just fit regular major lights in super grills . They are a totally different mounting system and the back of the light is not as deep as the regular major ones.
One question about your oil pressure gauge not working, Does it actually have oil pressure. The reason I ask is I had a customer brought a tractor, I saw it had zero on the gauge when it was running, and he said re built motor The gauge wasnt working. The truth was I put a good known gauge on and still zero. When I pulled the motor apart the rebuild had about 10.000 hrs on and was knackered. Thats why it had no oil pressure.
after sorting the motor with the budget he wanted to spend the gauge was fine. he learned very quick like some others a near total worn out major engine can still start and run pretty good in some circumstances, I have seen it here with many different ones over the years. The joke with a few guys has been I recon if you could get enough ether in they would start with 2 pistons missing .
Good to see you have power steering with a loader those cast wheels don't improve how it steers with that extra weight, i'd also check the bottom thrust bearings in the king pins they wear and don't always take grease either, that can make the power steering work harder than it needs to, or on regular tractors you can't steer the pigs at all . The only other down side to those narrow cast wheels is that in wet ground they cut in more with a loader. The 7.50x 16 won't make quite as much mess due to more surface area. .
Regards Robert

[spurtle]

Thanks Robert. Good shout on the gauge. I'll borrow a working gauge to see whether I've bought a 'zero pressure special'! Having said that I'd quite like an excuse at some point to break into the engine so I wouldn't be too upset if a rebuild was called for.

[oehrick]

I'd go along with Robert regarding the front wheels / tyres, keep those on if you intend to use the loader seriously as both the width and weight of the cast wheels will do you and your ground no favours even with the power steering.

Likewise oil pressure / gauge, mine does lift off the pin but thats about it and its been like that since I started to drive it nearly fifty years ago ! Don't often get it hot enough for the temp gauge to move these days either.

As for the headlights, (BTW the loader is much rarer than the tractor) you could mount them on a bracket over the tombstone casting (front weight carrier) if you use bullet connectors and add ons to the original harness (if you wanted to display without loader in more original form) you could poke them back on the nosecone and hang the bracket and wire extensions on a nail until its loader time again.

My front axle has E27N i/d and date coded yonks before build date - doubt they needed to change the pattern but I've never noticed the cast wheel markings, both E27N and E1A have the cylindrical sh*t flinging ring around the inside bearing whereas the Standards didn't (mainly)

While I had to paint my fuel tank due to some extensive soldering being needed I'm looking at linseed oiling the rest after removing what rust I can (thinking of investing in some of that bilt hammer deoxy stiff) although the remaining paint isn't very pretty.

Anyhow, its about time you stopped sending your miserable cold, sleety, Yorkshire weather down here

Cheers

Rick

[Brian]

I would go along with all that has been said, it is good advise. As Rick says, the loader is a very rare one and to take it off the tractor would be a shame, you will just have to get another tractor without a loader. (That is how we all start our collections).

Most Majors have the E27N number on the axle castings, you will also find in the original parts manual, a number of gearbox and rear axle parts are also classified as E27N .

[BearCreek Majors]

I'm still thinking about that rear wheel, (not that I obsess about things ) With the cost of tooling in mind for just a few parts, I'm thinking that center was for the 30" rims , it just didn't get the final stamping process to roll the ends over before they were welded to the rim. and the tabs on the 36" rim could simply be welded wherever desired. this could have been tried as a cost savings, only having to stamp out one center that could then be used on the 30, 36, and 38 wheels...... or I could be completely wrong

Pat

[SkidRoe]

Don't feel bad, Pat. I was wondering the same thing. Stamping tooling is not insignificant, especially for something like a tractor rim dish. You could be on to something with the single die theory.

The rim on the left side looks like it could have come off of a Nuffield, although I have seen pictures of a number of Majors with the same type of wheel.

Cheers - SR

[spurtle]

Ha! Who would have thought that some old mismatched wheels would create so much interest/discussion? I'm inclined to keep them on the tractor now, as a conversation piece at least!

On the front wheels: I will act on your collective wisdom and stick with the pressed steel wheels for now. But I really don't like those tyres (which I assume are for a truck or something). Where can I source tractor tyres that will make the front end look a bit more original? Any pictures or links welcome!

[SkidRoe]

You have to keep those wheels, spurtle. They are just too unique to pass off.

I have always been partial to the classic 3 rib front tire, 7.50-16's.

Just my opinion, worth exactly what you paid for it....

[Brian]

7.50 x 16 are readily available at tyre suppliers and from the after-market parts people. Check the quality though, I bought a pair for Nuffy and Harriet the Fergy with a loader, about four years ago and, although 6 ply, thorns penetrate them with ease whereas Henrietta still had 1950's tyres until a month or so ago and you could ride those across one of those police stingers without a puncture. That is possibly why you have the industrial type tyres on the front.

Regarding the lights, when used for loader work it was common for Majors to have two extra holes drilled in the top of the cowl and the lights mounted up there, no special lights and no extra wiring.

[spurtle]

Ah yes, a bit like this fine specimen:



I've never seen a Fordson Major in that configuration, but it seemed quite popular on the Massey Ferguson 35:



I'll have a ponder. I quite like Rick's idea of a detachable bracket on the tombstone carrier, or a similar fixment that doesn't require me to drill any new holes.

Many thanks for all the suggestions.

[SkidRoe]

Sorry, no disrespect to any one, but I cringe when I see headlights in that position.... Just no love in that solution.... Mind you the one shown on the Major above is quite a unique solution.

I second the bracket on the front of the tombstone.

My $0.02....

[oehrick]

Not much use having the headlights at that height - I always think the 'cyclops' LGF looks a bit daft, but just so Fergie - don't think I've seen a single lamp on a Major nosecone but no doubt it was done. Mine need some washers as both gently migrate down to illuminate the back of the front axle - another E1A trait.