Vintage Tractor Engineer » Ferguson / MF

MF35 Hydraulic Oil Replacement

Vintage Tractor Engineer — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 19:49:42 +0000

Andrew asks…

Hi,

Having completed a full strip down and rebuild of the engine according to the dvd I have now bought the Hydraulics dvd and am about to start looking at that end of the tractor.

I noticed that Ian mentions using multigrade oil in the gearbox/hydraulics. Having Googled this and looking at a few forums I am now confused. Should I be using 32 grade hydraulic oil or multigrade engine oil?

Also what about my log splitter which I use on my Ford 4000 with 32 grade hydraulic oil in it. If I use it on the Fergy with different oil then the oil will surely get mixed?

Thanks

Andrew

Hi Andrew,

In the Fe35, the recommended oil is SAE50 in our climate (or SAE 40 in colder climates). However, these days you would just use 15w/30 farm universal oil (or possibly even a dedicated premium transmission oil such as 10w/40). Definately not 32 grade hydraulic oil – that would be used in specific hydraulic systems (ie. without a tractor gearbox running off the same reservoir). Also definately not dedicated engine oil or any dedicated gear oils.

As for the mixing of the oil when you swap the log splitter between the two tractors?? Well that’s one reason why the oil should be changed at regular intervals – so that the correct oil in the tractor doesn’t get too diluted/contaminated with incorrect oil from other systems.

Hope that helps.

Kind Regards,

Ian

1962 MF35 Photos

Vintage Tractor Engineer — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 16:46:30 +0000

Vintage Tractor Engineer always likes to hear from MF35 owners from across the world who kindly send in photographs of their tractors, especially when we get the serial number. This helps build a catalogue of tractors that we can use to compare against our own machines – particulary helpfull when trying to do an authentic restoration.

Richard has sent in these photos of his tractor, along with a few details.

Further relevant information is available on decals and badges or a more general article on the MF35 tractor.

Here are a few photos of my MF35.I bought it about 2 years ago to use on my Hobby farm.It’s had a busy life but it is generaly in original condition.The decals are starting to come off and the front badge is gone,however you can still tell the type of decal used on the hood.The plow light appears to be original as well.I hope some of thes images are usfull to somone doing a restoration.The data plate calls it a FE35(Ferguson England)The serial # is SNM 249005.Acording to the info I have this translates to (S)Normal width(N)Perkins Diesel A3.152(M)Dual Clutch.Built in 1961….

MF35 Overheating and Stalling

Vintage Tractor Engineer — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 13:33:52 +0000

Lau from Denmark has done a complete engine rebuild of the 23C engine in his Massey Ferguson 35. However, he is having some problems and has written in to see what could be the trouble. He says…

Hi VTE.

I have followed the whole rebuild process acording to the fantastic DVD I bought (I also bought the Workshop Manual for the MF 35).

I have recently started up the engine for the very first time. It was running absolutely fantastic. But after approx 4-5 minutes the engine slowly stalls and decreases in revs and then completely stalls – almost at the same time the radiator starts “leaking” because of the boiling water in the block.

Everything inside is new – pistons, rings, liners, crankshaft is balanced with new bearings – the WHOLE lot. What I am afraid of is that the tolerance between the piston through the rings to the liner is to narrow. I have removed the head now and looked at the pistons and the inside of the liners and they look as they were new – no scratches no ressidue of any kind! All the spare parts I have bought in the UK – also the Engine Overhaul Kit – 23C.

What would You recommend I do next?

Kind regards from Denmark
Mr Lau Jakobsen

I would think you have a cooling problem.

What will be happening (I suspect) is that the cooling system isn’t working
for some reason. The aluminium pistons will be overheating and expanding
(more quickly than the iron block) and hence the expanded pistons will
become difficult to move along the bores. This will create more friction
and even more heat making the engine even hotter and the problem even worse.

What could be wrong?

Either one of the pipes is blocked up or the thermostat is not allowing the
water to circulate or the water pump is not circulating the water or the
radiator blocked. Other things to look for are gaskets fitted incorrectly
and blocking coolant pathways, or temporary covers (e.g. cloths or tape used to cover coolant pathways during the rebuild) that haven’t been removed. I would take a careful look at all the cooling system components.

The thermostat should begin to open at between 68 and 74 degrees C. It
should be fully open at 85 degrees C – which can be checked by placing in a
pan of water and heating up the water.

Will this have damaged anything?

Hopefully not. If the engine was just running at idling speed in the
workshop then I would suspect that nothing will have got damaged. Things tolook for are damaged piston rings and cylinder head (although you have been in and inspected these).

Hope that helps.

Let us know how you get on.

If anyone has any other theories or suggestions for Lau then please let us know in the comments below.

The Vintage Tractor Engineer.

How To Fit Core Plugs, MF35

Vintage Tractor Engineer — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 07:50:47 +0000

In the UK we’ve had two consecutive cold winters and the frost has blown core plugs from some engines which haven’t either been drained of coolant or had sufficient antifreeze concentrations. Owners who have had blown core plugs are lucky that this fail-safe has worked – they could have been dealing with a more serious (and expensive) cracked block. This highlights the need to prepare your tractor for winter.

How To Fit Core Plugs

There are different designs of core plug for different engines. The task is quite straight forward on the Perkins engines, as the plugs are simply hammered into position with a suitable drift and light hammering.

23C Engine

The design of the core plug and fitting method for the Standard 23C engine is somewhat different.

Here are the core plug fitting instructions…

On these engines the new core plugs are a convex shape (like a dish shape). You clean the hole out and put some sealant around the edge of the hole (something like ‘Instant Gasket’ or ‘Loctite Flange Sealant’). The sealant isn’t technically necessary (as eventually any leak would seal with rust), but it is better for an immediate seal.

Next get the new core plug and place the lip of the plug into the hole (so if you imagine something such as a breakfast bowl, the bottom of the bowl needs to be facing towards you to the outside of the engine block) and then using a suitably shaped wide punch you hit the centre of the core plug until it starts to flatten out. This expands the outer rim of the plug and makes a water tight seal. The plug needs to be nearly flat, but NOT flat. If you get it to the point of been flat then it will loose its grip and it will just fall out.

It is sometimes possible to re-use an old core plug if you are able to re-form the dish shape prior to fitting the plug.

Ring Gaps, MF35 23C Engine

Vintage Tractor Engineer — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 19:05:59 +0000

The ring gaps are an important thing to look at when assessing an engine for serviceability. Excessive ring gaps will cause reduced compression, impair starting and running performances.

What is the ring gap?

The ring gap is the gap between the end of the rings. This is measured with feeler gauges.

Tractor and engine manufacturers will provide tools to place the ring inside and then the ring gap can be measured. The majority of tractor restorers will not have access to these tools as they are unlikely to be in production for older tractors. The next best alternative is to place the ring into the bottom (unworn) portion of the bore (liner) and measure it there. The bottom of the liner will not have had the piston contacting it and because it is unworn it will have the cross hatched honing marks clearly visible.

We can see the unworn portion on this liner. The photo doesn’t show it well, but the cross hatching is visible.

What are the ring gap tolerances?

For original Ferguson/MF rings and liners…

Top ring gap 9 to 17 thou

Second and third ring gaps 9 to 14 thou

Duaflex oil scraper 18 to 37 thou (alternative oil scraper is 10 to 15 thou)

If you are measuring a genuine MF liner then the bore of the liner should be 3.3130 to 3.3145 ins. The reason for the size difference in the original liners is that at that time they were unable to manufacture the liners accurately. After manufacture they would measure them and then measure and match pistons to them in a pair.

New rings out of specification

We have had a few people email us to say that they have got new pistons, rings and liners and that they have measured them before fitting and found that they are out of spec.

These have all been manufactured by a non-genuine parts supply company and unfortunately some of these companies seem not to be able to manufacture parts to the necessary accuracy.

Typically the following ring gaps have been measured from these parts suppliers…

Top ring gap 23 thou

Second and third ring gaps 18 thou

Oil ring 15 thou

What to do?

Firstly measure either your tool or (more likely) the liner you are using to measure the ring gap in. Check it is within spec. If it is within spec and you are experiencing ring gaps which are too large then compression is likely to be compromised.

Ideally these ‘new’ components should be rejected and replacement parts sourced from another manufacturer.

Daryle has emailed to offer this tip…

Excellent advice on Liners, if I may offer a tip, is to keep your liners standing. Laying them on their side will often distort them.

Thanks Daryle, much appreciated – Steve and Ian.