SummaryThis one will be the ongoing story about my first own tractor, I chose a Fordson Super Major that started life in Dagenham Essex in September 1961, it was first registered in Sweden on April 1962, it still has the original engine which even though being a tad slow to start when it's awfully cold outside seem to be in good working order, no "bleeding" of oil here and there, no water in the oil and after a bit of work which can be seen on the pictures later on it no longer thins the oil with diesel

Latest update: 11:35pm Friday, April 16th 2010

I've decided to call my tractor "The Essex lily", not very witty but it's a tribute to where it's born...

The article is somewhat re-arranged, from wednesday 31st march 2010 everything new will be posted at the top...

Latest update: 09:35pm Saturday, April 11th 2010

Anyway, here we go:

Videos!

This clip is shot when I picked the tractor up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGurQL16jEk

First test drive on the road: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2SIXZhmY-Q

Trying out the hydraulics and the re-designed stop: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pan_9IuR9c

A first test of the newly built thermostart: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9r3wiHJIhQ

Starting him up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nwj3tuhQZv0

This is what the old man looked like when I got 'im, on November the 1st 2009

This is not far from home, during the "bring him home" tour(which was 90km and took the best part of the 1st and 2 hours of the 2nd november)

New home, sweet home... In the old barn at my father's farm

Christmas gifts anyone? Since I'm relatively poor my father bought me some goodies(all except the truck starter which I got from dad's cousin)

Ford world series Force exhaust.

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Friday April 16th 2010

Got the "right" seals this time and now they are mounted, since I bought these from a seal manufacturer they were thinner than the originals and I fitted two on each side...

My neighbor works as a laser operator, so after some measuring and drawing in solidworks I ended up sending him drawings of these things, to the right are the parts for an alternator mount, utilizing the alternator found in a Volvo 240

The brushing and painting goes on... Yes, I cut off the hand brake lever, there's nothing left on the inside and if I want to rebuild it someday I would have had to get a new lever anyway since some smart-o previous owner had wrecked it

This is the 3D-model of my drawbar and upper 3pt lift reinforcement

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Removed all the clutch linkages and the steering drop arm, had to cut off the old steering link, it was in pretty useless shape and was going to be replaced either way

Amongst all the other things that got stripped off

Got some radiator-grog for my tractor aswell, 25 litres of de-ionized water and 8 litres of etylene antifreeze

December 8th 2009, a bit naked...

And here they are, brake actuator springs for Massey Ferguson 165 with dry brakes, they fit without modification! (Huzzah!)

Paint really makes a difference

This replaced the original Temp/oil/gen clock, the orange indicator is my turn signal indicator.

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Wednesday April 13th 2010

Well, I said that I wouldn't paint the rear end of my tractor but my dad influenced me by saying things like "It'll look like it has scabs if you don't paint it" and then sponsor me with more paint if I actually painted it...

The "scab" part took and today I attacked the rear end with the angle grinder, rotating wire brush and lots of "cleaner", the results are on display in the following pictures.

If all you have is two wrecked front cowls and a MIG-welder, sure you could make one that's acceptable?

The wire brushes used

Twisting, bending, welding and forming sheet metal is one of my favorites... The "bulge" is where my turn signal switch will reside.

The result after brushing and cleaning

Painted, "grill"'ed and lit up, since I would never put a loader on this tractor I placed the headlights wide apart, high up...

And a hour or so later, primed up

A severe case of "frost bite" perhaps?

Dis-assembly of the hydraulic system... or part of it, getting the flow control valve, spring and the "plug" out using a piece of wire loom through one of the bores inside.

Saturday April 10th 2010

I got myself a pair of better looking brake housings and some other assorted goodies during the week and here they are in all their splendous glory

A new steering wheel, new radiator cap and new brake linings, the steering wheel feels quite "plastic" compared to the old one but won't cut my hands like the old one did

The original spindles looked like this, no wonder I thought it was hard to steer straight...

The brake housings, pre pressure wash with degreaser, wire brush and patience, it's even growing moss on one of them

Dad bought me this, the "universal fits all majors hydraulics kit", it lacked a few parts but those weren't that hard to get(and I got lots of O-rings leftover that actually came to use a little here and there)

The older type steering rod and a neato steel pipe to add extra leverage when undoing(or tightening wheel nuts)

The hydraulic pump with new seals, waiting to be re-assembled

Re-threaded U's for the cab that's going to get installed, looks much better with new nuts and washers don't you think?

Drilled and tapped a 3/8 pipe thread for my return pipe

Hot water, degreaser and a wire brush can work miracles, this is before the rotating wire brush and paint

Assembled and painted stuff

Somewhat later... In a day or so it's time for the second coat...

Raised PTO in place

The pump and the plumbing is back where it belongs

Tuesday April 6th 2010

The plan was to remove the old fenders and get started with the internals of the brake housings but first I just had to hitch up the old Transport Box and take a test drive, my dog just had to come along

If you don't have a gasket set, you make them

Stripping off the rear wings and the old cab supports

Re-assembly of better looking parts

My current right brake housing, the actuator lever support ear broke off during disassembly, found out why after I took a good look at it, someone broke it off earlier and then welded it back(but doing a less than stellar job)

"New" old spindles, in much better condition and picked from a power major that had led a much better life(with an owner that knew to maintain his machinery properly)

And here's the left one after some time spent swearing and sweating together with dad who operated a iron bar lever on the wheel shaft while I tried to lever the inner brake disc off the shaft

I got myself the proper SPE4A75S model pump and gave it a little love

Drive shaft housings, these will be scrubbed with a rotating wire brush and either painted or oiled with linseed oil(as will all non-painted metal to inhibit further rust)

Proper hydraulics, at last...

The brake components, waiting for degreasing and new brake pads

And with good tools the work is a breeze

I'll have to weld some fresh metal into the "new" old wings, the supports were filled with mud

Changing the pedal shaft seals since they weren't weeping but rather "bleeding", no obvious play in the bushings tho

This is how I left it Tuesday evening, disassembled while waiting for parts

Changed the PTO seal before filling the rear up with oil

The original seat had seen it's share of action and I had another seat in mind and constructed this

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Friday April 2nd 2010

Today is my dad's birthday so we all went there to celebrate and enjoy ourselves, got a bit bored after dinner when everyone watched TV so I went out and fiddled for a few minutes, this thing is going to be a linkage for the raised pto lever, hack about three fours of it off, weld the small "ear" onto it and then place the actuator on the floorboard next to the lift lever.

The parts for it

Welded up and testing the fit out

Thursday April 1st 2010

Went to dad's cousins farm and picked up my pair of less rusted rear wings from a power major, they have a few bulges more than the current ones but they haven't rusted off near the rear axle

Regardless of how battered and bruised this seat looks, it's very comfortable and also has electrical heater elements in both the seat and the back rest

Quite some possibilities... and it came off an old golf-course lawn-mower, got it for free, me like lots :D

Wednesday March 31st 2010

Dad picked me up these

Drawings of new knobs for the valve chest(for those that wonder what "hitta på en bra radie här" means, in english it would be something similar to "figure out a good radius here")

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And my friend Martin had dropped this package off in my post box

And about a week later, machined by one of dad's old work mates

A local firm called Industry Service let me use one of their mills, for as long as it took me to mill the inward facing surface on the inlet manifold flat

Sometimes buying these connectors can be a royal pain, if you find one that fits the cable you can be sure the screw-hole is abnormally large and the head of your screw will fall through it, that's why I made my own ones from brass and soldered the cables to it

This is what it looked like after I drilled the holes and mounted the flange

I did off with the broken pipes and replaced them with hard and reinforced rubber hoses instead

I also just happened to have another cracked inlet manifold to salvage a less worn throttle plate and shaft which were quickly transplanted into my inlet manifold, the picture of my old throttle plate is the second one here and I think you all can spot the wear quite easily

3D-model of the trailer outlet bracket

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This is what the thermostart system looks like on my tractor now...

Laser-cut, bent, welded up and painted

Part of the electrical system's innards

Upper connection for my engine heater

And the lower one

This part will likely not see any re-arrangement at all, below are everything from where I got the tractor up until March 30nd 2010

A sensible start button, turn the key on and the button lights up, press it to start the engine and once the alternator starts charging it will dim indicating "Do not press me"

This is what the old man looked like when I got 'im, on November the 1st 2009

The view from the seat

This is not far from home, during the "bring him home" tour(which was 90km and took the best part of the 1st and 2 hours of the 2nd november)

Paint and a bit of sanding later

New home, sweet home... In the old barn at my father's farm

The circlips didn't want to stay put and the throttle shaft moved up and down rather than increasing or decreasing the engine speed, so I fixed that up with split pins instead, now it won't budge

Christmas gifts anyone? Since I'm relatively poor my father bought me some goodies(all except the truck starter which I got from dad's cousin)

Ford world series Force exhaust.

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Also took the time to fix my leaking return line up, one of the brass banjos was entirely loose and all were leaking, number four injector was also leaking between the "foot"(lower that is bolted to the head) and the "head"(upper hexagon bit) part, so while having all of the pipes and connectors off anyway I torqued it down and it seems to have worked just fine

Reinforcements to withstand forest (ab)use

This is the 3D-model of my drawbar and upper 3pt lift reinforcement

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CNC-machined bolts for the upper part of the 3pt lift...

Amongst all the other things that got stripped off

The heart of the electrical system completed, relays and everything is fused off

December 8th 2009, a bit naked...

Corrected what I regarded a design flaw in the stop control, now it is firm and exact rather than "flimsy"

Paint really makes a difference

After being taken for a little trip I shot this photo outside, engine idling, my dog badly wanted to ride with me

This replaced the original Temp/oil/gen clock, the orange indicator is my turn signal indicator.

Hard-to-melt-candy, we took a good look of the original stabilizer chains and dad and I ordered these instead

If all you have are two wrecked front cowls and a MIG-welder, sure you could make one that's acceptable?

Well, steering wheel knob and a "flamethrower", I am equipping my major with thermostart

Twisting, bending, welding and forming sheet metal is one of my favorites... The "bulge" is where my turn signal switch will reside.

The rear end is beginning to look like something

Painted, "grill'ed" and "lit up", since I would never put a loader on this tractor I placed the headlights wide apart, high up...

A small handmade fuel valve instead of the outlet bleed screw on the filter(previous owner had wrecked the threads anyway), the outlet from this one will be used to fill up the heater tank if necessary

A severe case of "frost bite" perhaps?

And here's the heater tank as well, two pipes at the top; one from the valve on the filter and one from the fuel return, pipe on the side goes to fuel tank and the long pipe going out the bottom goes to the heater plug

Dis-assembly of the hydraulic system... part of it, getting the flow control valve, spring and the "plug" out using a piece of wire loom through one of the bores inside.

Now we're getting somewhere...

The original spindles looked like this, no wonder it steered wherever it saw fit...

Well, this wednesday(march 31st 2010) dad picked me up these

The very same morning my friend Martin had dropped this package off in my post box

The hydraulic pump with new seals, waiting to be re-assembled

A local firm called Industry Service let me use one of their mills, for as long as it took me to mill the inward facing surface on the inlet manifold flat

Drilled and tapped a 3/8 pipe thread for my return pipe

This is what it looked like after I drilled the holes and mounted the flange

Assembled and painted stuff

Raised PTO in place

This is what the thermostart system looks like on my tractor now...

The pump and the plumbing is back where it belongs

Thursday the 1st of April I went to dad's cousins farm and picked up my pair of less rusted rear wings from a power major, they have a few bulges more than the current ones but they haven't rusted off near the rear axle

If you don't have a gasket set, you make them

Friday, April the 2nd was my dad's birthday so we all went there to celebrate and enjoy ourselves, got a bit bored after dinner when everyone watched TV so I went out and fiddled for a few minutes, this thing is going to be a linkage for the raised pto lever, hack about three fours of it off, weld the small "ear" onto it and then place the actuator on the floorboard next to the lift lever.

Re-assembly of better looking parts

What happened on Tuesday, April 6th:

"New" old spindles, in much better condition and picked from a power major that had led a much better life(with an owner that knew to maintain his machinery properly)

Stripping off the rear wings and the old cab supports

I got myself the proper SPE4A75S model pump and gave it a little love

Proper hydraulics, at last...

And here's the left one after some time spent swearing and sweating together with dad who operated a iron bar lever on the wheel shaft while I tried to lever the inner brake disc off the shaft

And with good tools the work is a breeze

Drive shaft housings, these will be scrubbed with a rotating wire brush and either painted or oiled with linseed oil(as will all non-painted metal to inhibit further rust)

Changing the pedal shaft seals since they weren't weeping but rather "bleeding", no obvious play in the bushings tho

The brake components, waiting for degreasing and new brake pads

Changed the PTO seal before filling the rear up with oil

I'll have to weld some fresh metal into the "new" old wings, the supports were filled with mud

The original seat had seen it's share of action and I had another seat in mind and constructed this

The parts for it

This is how I left it Tuesday evening, disassembled while waiting for parts

Welded up and testing the fit out

Saturday April 10th 2010

Regardless of how battered and bruised this seat looks, it's very comfortable and also has electrical heater elements in both the seat and the back rest

I got myself a pair of better looking brake housings and some other assorted goodies during the week and here they are in all their splendous glory

A new steering wheel, new radiator cap and new brake linings, the steering wheel feels quite "plastic" compared to the old one but won't cut my hands like the old one did

Quite some possibilities... and it came off an old golf-course lawn-mower, got it for free, me like lots :D

The brake housings, pre pressure wash with degreaser, wire brush and patience, it's even growing moss on one of them

Drawings of new knobs for the valve chest(for those that wonder what "hitta på en bra radie här" means, in english it would be something similar to "figure out a good radius here")

?width=720&height=417

The older type steering rod and a neato steel pipe to add extra leverage when undoing(or tightening wheel nuts)

And about a week later, machined by one of dad's old work mates

Re-threaded U's for the cab that's going to get installed, looks much better with new nuts and washers don't you think?

Hot water, degreaser and a wire brush can work miracles, this is before the rotating wire brush and paint

I did off with the broken pipes and replaced them with hard and reinforced rubber hoses instead

Somewhat later... In a day or so it's time for the second coat...

3D-model of the trailer outlet bracket

Laser-cut, bent, welded up and painted

Wednesday April 13th 2010

The "scab" part took and today I attacked the rear end with the angle grinder, rotating wire brush and lots of "cleaner", the results are on display in the following pictures.

Part of the electrical system's innards

The wire brushes used

Upper connection for my engine heater

The result after brushing and cleaning

And the lower one

And a hour or so later, primed up

A sensible start button, turn the key on and the button lights up, press it to start the engine and once the alternator starts charging it will dim indicating "Do not press me"

The view from the seat

Paint and a bit of sanding later

The circlips didn't want to stay put and the throttle shaft moved up and down rather than increasing or decreasing the engine speed, so I fixed that up with split pins instead, now it won't budge

For convenience I'll post all movies here below all the picures

Reinforcements to withstand forest (ab)use

CNC-machined bolts for the upper part of the 3pt lift...

The heart of the electrical system completed, relays and everything is fused off

Corrected what I regarded a design flaw in the stop control, now it is firm and exact rather than "flimsy"

After being taken for a little trip I shot this photo outside, engine idling, my dog badly wanted to ride with me

Hard-to-melt-candy, we took a good look of the original stabilizer chains and dad and I ordered these instead

Well, steering wheel knob and a "flamethrower", I am equipping my major with thermostart

The rear end is beginning to look like something

This clip is shot when I picked the tractor up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGurQL16jEk

First test drive on the road: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2SIXZhmY-Q

Trying out the hydraulics and the re-designed stop: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pan_9IuR9c

A first test of the newly built thermostart: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9r3wiHJIhQ

Starting him up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nwj3tuhQZv0