Fordson new major

[Gav101]

I am fairly new to the world of tractors which is probably fairly obvious from this post and my previous ones. I have had my Fordson E1A for just under 2 years and use it for cutting grass in 2 fields using a flail mower. Last year no problems once I'd worked out what I was doing and since then I have not had need to use it although have started it up every couple of months, changed the oil and filter and cleaned the air filter. Today I attempted to cut the grass again and although the tractor ran ok, sounded healthy enough I had a few issues when it came to actually cutting the grass.

Started off ok but seemed to lose power and the tractor was straining and slowed down - still reving freely but seemed to be struggling to cope with operating the flail mower through thick grass. Last year it was absolutely fine although this year the grass has laid down so is a bit compacted. I would still have expected it to cope easily with this though.

I also noticed a small amount of smoke coming from the crankcase where there appear to be some sort of vents, I'll add a photo tomorrow. Can't recall it doing this before. Soon as I turned off the PTO it sounded amazing and ran like a dream.

I stopped and checked everything and noticed that the old level in the differential was very low - it had been on maximum before I started. After I had put it away in the shed the oil level was ok again. It's a small though the oil had transferred and returned. Can't think where as the oil level in the gear housing remained constant. This is unrelated but I have noticed a few bubbles in the gear oil when I use it. No signs of water, could this just be mixing 2 different grade oils? I topped it up but may not have matched what was already in there.

Any ideas?

Thanks

 

[timff]

Have you checked diesel is getting through? My Dexta lost power after a winter in the barn which was down to a blocked filter on the end of the tap under the fuel tank.

 

[TripleSix]

I am fairly new to the world of tractors which is probably fairly obvious from this post and my previous ones. I have had my Fordson E1A for just under 2 years and use it for cutting grass in 2 fields using a flail mower. Last year no problems once I'd worked out what I was doing and since then I have not had need to use it although have started it up every couple of months, changed the oil and filter and cleaned the air filter. Today I attempted to cut the grass again and although the tractor ran ok, sounded healthy enough I had a few issues when it came to actually cutting the grass.

Started off ok but seemed to lose power and the tractor was straining and slowed down - still reving freely but seemed to be struggling to cope with operating the flail mower through thick grass. Last year it was absolutely fine although this year the grass has laid down so is a bit compacted. I would still have expected it to cope easily with this though.

I also noticed a small amount of smoke coming from the crankcase where there appear to be some sort of vents, I'll add a photo tomorrow. Can't recall it doing this before. Soon as I turned off the PTO it sounded amazing and ran like a dream.

I stopped and checked everything and noticed that the old level in the differential was very low - it had been on maximum before I started. After I had put it away in the shed the oil level was ok again. It's a small though the oil had transferred and returned. Can't think where as the oil level in the gear housing remained constant. This is unrelated but I have noticed a few bubbles in the gear oil when I use it. No signs of water, could this just be mixing 2 different grade oils? I topped it up but may not have matched what was already in there.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Majors don't really care about what oil is in the back end.

You probably had the arms up when you checked the oil and it was low.

Check you've good flow of fuel from the tank.

Take the glass bowl off the lift pump and clean the filter in there, change the main fuel filter.

 

[Lofty1984]

Have you checked the topper over for a binding bearing or something else siezing if it’s running ok without the pto running then I’d start with the topper

 

[forblue]

Chances are that's the pto clutch plate, if seal has gone on gearbox input shaft it will leak onto disc, double clutch, one disc for transmission one for pto.

 

[Lincsman]

May simply be the grass is a lot thicker this year and wetter, go slower.

 

[Gav101]

Majors don't really care about what oil is in the back end.

You probably had the arms up when you checked the oil and it was low.

Check you've good flow of fuel from the tank.

Take the glass bowl off the lift pump and clean the filter in there, change the main fuel filter.

Thanks for the advice - yes the arms were slightly raised so that would explain the fluctuating oil levels.

 

[Gav101]

Have you checked the topper over for a binding bearing or something else siezing if it’s running ok without the pto running then I’d start with the topper

Thanks - yes I did check the flail mower but its only 2 years old and looks fine.

 

[Gav101]

Thanks all for the advice, thinking about it more now and the fact that I saw some smoke escaping through the crankcase I think part of this is most likely a compression issue, blow-by. I hadn't used the tractor properly for a year and started on the grass almost immediately. I probably need to give it a longer run and allow it to warm up for longer before I start working it. I guess this is all obvious stuff when you know what you are doing! Hopefully compression will build up, I imagine that is a normal problem with these old tractors.

 

[borderterribles]

How wide is your flail mower?

 

[Lofty1984]

Thanks - yes I did check the flail mower but its only 2 years old and looks fine.

Can you turn it all by hand the shaft and the rotor?

 

[Gav101]

Can you turn it all by hand the shaft and the rotor?

Yes I can turn the shaft and rotor by hand, takes a bit of effort but seems to be free moving just that its a heavy piece of machinery.

 

[Gav101]

How wide is your flail mower?

It's just over 4 foot, I think it gives a 1.25m cut. Do you think that is too big? It takes me a fair while to cut the fields using this, it would take forever with something smaller.

 

[borderterribles]

It's just over 4 foot, I think it gives a 1.25m cut. Do you think that is too big? It takes me a fair while to cut the fields using this, it would take forever with something smaller.

I don't think it is too big ,at that width. Unless it's jungle that you are cutting whilst catching the ground all the time , the tractor ought to absolutely eat it!

 

[indigenous]

It's just over 4 foot, I think it gives a 1.25m cut. Do you think that is too big? It takes me a fair while to cut the fields using this, it would take forever with something smaller.

Never owned a

It's just over 4 foot, I think it gives a 1.25m cut. Do you think that is too big? It takes me a fair while to cut the fields using this, it would take forever with something smaller.

It's just over 4 foot, I think it gives a 1.25m cut. Do you think that is too big? It takes me a fair while to cut the fields using this, it would take forever with something smaller.

 

[indigenous]

Never owned a

Never owned a Fordson Major but always thought the gearbox and back axle/hydraulic oil was separate.

 

[agrimax]

They are separate.

 

[tomlad]

Am i remembering correctly They can pump from one box to other in use, seal going.
Then drain bit off high one and pour back in other ??

 

[essexpete]

The gearbox level is higher than the final drive and tends to leak from front to back.

 

[tomlad]

Uncle has one ,end of ploughing match , he'll swap about a gallon back .
Bit to nice a original tractor to split.