Difference between Major Diesel, Power Major and Super Major

[blackbob]

Hmmm

So you have your gauges and the throttle lever, on a little dashboard on top of the fuel tank/under the steering wheel, and no draft control, so that should make it a Power Major.. but you also said you have disc brakes, which should make it a Super.. do you also have a diff-lock pedal, on the end of the right-hand brake housing? [if so, it's definitely a Super]
Maybe you have some kind of bitsa, made up of parts from different tractors..

This was my first Major a '61 Super, when I got it the top-link bracket had been broken and replaced with a bracket off an older tractor..

[oehrick]

Would this have had three holer front wheels originaly Bob ?

[blackbob]

Would this have had three holer front wheels originaly Bob ?

Steel wheels, at the time I bought it [1983], along with it I was offered the remains of a New Performance which didn't have a clutch or back wheels. I think there was only one pair of white 6x19 front wheels between them, but I put them on our Fergie and got these cast wheels to keep the nose down for jobs like a 21-bale grab, or later, this:


Looks like that's actually the New Performance's bonnet?
In those days Major spares were plentiful and cheap, I didn't even bother bringing home most of the other tractor - the recklessness of youth

While I'm here I'll post this, 1984 and the first load of barley from my first harvest, on the little farm I had managed to rent:



I had got that trailer for scrap price and got new wood for it from the guy I worked for over winter, doing firewood and he also had an old sawmill. I thought larch boards would be fine, strong and durable, no need for tongue-and-groove - but in summer the boards dried out leaving barley-sized gaps between them
I was working on this trailer while listening to the radio the night Aberdeen won the European Cup-Winners Cup in 1983 Whatever happened to Alex Ferguson, Gordon Strachan, Willie Miller, Alex McLeish, Mark McGhee?

[icom102]

Hi yes also a diff lock i though them two pictures was both super majors unless the houseing got broke and was changed was looking at a NPM tonight its complete jsut eneds a good wash painted and maybe a tyre or two for £1400 is that cheap?

[icom102]

This is the tractor i was looking at but the steering control arm looks funny never seen one lke this before

[icom102]

[oehrick]

The bits only cost so much now Bob because we never expected so many to be preserved - never see a scrapyard owner on a bike !


Are you concerned about the steering drop arm or the rod to the front icom102 ? difficult to say from the pics but both the drop and the front arms might have a bit of a bend but they are massively strong. As for the price, tinwork looks straight and I've seen far worse go for much more in Cheffins sales......

Rick aka G6IYY

[blackbob]

Now you mention it I see that my 2 are different, the younger one has a web between the 2 arms, but I have a vague recollection of reading somewhere that that is a mod Ford made during production? So maybe 'your' NP (go on, just buy it, you know you want to, and it's better than paying the bank to look after your wodge ) has had an old one fitted - or they changed back to using the older style?

1954:


and 1957: (sorry it doesn't show up well here, I'll maybe try again once it's outside, and the sun comes out )

[icom102]

The rod running back along the tractor the frot of it looks funny

[oehrick]

The crank arm looks longer so the drag link is at more of an angle to the side channel and it doesn't seem to have that daft clip around the drag link front joint (which would never hold if the ball joint broke)

Just checked the parts bible and the 'clip' is actually the 'ball joint cover' E51-LD-9 used if power steering is/was fitted and it looks like there was a different drag link too for PS
Manual Steering E1ADDN-3304-B used 52-64 ex tricycle
Power Steering E1ADDN-3304-C used 52-64 ex tricycle
(tricycle was) E1ADDN-3304-D

And for the hell of it, the front cranks are also different (I would guess the webbed one was beefed up for power steering Bob, if it was lengthened to give more purchase on the kingpin and had to convey half that to the other wheel, the RH one seems standard for both applications)
Manual Steering E1ADKN-3133-B used 52-64
Power Steering E1ADDN-3133-C used 52-64

Oh the joy of just having to know something you are never likely to need

[ANORAK MODE OFF]

I'm with Bob, if you can afford it and house it 'twould be a terrible thing to let slip through your hands and probably a better bet than trusting the bank to keep it ahead of inflation, let alone make some interest

[blackbob]

Oh goody, a chance to don my own anorak

I suggest, that the purpose of the clip was only to keep dirt out and grease in; a modern (or Ferguson? ) rubber-booted ball joint might be more efficient, but I guess the slotted cap at the front can be screwed in to take up wear, so this type has almost eternal life, if kept greased?
And yes, the drag link for power steering is different:


The arm on icom102's future tractor ( ) does look closer to the chassis than mine, which has its axle at the narrowest setting; and after some research the un-webbed arm is about an inch longer, so yes, probably strengthened for power steering. So, has mine had power steering at some time (not as far as I can tell), or were all tractors fitted with the webbed arm after a certain date - which means icom's one has been replaced with an old-style one at some point?


Ok to quote Elton John, I'm goin' back to my plough. My favourite job

[icom102]

Yes thats what the oneon the tractor i looked at has but it aint got PS

[Dandy Dave]

No one mentioned the Farm Major?

[icom102]

Whats a farm major?

[oehrick]

Shhhhhh, don't mention the farm major, DD did but I think he got away with it

[icom102]

Well looks like the new performance major wont be happening got it started today and the mechanic said the engine is DONE

[brockwood]

or the farm right

[oehrick]

Farm & Right Major ? some sort of special or conversion ?? or for a foreign market ??? I've not encountered either before, but I've led such a sheltered life I know nought of ecodiesel

Sorry to hear the engine is past it, was it a mechanic who is experienced with E1A's that pronounced ;cos its easy to mistake a Major nicely run in with tractors of other types / makes where the bottom is in danger of dropping out - more seriously unless its more than bearings seals & rings etc which might be a nice price dropping facet, put the details up here as someone may well want to take the risk as the tinwork looks pretty good and its surprising how a re lube and some hard work can improve the way they sound, breath and run - even the fishermen can't quite kill the Beach Majors, let them dissolve perhaps......

Like the anorak Bob but is that an EU standard soapbox you are using or and old tatties crate ???

[blackbob]

even the fishermen can't quite kill the Beach Majors, let them dissolve perhaps......

You mean like this poor thing http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fordson-Super ... SwB09YCjMp

[brockwood]

farm major aus special basicly power major with mk 2 engine and tin wheels 16/28 sold as mid leval tractor between dexter and pm often speced up to full pm spec including cast wheels had one. farm right not seen in the flesh but common parts book south australian ? broad acre special bigger wheels no linkage but still has interanal pump and a control valve for trailed implements have pics but photobucket not playing the game bj just found this add The New Fordson Major Repair Manual quality reprint

Covers:

New Major 1953-1956
Farmrite 1953-1956
New Fordson Major Mk 2 1956-1959
Power Major 1959
Farm Major 1959, Super Major 1961
New Super Major 1963
This is a good quality reprint of an original manual

[oehrick]

Thanks for the clarification brockwood, not something this whingeing pom has come across before

Next project Bob ? those raised PTO's are very poorly made but the rest of it looks to have another 25 years of North Sea torture before it is scrapped

[icom102]

Hi well i have not herd it my self but when he started it there was a loud noise and he stopped it the tractor has laid up for 15-20 years he said the engine is done and a rebuild is out of the question because they have wet liners and if you put new ones in they could go but im taking it somewhere else to get it looked at

[oehrick]

Good plan to try elsewhere, the advantage of EiA engine is that the liners can be replaced by the not so well equipped and unless there is a major problem with the block or crank, the mains and big end shells, liners pistons rings etc are all available so you can rejuvenate an engine without having to rebore or otherwise machine.

I have heard that later series of Ford tractors had severe problems with porous casting so maybe your chap had experienced this and was warning you on the safe side.

Ours (I still can't quite get used to saying 'mine') is a Mk 2 from 1958 and it has had a life of intermittent hard work and not much TLC, can't recall the head or sump being off it although when I was about 18 we spilit it to renew the clutch plate (it was built between 3 and 14 days after I was born ) gradually doing what amounts to very overdue servicing but despite some oil leaks, a bit of a starting issue, the typical Major Moan from the back end, it will do a days work when needed and pulls like a train, although as the years go by I'm convinced the footplate is getting higher than it used to be.

If you know another major renovator they would be a good bet to take along, it looks far to straight to stay where it is

[RH]

Icom,

Telling you there was a loud noise is a bit vague..........yes, there would be when it was running.
Maybe no silencer on, and then you Do get a loud noise. I know if a vacuum line on the governer goes, it gets really exciting.
Not saying the chap doesn't know his onions, but all sorts of non-fatal things can cause a racket. Very wise to take it somewhere else.

Slightly OT, but I started an old Cockshutt 30 yesterday after standing for about a year. Had popcorn coming out the exhaust......well half blackened wheat anyway! How mice got it in the exhaust I don't know.

[icom102]

well since i didnt hear it i cant say but it was like a loud banging noise they stopped it straight away we will see what the other guy says