ploughmyfield.com

Thanks again mike,
Yes I’ve been in the garage stopping the leaks from the fuel and oil pipes. I think I’ve got it sorted now.
I love that last picture of the ploughs outside the croft. Very staged but very aesthetic.
I hope you get the computer working. I bought a Machintosh (Mac) computer and a time capsule backup. I can go back over a year to find a file. It’s also great for web edition and movie editing.
I notice your fergie plough in the first picture is a Sherman (Ford Ferguson) plough as it has the cast top section that connects to the top link. I later models this was 4 bent pieces of metal.

.

With the engine working the next step was to take the tractor out. I managed onto the front lawn and back. See the movie here of me putting the tractor away.

Whilst out on the front lawn I took some photos of the assembled tractor. I think it looks great. I can now notice even more all the items that have not been painted they look so scruffy! So the next job is to have a go at the rest of the tractor starting with the back wheels.

Mike’s email( Assorted Gubbins) made me chuckle especially the part about fixing all the little faulty. I have a leak from the out port of the fuel lift pump (fixed with PTFE tape). The bleed screw is also leaking diesel from the seal( I think I have stripped the thread on the alloy body).

The idle speed of the engine is also faster than I think it should be. The remerdy for this is to shorten the control linkage between pump and throttle. I have a lot of black smoke or soot coming out of the exhaust. This could be a timing issue or burning off of the oil used to lubricate everything whilst the tractor was being assembled. I am going to leave it to see if it reduces and maybe look at setting the spill timing again. A diferent method must now be used to do this as the engine is now a lot more assembled than the last time I set the timing.

I haven’t kept a complete record of all the costs involved in the rebuild. But I have been asked to put together some accounts for the work so I will do my best. I have no idea of the number of hours it’s taken nor would I be able to guess. I also want to put together a help document for anyone thinking of restoring there tractor.

.

I just want to say a big thank you to everyone who was helped with this engine restoration, to Fred an Roy for there time, to you lot for the support emails. The biggest thank you goes to my wife for putting up with me disappearing into the garage at every opportunity. 

Oh and the reason the tractor stops after 4:30 is I forgot to turn the fuel tap on!

Now it’s working it’s all a bit of an anti climax! What will I do now? All those jobs around the house that I haven’t done for the past 6 months. Now it’s time to get out and use it. (On light duties for 20 hours, the I need to reset the tappets.)

.

Tonight I  speak to Colin Taylor, he phoned from Ireland to have a chat the first time we have ever spoke in about 2 years of sending emails to one another.  After speaking to him I was spurred on to want to get the tractor running. So after fitting the bonnet I had a go at strting! Before attempting anything I got the fuel through the system and the removal of all the air in the system. I followed the instructions in the TE-F20 instruction book of which I have an original copy. With the fuel through to the CAV injection pump it was time to have a go at starting!

(5mins long abridged from 25mins long)

As you can see it didn’t start before I had flattened the battery. I could not understand why, fuel was getting all the way to the injectors, and then I realised I’d left the stop in. So the engine was never going to start. Now it was to late, The battery was flat and did not have enough power to turn the engine over.
Oh well I’ll put the battery on charge and have anther go tomorrow. It should just start first time tomorrow now I know what to do. There is one good thing to all this, the oil pump has been working and should have pumped oil all around the engine to  allthe major bearing surfaces. Watch this space for some developments soon.

.

Thanks Again Mike.
Yes I am very proud of my FT57 lamp I’ve been waiting a long time to find one as the right price. Now all I need to do is find a pair of fold out side lights. Does anyone have a set they would sell?
I’m coming round to the idea of leaving the light in chrome.I just don’t think I bring myself to spray paint it!

.

The readers of this blog are great.
What a paint job. I see once the tractor had a lighting kit? I’m looking forward to the rest of your travel posts.

Thanks for emailing in.

.

I am the very proud owner of a FT57  a 7″ diameter headlamp as fitted to the bonnet of Ferguson Tractor.

You can see it here with the bracket attached to the base. This bracket attaches to the front of the bonnet.

The light looks Fab in chrome but it should be grey! I just don’t know I can bring myself to paint it.

How did I come to own the light. I had an email from a reader Nick Lovell. He got in touch asking if one of the readers would be interested in the lamp. Unfortunately the lamp advert never made it for you lot to think about buying as I bought it. I was particularly impressed with Nick’s outlook. He didn’t want to sell the item on eBay as he didn’t want it to go to the highest bidder but someone who would appreciate it. I hope I can do that Nick.  Nick is setting up a website to sell vintage car parts. He says its a pass time and the money isn’t the main reason for doing it. “  prefer to put the right part on the correct vehicle and as long as I cover my costs, thats fine as this is a hobby mainly and gives me satisfaction when I can achieve that.”

Nicks website  www.heglo.co.uk I’ve asked him to get in touch if he has any other lighting items suitable for a Ferguson.

Thanks Nick.

.

Only the fuel tank to add on and bleed through. Connect the exhaust, and check all the bolts, check it all looks right, check i haven’t missed anything. The radiator is full of water and holding with the new hoses.

.

Thank you.
I recommend getting the DVD from www.vintagetractorengineer.com it shows you step by step how to dismantle and reassemble the 23C engine.

.

The radiator and front axle have now been added. it’s going together quite quickly now, but not quickly enough I want to be driving it. Nothing done to the radiator. I’m going to paint it later. Likewise with the front axles (to be added yet)

.

Busy so not much posted just some pics and a movie! startup is getting very close.

By turning the engine over I hope to circulate oil around the engine before startup.

.

It’s time to put some oil into the tractor’s engine.

It’s nearly time to put some oil into the tractor’s engine. 12 pints for a diesel engine sump, 3/4 pint for the Air Cleaner Bowl, and some oil for the reservour in the C.A.V. pump

So what oil do I put in the tractor? I know this is always a great topic for debate on any forum or discussion on tractors,  so here goes.

In the TEF-20 Instruction Manual that was originally supplied with the tractor there is a table showing types of engine oil to use and manufacturers and their products.

The key to the chart is temperature.  The temperature of the ambient air where you live in my case the UK or The British Isles. For the UK the recommendation is to have S.A.E 20 oil in the winter (0°C-10°C) and a S.A.E. 30 grade oil in the summer (10°C-30°C).  When the tractor was new oil was only available with these single grades or temperature ranges. This means to get the best result you should change the oil between winter and summer as the outside air temperature changes.

 Then someone had the bright idea of combining the two grades of oil into one called a multi grade oil. This gives you the opposite to what you’d expect. It gives you an oil which is thinner in the winter at startup when the oil should be colder and more viscous or sticky and a thicker oil in the summer at startup when the oil should be thinner as it is hotter outside. How does the oil achieve this? Additives in the oil mean it can be used over a range of temperatures. The hotter it gets the thicker it gets. This goes against normal principles that oil gets thinner the hotter it gets.

So I bought  20W-50 Multi grade oil. It has a 20 SAE value in the Winter and up to 50 SAE value in the summer.

I have also added this oil to the CAV diesel pump as recommended.

So now I’ve got the oil into the engine how am I going to get it to circulate around the engine before I start it up is another issue.

.

I haven’t posted anything for a while, not because I haven’t been busy, on the contrary I’ve been too busy to post.  After masking the back of the engine, dashboard, gearbox I got on with the task of priming and final coats of paint on the engine block.
I’m so pleased with the results I’ve included a lot of pictures.

Easter is just around the corner and I’m really pushing to get it running. The Ferguson paint I’ve used can be sprayed over within 4 hours of applying the first coat otherwise it has to be left 4 days before it can be painted again. Just one more top coat on the engine then I can start reassembling the front axle assembly, all parts of which have been painted

I’m going to paint the tank, bonnet and radiator at a later stage.

.