ploughmyfield.com

I sold a number plate bracket to a customer in Belgium.

He was very pleased with it and wondered if I had made any to go on the left hand wing rather than the right as he has lots more tractors. It is also illegal to drive with one on the right and not the left whilst driving on the right of the road. I explained that I’d just had a batch made and it might be some time before I got some more made and had the chance to enquire about getting them folded to suit the left hand wing. It will be cheaper if I got a batch done than a one off.

Along with the enquiry Ivan sent some pictures of his restoration. I puts my efforts to shame. I thought you all might like to look how a restoration should look.

I love the space he has in his workshop and the number plate looks great.

The casting on the back is from the howard rotavator which he is also restoring (nut and bolt)

Does anyone have information about the Lucas lighting kit that was made for the european market? I saw a model recently with the number plate on the left It looked funny. But then again the right one looks funny to people in europe.

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I’ve stripped the fuel filters, removed old paint, rubbed them own then sprayed with undercoat and assembled back on the tractor.

They look fab. helped by the dramatic ligthing in this photo I think.

The water pump has also been stripped and primed ready for assembly back on the tractor.

I had to use the nitro mors paint stripper on this one as it wouldn’t come off. I don’t mind using paint stripper. in most cases it’s not needed and I don’t like to use it as its expensive. 

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Back in May last year I bought a starting handle for a TEF-20 engine. I thought it would come in handy for the engine rebuild. I could use it to turn the engine over for realigning the clutch, moving the pistons in the sleeves etc.

When I put the starting handle in the bonnet hole it didn’t go all the way in. On closer inspection the starter wasn’t in line with the dog on the front of the engine.

So the strip down of the engine has been an ideal time to investigate. On investigation I found the pin at fault. I think this is due to the missing bolt. Item 25 from above. I think on the diesel model it is different though and the bolt comes through from the back. with the washer and nut on the front.

With this much wear there is no way it was going to line up. All down to a missing bolt.

Once apart I inspected the other parts. The worst item was the frame itself. The pin is supported at the front and back. The front is quite thick, about 1″, but at the back it is 1/4″ or about 6mm. The hole had become oval. It seems like a bit of a design flaw by Mr Ferguson’s design team (the only one I’ve found) .

So replacing the pin was easy as they are available from most suppliers. I also replaced the bush item 20 which goes in item 21. How to fix the oval frame though.  The bush for the MF35 is different and made of steel. So I bought one of those thinking I could use it, somehow!

After thinking about it I came up with the idea of enlarging the hole in the back and using the bush (cut down) in the hole to take the weight of the axle and remain aligned to the front bush.

A big thank you at this point to Roy for enlarging the hole and cutting the pi down. It’s taken him over 4 hours. I asked him to take a look at this as I don’t want to loose focus from the engine. Thanks Roy.

His results are fantastic. He has also replaced the bush in the axle. It looks great.

The frame is now with another friend who is going to weld it for me as I don’t have a welding kit. Once back it’s going to take some cleaning up before it can go back on the tractor.

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I got asked by Steve how I paint my parts and how I get them ready for painting.

I’ve added a page as I think this is a subject that will interest a lot of people.

This is still a work in progress with some picture to add. Please add your comments at the bottom of the Painting Parts Process page and let me know how you do it. 

http://www.ploughmyfield.com/painting-parts-process/

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I’ve not got much to write as it’s late. I have another video of the work I’ve been doing and some pictures.
Steve thanks for your comments on yesterdays post. I can answer your question fully tomorrow as it’s to late now.

Right Side of Engine

Thermostat Housing

Air Intake Assembled

Inlet In place

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My wife and son have gone visiting for the weekend so I’ve got the whole weekend in the garage. I’ve taken this movie of the engine at the start of the saturday. I’ll take another one on sunday night when I’ve finished.

I started work on the right hand side of the engine. With Roys help I finished most of this side of the engine.

Roy Come to help

Roy Cleaned up the injectors and the pump whilst I cleaned the tubes connecting them all.

Cleaning the Injector Pump

4 Injectors Fitted

Pipes

Before fitting the injectors and pump I added the oil feed pipe to the oil pressure guage.

Oil pipe

After cleaning the pump it was fitted to the tractor.

Pump Fitted

At the end of the day the right hand side of the engine is nearly complete.

End of day 1

More to come tomorrow.

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This is a subject that has had a lot of feedback (comments) on this site so I thought after getting an email from the person who skillfully managed to get it running some time ago you might like to know what was needed to get it running.

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Festival Of Britain Guide Cover

Don’t ask me why but I bought this guide to the festival of britain in 1951. I think I was drawn to the striking design of the cover.  One of the areas covered by the many exhibits was “The Country” which had a heavy focus on mechanisation. There is a picture of a Ferguson tractor pulling a 3 Ton trailer. and a great adver for the Ferguson system.

Ferguson Advertisement 1951

Layout of the "The Country" exhibition

Did anyone go to the exhibition. Can anyone remember what it looked like or have photo’s of the country at all. I’m going to do a bit more digging to see if I can find out what it looked like.

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I’ve used an acid etch primer on the block a first coat that will stick. Its not cheap but I’ve been impressed with the results from the aluminium parts. I masked up all the remaining holes. I ran out of paint so had to get another can. I also bought a high temperature paint for the exhaust manifold. It’s been in the tank of degreasing solution for about a week. I looked at it today and most of the carbon on the inside has broken down. Normally this is removed with a rotary wire brush with lots of noise and dust. The guys at the engine remanufacturing shop in Leeds where I took the crank and block to be ground recommended this method as the best way of removing carbon build up.

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