Field marshal

[Courier]

Len Heinby at Skellow used to send his thrasher man (Lionel) pulling the drum, buncher and baler all together , could hear it ringing out a couple of miles away - sheer magic for a 5 year old (me).

 

[hilux]

Obviously make sure you have fuel in the tank. Check oil, there is a dipstick behind the fly wheel. If its been stood a while it might have gone milky with condensation, worth draining it and re-filling. Also behind the flywheel is a little handle, push this down to engage and turn it round and round to prime the oil pump and get a bit of oil to vital places. A dozen or so turns would be good.

At front of cylinder is a screw in pre heater. Looks like a sort of Y handle on it, unscrew this right out and pull it out. It might be a bit stiff, so very very gently tap the handles round. Worth putting a bit of oil on the threads before it goes back in. Now for the handle and wind up, leave that heat plug out so there is no compression. make sure the dog on the starting handle is clean, not bent and well oiled. You don't want that hanging in the dog when she starts. Wind the handle over a few times to get the fuel pump primed, you should hear a sort of creak once the injector starts going, you will also start to see a mist of fuel being blown out of the heater hole. Now lift the little wheel on an arm onto the spiral on the flywheel, you want it so that you get at least two turns of the flywheel before the little wheel runs off the edge of the spiral. That wheel drops the decompression lever. Now for the pre-heat glow plug, that little plug with the Y handle on is hollow. You will roll up a small piece of salt-petre soaked paper and pop it into there, so that it looks like a cigarette holder. If you cant beg a set of papers from someone then Crawfords of Frithville stock them. Light the "fag", blow on it so that it glows, screw the holder firmly back in place. Throttle halfway. Now put some serious effort into that starting handle! Watch your thumbs, thumbs and fingers on same side of handle, firm under foot and really go for it. You have got to wind that thing up to speed so that when the little wheel drops off the spiral you will be winding it through that first compression. Not enough speed and you will be bounced back, so it really is important to be firm and brave.

When she fires be prepared to rack the throttle back and forward a bit if the governors have got sticky, also be prepared to pull the decompression wire for a stroke to get it to pick up speed a again. If she doesn't start, you will need a new fag paper and start over again. Don't try it again without a new paper!

Best of luck! Any other issues let me know. My farm fitter is probably the most knowledgeable guy in the country on Marshalls with his own personal collection of a dozen or more, loads of spares and is always selling the odd tractor as well.

Thank you very much for your help.
I remember driving it years ago and the steering was stiff, you needed an acre to turn it. Is this a trait of these machines. My uncle told me they put new steering brakes on it.

 

[Lazy Sod]

An old tractor driver I used to know drove a Field Marshall in the fifties. "Bloody aweful thing" he said. He changed farms and drove MF 35. He thought that he had died and gone to heaven.

 

[DrWazzock]

When did you sell it the vf crawler I'm repairing has a repair under the gearbox

@phil t

Sold in the late '90's or early 2000's at a collective auction sale at Market Rasen. I think the buyer was a plant or haulage man possibly from Lancashire but not entirely sure about that.
Ours was a crawler that had been repainted orange in the 1960's though originally I believe it was green. The green ones were more common apparently, whereas the ones that were originally painted orange at the factory were quite rare and more sought after. I don't know what the difference was other than that.

Nice old machines but yes, a lot of workers hated them. Long days on them couldn't have been much fun. My family ran one more out of necessity as it was all they could afford at the time rather than being enthusiasts. It was donated in pieces to my father by his father in law as a sort of build it yourself wedding present. By the time I was old enough to drive tractors it was only used for mole plough work. I remember they moled the mains water pipe across the fields to the farm using the crawler as the Muir Hill couldn't pull it. Dad reckoned the crawler worked like a hammer drill. The vibration and shaking from the engine cracking the ground in front of the mole leg.

 

[Courier]

@phil t .......

Dad reckoned the crawler worked like a hammer drill. The vibration and shaking from the engine cracking the ground in front of the mole leg.

Considering the bloody great piston which was working on its transverse axis the hammer drill analogy is just about spot on.

100% nostalgia - 0% ergonomic

 

[phil t]

here is mine as I bought it

 

[Fowler VF]

Thank you very much for your help.
I remember driving it years ago and the steering was stiff, you needed an acre to turn it. Is this a trait of these machines. My uncle told me they put new steering brakes on it.

Something not quite right there then, they turn well with a good man on the seat and a decent set of brakes. I wont say it doesn't need a bit of weight on the lever, its not power assisted, but it shouldn't need much more than a dab to get it to slew a bit, a crawler turn should be done a bit at a time, like the sides of a fifty pence piece. I find the action on VF is a bit like rowing on an oar, heave back and then forward and then back again. The Fowler VF is a bit different to most crawlers like Cat etc. Cats have a clutch on each side as well as a brake, Fowler has a diff and only steers on the brakes. Brakes therefore have to be good and also adjusted evenly on each side else it will veer off to one side all the time. The VF loses a bit of power as you brake to turn, but it doesn't lose traction by taking all drive off the track like a Cat does. Adjustment is underneath each final drive, a big nut facing the back, only needs a bit of a turn to pinch the band up a bit, should still be a bit of slack at the steering lever before the brake bites. If its still very hard to pull the brake on and hard to get the track to slow or stop then linings are probably worn. They are wet brakes. Bit of a beast to get to them, track off and final drive off.

If you manage to adjust the brakes and get them working well don't overdo the steering, slew it too hard all in one go is harder work and that's also a recipe for fetching a track off. You tend only to do this once, the lesson of scrabbling around in the mud and heaving one back on is usually enough to stop it happening again!

 

[Fowler VF]

Just to give you an idea as to the effect of the "bounce":

Some more, turning circle is governed more by the plough than the tractor.

 

[Timo@hattonfarms]

@Fowler VF off topic but are you a member of the link club?

 

[Philip Watkins]

Just to give you an idea as to the effect of the "bounce":

Some more, turning circle is governed more by the plough than the tractor.

Same driver? different crawler.

 

[Exfarmer]

I think I may have posted before, the layout of the single cylinder engine could have some unexpected effects.
For those who dont know, the cylinder and piston lay facing forward to the front of the tractor.
The effect of each individual explosion or power stroke is actually greater then the obvious rated HP since their is an equal and opposite effect from the piston being driven backwards to the chassis being driven forwards.
This means in some situation forward motion is jerky to a small extent.
A farm I knew well had bought a new Field Marshall, among its duties was to go on a baler.
On the first day a few yards down the field the drawbar pin broke, no big surprise as they only used an old bolt in those days, another was found but the same soon happened. So the farmer dag deep and sent down the road for a proper shiney pin, to his horror the same occured. The rep for the firm was summonsed who duly turned up with another pin but this too broke, careful examination revealed the problem, every time the cylinder popped at the same time as the ram hit home, the mutual opposing forces were too great for any pin and the old upright major had to go back on the baler

 

[Fowler VF]

@Fowler VF off topic but are you a member of the link club?

No. Steam Plough Club, yes. That's the next project, still under re-build in the workshop. Direct ploughing engine, will pull those crawler ploughs.

 

[Fowler VF]

Same driver? different crawler.
View attachment 510228

Well spotted. Nice photo. Arrived at the show and had a catastrophic brake failure on the VF. Was kindly lent the County for the day (and then ended up buying it!) The County has more hp but less grip than the VF, she was right on the limit that day, and actually spun out a couple of times.

Heres another of the toys, showing off a bit and testing the pulling power:

 

[kevindb880]

40hp pulling a mole 2ft deep in heavy ground! REALLY!!!

 

[Fowler VF]

REALLY. And not working hard or using much diesel. Massive torque, low geared and loads of grip.

 

[kevindb880]

Wicked! I want one.

 

[kevindb880]

Did the gearboxes, final drives etc put up with or did they wear out in no time?
Someone I know has a wheeled series2, Had it behind my DB880 trying to tow start it, bugger me when he let the clutch out it would stop my tractor dead,amazing compression from it!

 

[Exfarmer]

That was the problem with many older tractors the back ends were a nightmare when used for heavy draft work. They had low gears but were not built for the torque.

 

[Fowler VF]

Wicked! I want one.

Yes great to play on, but only for short bursts. Wouldn't be much fun on one of those out in all weathers, day after day,rocking and rolling across the field with a constant thump-thump and oil and soot in your eyes!

Did the gearboxes, final drives etc put up with or did they wear out in no time?

The Fowler VF crawlers were actually pretty good, they were simple, basic and well built. I have had much more problems with IH crawler final drives. The Marshall tractor also got a lot better with the Series 3 when Fowlers influence came into play.
I think the sheer number of old VF's and marshalls around is a testament to how rugged they were. Probably a pain in the neck to use, but they were survivors!

 

[multi power]

Yes great to play on, but only for short bursts. Wouldn't be much fun on one of those out in all weathers, day after day,rocking and rolling across the field with a constant thump-thump and oil and soot in your eyes!


The Fowler VF crawlers were actually pretty good, they were simple, basic and well built. I have had much more problems with IH crawler final drives. The Marshall tractor also got a lot better with the Series 3 when Fowlers influence came into play.
I think the sheer number of old VF's and marshalls around is a testament to how rugged they were. Probably a pain in the neck to use, but they were survivors!

I dare say they were a heck of a lot more fun than walking behind a pair of horses all day