posted April 03, 2007 22:42               

I did not realize that you had any experience with the SOS. Since I respect your opinion very highly I am hoping you know as many SOS tips Aas you do tips on the Major.

I posted on the miscellaneous board that I bought a Ford 881 Gold Demonstrator with a SOS. The SOS on the tractor is questionable as the shifter is apart when I bought it. I have access to three spare tractors with a SOS so getting a new shifter and parts is not a big deal. I bought the Ford parts, owners, repair and SOS manual.

Since I am un-aware of the condition of the SOS and have heard it is a very expensive and hard transmission to work on. I was wanting to know if you know a good starting point to diagnose any problems or if there is anything I should look for.

The top cover and all cables except the PTO cable are off the top of the SOS housing. The SOS did not have any oil in it when I bought it, but nothing is rusted on the SOS. I am presuming the seals are probably bad if it has been without oil for a long period of time.

Is there anything I should check on the SOS while the top cover is off ??

Should I just change the filter, clean the suction tube at the bottom and fill her full of New Holland oil and see what happens ??

The SOS manual shows how to take all of the pressures etc but it looks like the transmission and tractor need to be running to do that.

Thanks,

posted April 04, 2007 08:17               

It was a good gearbox with the right driver. Over here, we were told never to use the "inching pedal" like a clutch and to drive the tractor as if it was an automatic car.

We sold one big farmer 27 SOS tractors at a time, all 4000 and 5000. The work force loved them. They had four or five tractors fitted with large Cameron-Gardner loaders for loading sugar beet and to watch those men driving those tractors was a pleasure. You did not see the changes from forward to reverse.

Keeping the oil and filters clean and the bands adjusted correctly was the key to good service. You do need the engine running to test the unit and set the pressure. the bands also have to be set with the engine running.

Bern over on YT Mag is one of the top men on SOS transmissions. Some of the others waffle a bit. You really do need a manual for your tractor and preferably someone with experience of the box. It can get expensive if not. It is not a box that I would recommend for a novice to work on. You sound as if you have plenty of spares! Think I would get some oil in her after a clean out and run her up.

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Kind regards
Brian

posted April 04, 2007 19:42               

Thanks for the info. I have heard from more than one person if you keep the oil clean, change the filter every few hundred hours and keep the bands adjusted they were not a bad transmission. I know farmers in the U.S. are not known for doing maintenance on there machines and that is why they might of had so many issues with them.

The only reason that I bought the tractor is that they are pretty rare. Ford only made between 2000 - 2500 Gold Demonstrators and out of that there were only a few that had a Gold Transmission case after they were swapped. I fortunately found one that is the latter of the two categories. I am not sure if Ford brought them over to England or not.

Here is a picture of one:

The SOS out of this tractor is probably one of the first to roll off of the line as it was built in early February of 1959.

There is a SOS guru that lives a few hours south of me. I was going to give him a call in the next few weeks and see if I can pick his brains.

I would say the genuine Ford manuals that I bought are so so at best. There are some things missing that I would like to see a diagram of before trying to put her back together. They are no were near as good as the genuine Fordson manuals that I have.

Thanks,

Scott