ploughmyfield.com

Prolific on the FoFH forum René is a committed serial question answerer. Considering vintage tractors aren’t his first job, Repairing televisions and VCR’s is his first time job. he lives in Vollenhove and
the tractor shop is in Blokzijl.

René’s TE-F20 restoration
I started tinkering with engines with my cousin when I was around 14. We started with Briggs and Straton lawnmower engines of different types and also had a go at a wolsely 5Hp twin flywheel air cooled engine (these appear to be rare as hens teeth !) However we where getting quite bored with the B&S engines so we bought an 1950/51 TE-D20.

After finishing the restoration of a TE-D20 with my cousin I wanted to get a diesel version of the same tractor as I felt the TED representing the spark ignition engines and the diesel being the opposite with it’s compression ignition engine.

The search was on through friends it lead me to a farmer nearby who had one. He bought it to power a water canon without paying to much attention. So when he got home he found it had a small PTO shaft and that it only got up to 800 RPM flat out !. As it din’t work to well he was willing to sell it to me. Unfortunately by then it had done hours and hours of running flat out…. I also told him that buying a 35 or a dexta would only eliminate the PTO size problem
so he should be looking for something from 1970 and onwards if it where to have any chance of having a 1000Rpm PTO.

I drove it to a farmer friend of mine where it was to stay until I found room for it. A few years passed before I did. I bought a 20 foot shipping container to restore it in. My uncle had the space to put it to the rear of his business buildings in the grass field. I specifically bought this container because it was higher than most and significantly higher inside which allowed to fit an over head crane without hitting my head every now and again.
This has been build from I beams and an electric 125Kg winch with added pulley’s to reduce the lift speed and increase the load capacity a bit. It will lift 500Kg now as long as I don’t stop mid-lift.

First thing was to blast it clean with the high pressure washer so I took of the hood and tank to get good access to the engine. The engine was then detached and put on top of my workbench. This was the first time I had a good look at it at eye level. Unfortunately that revealed a crack in the block of around 5 inches at the bottom of the water gallery. I then went about sourcing a pre ’54 block (without the lift pump) to match the tractor. I did find one quite easily with only two months difference in casting date.

Stripping the engine was shocking. It still ran regularly as diesels should with a bit low oil pressure but that was to be expected. However the hours on the water pump running flat out had taken the last bit from the bearing shells. Apart from two tiny patches on the joins there was only copper left !. The crank I got with the replacement engine was
not reground ever so I had that reground to avoid taking the original crank to it’s third undersize. The replacement engine was fitted with the original camshaft as it was a tighter fit than the one that was in it.

I fitted new piston, rings and liners and a set of 1st undersize bearings. Also new where the timing chain, oil pump rotors, valves & guides, valve springs (outers only, I could source correct inners), injector nozzles, fuel pump seal and governor diaphragm. I had the cylinder head overhauled professionally as it needed new guides and re-cutting the
valve seats. The oil pump body I machined down on my lathe to reset the axial play to it’s normal tolerance. I fully re-timed the engine while it was on the bench. That allowed me to set the pump at an especially pleasing angle by working out the setting angles on the flywheel to eliminate the rotation of the pump after timing it to the datum point.

It was then put back in it’s place for a test run. That proved that I had provided a TEA/D top tank for the radiator when I had one made from two with a re-core. The problem was solved by looping a long hose for the test run and later corrected by having a TEF tank fitted. The engine was fired up without to much difficulty and ran like a swiss
sewing machine !

I then set about taking the rest of the tractor apart. In the middle of that we managed to hire a unit of a small business building next door so all the stuff was moved there. That included another shipping container, all the tractors and all the part we had stored all over the place. We means me, my dad and my uncle with my cousin. We had by that time a TED20, MF35 4 cylinder, FE35 TVO basic, Deutz 6206 and a Hanomag Robust901AS. All was moved and the restoration was halted while we set up our new place. Both containers where put in a corner of the unit and a seccond floor put on them. There we stored the implements and stationary engines we also have.

Resuming the rebuild. The gearbox was found to be in good condition but bearings where worn. They where however still perfect so I would try and re-use them. Unfortunatly I had to source a replacement housing as this one was corroded badly. In Holland most finger bar cutters on TE’s are made by Schukken and these bolt to the engine to gearbox bolts. That causes these bolts to destroy the alloy because of the shaking and the fact that in most cases no galvanic corrosion agent was used when the bolts where replaced. As I had a high lift loader to go on it again I needed it to
be strong. I found that of the 12 threaded holes 8 where destroyed. So the plan was to re-tap these with oversize UNC and then loctite in UNC bolts. I went in with 3 sizes larger than would have been there without using a drill !. Next the bolts where loctited in place and hack-sawed almost flush. Grinding them flush would not do as the surface needs to be perfect. So I took the gearbox case to the engine engineers to have it skimmed. They had just installed a new larger machine that could cope with the height of it stood upright and made a fine job of it.

I then set about fitting the shafts without shims to see if I could solve the bearing wear by re-shimming alone. I found I could get it ok but only with no shims on the main shaft. So I stuck the bearing retainer in the lathe and skimmed off the same amount as was taken of the gearbox housing. That allowed to fit shims to accurately set
the pre-load again. The same was done to the lay-shaft. The reverse shaft had seen the gear wearing down the protrusion in the casing for lack of a thrust washer on one side of it. I made one to fit the gap (several mm !) from bronze stock.

The rear end had the driving pinion bearings re-set to the correct pre-load and the crown wheel bolt where replaced. I found a PTO shaft with very little wear to replace the badly worn one and the rear axle seals where all replaced. To facilitate that I build the puller as described in the workshop manual and also made a set of drills longer than the half shafts to drill through the collars. One of the bearing housings was also skimmed in the lathe as it was distorted and would probably not have sealed. Brake shoes where fitted with new old-stock asbestos linings. These are perfect!.

The hydraulic pump was fitted with new O-rings and all the pivot pins in the internal linkage replaced by oversized ones I made to take up the play. The cross shaft was badly worn. I welded on material and then lathed it down to it’s correct size again. It was re-fitted with new bushes. It’s now hard to turn by hand where as before you could see the play in it !. New triangular plate was fitted and I made up a new sleeve to go with the new old stock plunger I got hold of. That sorted out the top link.

The front end was overhauled. New king pins and bushes, new pivot pin and new ball joints on the drag links.All bit’s where cleaned and primed as they where worked on. All the bit’s needed to drive it where put together and it does drive like a new tractor !.

At this time work’s halted again as we extended the second floor in the building and I had to work on my car for a bit. Also I managed to buy a MF1200 which I wanted for years now. It’s in bad shape but very early at No. 900008 which
is the 8th 1200 of the line. Engine was rusted solid and the main drive shaft splines are AWOL. I can’t have a big lump sitting there as it won’t steer without a running engine so that needs sorting before I can resume work on the TEF again. I did get the dash sorted, welded up some holes and got the tension of the welding out whilst waiting on some details and bits for the 1200.

Regards,

René.

Pictures of René’s restoratin
René’s TE-F20 restoration

Thank you for taking the time to write your story down.I’m sure everyone wishes you the best of luck with the MF1200.