Next move for our 1954 Fordson Major Diesel

[leeroy]

I Wii see about cleaning u that lift pump. That's why I have a new spare, I was able to clean up Hyacinth's and with a new diaphragm it's good.
I'll get a number on the fuel shutoff and a picture of Daisy's air cleaner.
The block drain is not the nice solid brass one, more like the small ones found on automobile radiators.
Yes she can be turned over with decompression closed. My son watched injection pump while I turned it over and plungers all moved as they should.
The dynamo sounds like a dry bearing but I could be wrong.
I have not inspected the dash at all. It does look original, unlike Hyacinth's which had been gutted.
Is the key universal as it is missing.

[Billy26F5]

The key isn't universal, you need to look at the lock barrel to see what code there is, on ebay there seem to be keys around so you should be able to find one sooner or later. That's odd, a pic of that drain tap would be nice. I think you're nearly ready for a start, great to know the pump is working. If there's bearing trouble that shouldn't be too big a deal, the front bearing is an ordinary shrouded bearing, the rear bush is a special porous brass one that I think is still available. All easily doable. Glad the dash is ok.
Sandy

[leeroy]

Okay, I'll have a look for the key. Here's a web pic of the block drain style
Spindle is rusted solid, any advice?

Here's the fuel tap again. Part # 4780D

Daisy's air filter

PTO cover. Rusted through on the bottom. I'm guessing the PTO was not used much.

Air filter:

Finally got the rest of the loader off. Not much else today.

[Billy26F5]

I think I remember seeing a few Major's from this time with this kind of tap, if it doesn't open up easily then you might need another one, they're brass as well so shouldn't rust up. Do you think you can get grease in there? If not then diesel and oil soaking should shift it, when refitting the spindle arm ensure it's at 0.002" from the extension (assuming you still have the original felt seal, if not it needs to be at 0.025" with a rubber seal, although they're a Super Major feature), make sure the bolt is as tight as possible as spindle arms coming loose are a very bad thing, many of those have been welded making replacement of bushes impossible without destroying the spindle and spindle arm to get them apart. I think that tap is the same as Billy, but I need to check, Hyacinth might have the same one too. The Super I would expect to be different. Pitty about that PTO cap but not a big deal, It can be welded up again or just get cleaned and refitted, with the drawbar at the high position it's not that far away either. You can actually see the name there on that filter, it's a Burgess one so different from Billy's AC one. If any of the others also has a Burgess filter you can swap the bowls for a quick run while you fix Daisy's one, this filter theoretically doesn't have a removable element, Hyacinth should however have one as should the Super. This is a change that took place in January 55. That A-frame bolt looks very odd.
Sandy

[leeroy]

Thanks for the air filter identification. I think Hyacinth's is the AC as I recall removing element for a wash. I may be thinking of one of our other tractors though. I'll check Both the other Majors.
Is the A Frame bolt the square headed one in the first picture? There are some odd fasteners on Daisy for sure. I'll get some pictures of the front end.
Loaders sure seem rough on them. Or maybe loaders being used beyond their ratings.

[Billy26F5]

Indeed it is, loaders are famously rough on axles, especially the earlier ones as the pins are smaller. Often not helped by lack of lubrication, although the earlier axles weren't greased (with a few exceptions, as Billy has grease in his ad in in really good condition as a result, although he's never had a loader as far as I know). Billy's fuel tap is the same, and I would expect Hyacinth to be the same as well, but not the Super.
Sandy

[leeroy]

Some more pictures. How do you like that stack of washers?
upload a picture
We think the front wheels got swapped from Daisy to the yet unamed IH 504. Going to swap them back.

picture hosting

[Billy26F5]

That's quite something, ground clearance might be an issue with those. Just in case you need to know, the original ones are 3/4" UNF 5 3/4" long with castellated nuts. Looks likely, Daisy should be 7.50-16 on the front wheels. You'll need to get the weight on before you tighten the spindle arm bolt to ensure the clearance is correct.
Sandy

[leeroy]

Yes, the one on the left had clearance issues for sure. 7.50-16 is what's on both Hyacinth and the Super, as well as the 504.
Heavy rain so won't get much done other than reading.

[Billy26F5]

I saw the pics showed it's wet with you. Always feel vehicles suffer very badly from water in general. Hopefully better tomorrow.
Sandy

[leeroy]

I saw the pics showed it's wet with you. Always feel vehicles suffer very badly from water in general. Hopefully better tomorrow.
Sandy

More rain tonight and tomorrow. I agree and we keep most of our tractors under a roof. Was going to buy a tarp for Daisy but did not get around to it in time. Hopefully after 30+years outdoors will be over for her soon.
We did need the rain. Our only source of heat and hot water is a wood boiler and I've run it sparingly and carefully using a sprinkler.

[Billy26F5]

Sounds a bit like you've had a similar situation to us as we had drought for three plus years until three weeks ago. Hopefully we'll get a bit of a break from such ridiculous dryness, although nor do we want endless rain. It's just weather, so not much can be said! I've often though that if something has survived bad conditions for so long it won't mind a few days more as long as shelter does arrive, which hopefully for Daisy is almost imminent. The wood boiler sounds like fun to use although equally a fair chore as well.
Sandy

[leeroy]

Wow three years is much longer than we have had. Last winter, spring, and this summer were all record rainfall. The drought started late this summer.
Luckily pastures and hayfields have held up.
The boiler is fun. We have not bought oil since 2001 when we installed the boiler.
Hyacinth spent most of her life outdoors till we owned her. I remember our neighbor rotary mowing one our fields with her. That was probably 50 years ago. When he sold his house his son kept a piece of land next to ours, and kept the Major there. When he passed away the father sold us that land with everything on it, including Hyacinth!

[Billy26F5]

Glad you've been abe to get more water. Using wood is great fun as it's not only stoking but also collecting and processing too. Billy has brough lots of wood to the house ever since we've had the trailer, and our fire is on throughout the cold months. That's a great story, My parents probably got this house because of Billy (I wasn't around yet), even though they hadn't seen him run! When they saw him run it was clear a good decision had been made and as a result I'm now here enjoying every second of playing with all our tractors! I just can't imagine how things would be if that hadn't happened.
Sandy

[leeroy]

Nice story about Billy as well!

[leeroy]

I assume the ring is critical in the design of the air cleaner?

There is a hole I'm confident could be taken care of but not so sure about that inner ring.

[leeroy]

Sandy you mentioned numbers on injector pump inspection plate a few posts back. Hope the numbers are clear. Edit-they don't seem very clear, I'll write them down. I'm curious what Hyacinth's are now.

[Billy26F5]

The numbers are fine, the pump number still has the B suffix from 1239515 which is there to confirm that the camshaft is not the original design used before 1239515 as that allowed the engine to run backwards, other than that the pump type number is the one that was used from a bit before Daisy till the Mk2. The Super should be 75S 647, and the pump number in the 300000 or even 400000 area. It moved down and back a bit, and I suspect these changes occurred either from 1299000 with the new excess fuel device or from pump 61994 when the plunger helix angle was changed from 45º to 50º. Hyacinth should be as later tractors but with the same inspection cover. That is more like an inner bowl, I'll get a pic of one of ours later, although they're full of oil. The Super should be helpful there. You need that to keep the oil relitively level so it cleans the air.
Sandy

[Billy26F5]

I've got pics of the half Super Major bowl, I though I filled it with oil years and years ago but I found diesel in it and worse some water in the bottom, presumably I was hoping to clean it better at the time and never got there. It's still ok, but as I remember it being in superbly undamaged condition (I might be confusing myself with Super Billy, as his one is in lovely condition) it's very irritating. Anyway, you should see that there are some holes in the inner bowl, these ate to keep the oil level when not running, when running the inner bowl ensures the engine doesn't suck the oil in rendering the filter useless.

Looks like oil but it's diesel


Pitty about this pitted surface, but it should work fine. still needs more cleaning.
The burgess filter is different, but I can't help a lot more with that as we don't have one at the moment (Davie has a Burgess filter but the Dexta one is not a great one to use as a guide here, as Daisy has the second type Burgess filter still lacking the removable element). It will be very similar though.
Sandy

[leeroy]

Thanks Sandy, that's a great help!

[leeroy]

Getting close to attempting to start Daisy.
Sandy I know you mentioned checking the brushes on the starter, but I have not done that. We just hooked it up and it spun over with speed and torque that seems normal. Maybe It will be weak under load and I will end up having to work on it.
Some last questions:
Would it be worth the time to take lines off top of injector, and then replace them but leave them off injectors in an effort to flush things out prior to a proper bleed procedure? Or should I remove lines and use compressed air? Or just do the bleeding as normal?
We have not gotten a key sorted yet, and the control box concerns me anyhow.
Plan is to jump starter with starter pinion manually engaged by one person while jumper clamp engaged by 2nd person, in neutral of course.

Have not had luck removing the pan head screws that hold bonnet on.Any tips here other than penetrating fluid and good flat head?

[Billy26F5]

If it seems to work ok you should be fine but it's probably worth checking at some stage just in case. I would just do normal bleeding, the injector lines should be ok as they're past the filter and were sealed until you took the injectors off. You can make a bypass connection to an interim switch to get you going, but don't modify any of the original wiring to do this. Just connect an extra wire to BATT and COIL and connect them to this interim switch. As for the regulator you can try a start anyway, you can set it later as you need the engine running and the dynamo working properly first. I recommend you polarise the dynamo as you might be surprised. Those screws are quite hard work, only oil, diesel and a good screwdriver will shift them. There is however a trick to get the bonnet off without shifting those. You need the pin pushed to one end, you can then work with the tolerances to have the bonnet held in or just lift out at the end with the pin tucked in. This might not be doable at this stage but it's how Billy and Super Billy are and it works well. The two man trick for starting sounds good but yoy can maybe put the jumper clamps on the normal way and use a small wire to connect the starter switch directly enabling you to do it by yourself should it be necessary. I can show you a pic if needed.
Sandy

[leeroy]

A picture would be great !

[leeroy]

We gave it a try but no luck. Extra fuel engaged 1/2 throttle. Little if any smoke..Bled nicely up to pump, then cracked lines at injectors.Had fuel except to #1 cylinder. When I tried loosening that fitting it was spinning at the injector. Ended up taking rocker cover off and tightening that piece that goes between line and injector back up. Then my son had to go to work. I tinkered around on other stuff, got the bonnet off. I managed to get the screws off the back hinge. Managed to get the 4 remaing bolts of the grill section and got that off.. Thought with better access to the front screws for bonnet hinge I'd tame them but was not able to.
Tempted to get some starting fluid for next try. Any thing else I may be missing?
I do not know if the hose from the air cleaner is ok. Appears to be from the outside. The clamps are rusted so I have not removed it.
The exhaust elbow did have plenty of acorns in it. We vacuumed out most and when cranking engine you can feel exhaust pressure. Maybe I need to remove intake and exhaust manifold.

[Billy26F5]

Pitty. Great progress though, you shouldn't need to have both hinges loose, Billy's front one is untouched. Do check the air hose, also the timing. Don't use ether. Make sure the inlet adaptors are tight as then you won't need to remove the rocker cover. Try bleeding again and see about the injectors, they might want testing.As for pics here they are:

This shows where to polarise the dynamo. Connect the battery insulated terminal to the small terminal F on the dynamo.

This shows where to bypass the ignition switch, you need to check which of the two wires doesn't switch the solenoid unless the starter lever is down operating the switch, this enables you to operate the starter normally. The other end is connected to the battery insulated terminal. Note Billy is slightly different.

This shows where to connect the interim switch to the ignition switch. Note this is an Ebro switch but the terminal arrangement is the same.
All these electrical things can be done to the Super as well.
Sandy