ploughmyfield.com

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.

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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)

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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.

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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.

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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.

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I had a great surprise on Saturday. About lunch time there was a knock on the door It was Jim who had driven over to show me how he was progressing with the mudguards on his TE-D20. The first couple of posts on this new site  (if you follow them back or click on the link on the right TE-D20) will take you to the posts all about Jim’s tractor. Roy another friend fixed Jim’s tractor for him after it hadn’t run for 12 years!

Well it was looking great and was running which is more than I can say for mine! He had done a really good job with the mudguards Following Jeff’s instructions from the Holland Brand website on fitting fenders. 

Jeff’s fender article

I will also be following this article when it comes to fitting my mudguard skins. I will me looking for imperial bolts though!

I digress, here are some pictures of Jims tractor outside my house and also a movie of him driving off. The movie would have been longer and shown him starting the tractor but I forgot to press the record button. Oh well. It’s sounding great. I’m really warming to the petrol model.

Th bonnet is blue as this tractor was originally owned by a sports ground and that is the team colours.

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There is so much going on at the moment and not enough time to do it all. So I’ve got a roundup of a couple of items I’m tinking aboout.

Airfix
The Airfix kit I came across whilst looking through eBay sold for a staggering £598.88 Wow, you really could buy a tractor or two for that money. This quarters classic Massey has an article about a gentleman who bough two TE-D20 tractors for £230 bargain.

Donations
A big thank you to Jim and Jerry who have made large donations to the ploughmyfield website by clicking on the button on the right. Thank you very much. Your donations will pay for the server space for the site for 2 months.

Shot blasting
The mystery blaster turned out to be a man called Darren Willis.  I’m down in Derby this week and he is kindly shot blasting some more items for me. Radius arms, cradle for fromt axle, front axle, fan blade, air intake tube are all having the paint stripped from them. I’m picking them up tomorrow so etch primer tomorrow night then fitting on Thursday! 

Painting
I’ve added a final coat of Ferguson grey to the starter motor before fitting it tomorrow night. I have to say it looks Fab. I can’t wait until it’s all been painted.

I have to say it looks even better in real life. The grey is a lot darker and more shiney. I’ve also sprayed around the back of the block where the starter is positioned as there is no way I will get in once the start has been bolted on.

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Did you know that Airfix’s first model want’s a spitfire or a hurricane but a tractor! A ferguson TE-20 tractor to be precise.

This one has come up on eBay with 4 days to go it currently stands at £230 ( almost as much as a real one) I wonder how much it will go for? Here is the link so you can keep an eye on it.

eBay Airfix Ferguson Tractor Kit

Here is the sellers information:

• Plastic construction kit of the Ferguson TE tractor made by Airfix. 1/20 Scale.
• This was the very first Airfix kit and made in the 50’s in England.
• The kit offered here, is a true collectors dream. All the components are present, even the tiny box with small parts is still sealed and never opened!
• Complete with original instructions and translation in Swedish!
• NOTE: A version which I’ve never seen before, all the parts are molded in blue plastic and tires are cream colored rubber!

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The restoration is coming on well. I still don’t get as much time working on the tractor as I’d like, but that’s life. I’m just glad I have a tractor and I can work on it in a garage.

I have fitted the fuel pump after a total strip down clean out and check over. It was very dirty inside. Not all TE-F20’s had  a lift pump. The early models did not, there two fuel filters where also fitted in parallel (fuel passed through one or the other). Then in production the engine block casting was changed to include a couple of mounting screws for the pump and a hole into the engine  to attach a lever from the back of the  pump to the cam shaft on the inside.  I have seen a transitional stage where the hole  and mounting studs for the pump are in place in the block  but there is a  blanking plate over it. The filters are still in parallel. Once the pump was added the filters where changed to series (running through one then the other). I assume the additional pressure from the pump meant there was enough force to pass through one filter then the other. 

Disappointingly I have a rubber tube taking fuel from the main tank to the  pump. There was a secondary fuel tank or Auxiliary tank fitted on TE-F’s I have one but have never used it. I know they get full of a green sludge. With mine it’s down to a lack of correct pipe’s. If anyone out there has a spare solid pipe that goes from the Auxiliary tank to pump I’d be interested. I am also missing the second half of the pipe that goes into the back of the Auxiliary tank from the main one. 

I think I also need to take the rest of the paint off the fuel injector pump and spray it properly. It was my intension to mask it off whilst spraying the rest of the tractor.  I can see it being tricky to do a good job of masking it. It will also look rough when all the rest of the tractor is painted.

The tractor in this picture looks much better then the one in the post “Reference”below. That picture was taken before the strip down. The decompression lever at the front of the engine has now been added and the water pump housing as well as the dynamo the. The inlet and exhaust manifold holes in the block have been masked to stop paint getting in whilst painting.

I’ve started work on the starter motor. I have removed layers of mud and soil before I can clean the surface of the metal. In the picture I’ve removed the switch and solenoid from the top of the starter. I don’t intend to do anything with the internals of the motor just check the brushes are  clean and lots of material on them. The starter has always worked very well so no need to fix it.

 And below the condition of the starter when it was removed from the tractor. I intend to paint it grey the same as all the other parts. I have seen the started and dynamo painted black on some restored tractors as black was the colour Lucas originally supplied them. If you had a replacement then maybe there wasn’t chance to  paint the replacement  when fitted. Hence why some people prefer them in black not grey.

And finally I’ve got the front axle support frame back from a friend who was welding it for me. It looks great. Now it has to be stripped and painted like everything else.

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Front Dynamo Decompression Assembly

I can’t stress enough how important it is to take loads of photo’s at every stage of the process of restoration. With digital cameras now costing less than £50  (www.ebuyer.com)there is no excuse to not be snapping away. I try to take pictures of everything, you never know when they are going to come in useful. Take the picture above, I’ve dismantled the front decompression assembly and I can’t remember how it goes back together. Now with the aid of the photo I can. I can also see the position of the cover over the dynamo brushes and which side the bracket goes that attaches to the top of the dynamo to adjust tension. Photo’s Priceless!

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Ploughmyfield is in the news.
Have you got your spring 2009 copy of Classic Massey yet? Mine arrived through the letterbox this morning.

On page 42 as part of the article ” Our Tractors” Scott Lambert mentions this website. I sold him one of my excellent number plate brackets some time ago to complete the restoration of his TE-D20 tractor. Scott wanted to promote the site as he feels the standard of the reproduction number plate bracket should be talked about.  Thanks Scott.

Loads of other great articles in the spring edition including buyers tips for the TE-D20. Roy are you reading this now there is no excuse to delay the buying of your very own TE-20 as the guide gives you all the info on how to find the right tractor.

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Whilst down in Derby at my office there I saw a sign for shot blasting. The next time I went down I took the Exhaust manifold with me. It is very rusted and I thought it would take ages with the brush on the angle grinder to get down to bare metal. 

Before

The hight temperature paint needs to stick to the bare metal.

So I found a person who loves his job. Unfortunately I forgot to ask the gentleman’s name. He says its great doing the sandblasting as he can escape into his own little world with his ventilated helmet  and a high powered light to see the work by.  I’m sure I’ll be back to get some more stuff done, like the back wheels as they where very reasonable. The room looked big enough to put a hole tractor in.

Unknown

he 

Company Name

The results speak for themselves and the part looks fantastic.

After

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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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