Andrew (who incidently has a quaint little holliday cottage in Whitby) has sent us a video of his grey and red FE35 starting up from cold in winter time…

Andrew thought the video may help people decide if it would be worth spending all the time, effort and expense on reconditioning their engine.  I’ll let you decide the answer to that one (but Vintage Tractor Engineer is certain the answer is yes!).

VTE knows that Andrew had a bit of trouble getting the injection pump timing correct and had to go back and make some adjustments, but perserverence eventually paid off and that starting performance is a credit to Andrew, his hard work and attention to detail.

Gunter’s FE35

Gunter has also been hard at work restoring his grey and gold FE35 and has uploaded some photos. Impressive stuff!

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

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.

The spring balance should be attached at the very end of the levers

So here it is…

• Loosen retainer nut and eccentric cam.
• Make sure quadrant levers are set at their sector marks. The round lever exactly over where it says ‘FAST’, the square lever next to where it says ‘DRAFT’ between the two dots and exactly where the arrow is.
• Make sure the lift arms are in the fully lowered position. (that is upwards if the top cover is flipped upside down).
• Make sure your spring balance is connected right at the top of the lever (if it is connected lower down the lever it will require more force to move the lever).
• When 3 lb. of pressure is applied it should only just spring it into contact with the front of the slot in the lever support bracket.
• Obviously adjustment of the spring pressure is made with the self-locking nut on the guide rods.

Jeff's tractor

Read what Jeff says about his tractor and take a look at the photos…

Hi,

I have a Ferguson / Massey ferguson 35. I dont know the year and I have been trying to figure out if it is a Massey Fergson or a Ferguson. I looked at the pictures of the one in Port Elgin, Ontario and you had requested pictures. I can take a few and send them, it still has the original decals. Mine looks just like the one on your page about the decals. It has been painted, but the decals have been taped over, so they are still there and in relatively decent shape. The badge on the front is a chrome Ferguson badge, but the decals on the side are Massey Ferguson? It has been in my familly for 40 years, and belonged to the farmer that owned our property before us, so there are onyl two owners. It was my dads, and I have used it since I was about 12, so I have had it now for about 26 years. I still use it every summer doing brushing etc. We used it to cut grass more than anything.

Ferguson badge on the front

I have been thinking of resotring it, but I dont know if I could find parts these days. (Gaskets, rings, seals etc) As well I am interested in your DVD’s on this model.

Hopefully the pics may help others with their decals/restorations.

This tractor has been in my family now for 40 years. It has been in continuous operation since we got it.

We used it for cutting grass and brushing for years, until about 10 years ago every summer as a daily working machine. It ran everyday for years in the summer, 5-7 days a week 8-12 hours a day! Sometimes more! I personally have thousands of hours on it. Literally.

We never had much trouble with it other than the usual maintenance items, fuel pump, starter, etc. Fuel lines were problematic every now and then, they would crack. We replaced one year’s ago with a HP flexible line. And the front tires were replaced with truck tires.

Other than that it is as my dad bought it. The brush hog is a Massey Ferguson.  Year I don’t know. Everything works on the tractor with the exception of lights. I still use it today for odd jobs in the summer.
Winter, no go. Will not start in the cold! As well we did install the Alternator years ago.

I am thinking of restoring it to original. But I would like to know exactly what I have.

A lot of this info I have is just from general knowledge of this machine in particular. Other than some items I have found on the internet over the past few days.

I believe it was originally grey, overall. It has been painted red a few times. But under the red, and shows through when the red paint fades off is a light grey paint. The engine and transmission have no paint on them that I can remember seeing.

The decal on the side says Massey Ferguson. But if you look close, those letters are over top of the original which just reads, Ferguson. There are also two decals, one on each side on the hood that are the general shape of the Ferguson Power decals I have seen before. They have been painted over.

Massey Ferguson sticker (been added later)

Look behind the MF sticker and we can see the old 'Ferguson' sticker beneath it

The Data plate, see pics, reads that it was built in Coventry England, by the Standard Motor Co Ltd. – For Massey Ferguson – FE 35 – Serial Number SDM 118336

Identification plate

The web sites I have looked at by S/N say that it matches Massey Ferguson, MF 35 only. But the data plate says FE 35. So I am a little confused. If there is any other info I can get, please let me know.

When I do restore it, I would like to do it to original, colours, tires, etc
etc.

Please feel free to use these pictures, maybe they will help some one else some day.

Thank you for your help, and great job on the website. It is very
informative, and helpful. I had no idea that anyone else had an interest in these old tractors! I have had a lot of fun with this old machine over the years. In fact out of all the heavy equipment we have, we always joke around that this is the best piece of equipment we own, it just keeps going!

Thanks,
Jeff Springer

Well Jeff thanks for sending in the photos of your tractor and telling us so much about it.  So what have you got?

The first thing to say is that all the tractors (from the gold/grey Ferguson FE35, through the red/grey Ferguson 35 and to the red/grey MF35) have FE35 stamped on the identification plate as the model designation.

Basically the colour  changed from gold/grey tractors to red/grey tractors when Massey Harris Ferguson changed its name to Massey-Ferguson (the hyphen was later dropped).  However the Ferguson badging remained for some time before the MF and triple triangle logos were fitted to the tractors.

If we take a look at Dave’s 35 (serial number SDM112958 – which is only 5400 tractors before Jeff’s), we can see that this tractor also has the Ferguson sticker along the side of the bonnet.  In his email, Dave questioned if this sticker was original – but now we have some evidence of another tractor with a similar sticker.  The photo from the 1957 promotional brochure (if you follow this link, scroll down to middle of article) of the tractors shows a metal Ferguson badge on both the front and side of the bonnet.

A point to note about all these tractors is that, although manufactured in England, they have been exported to either Canada or Australia (has that made any difference to the colours/delcals?).

I would therefore deduce that Jeff’s tractor should be painted red and grey, was manufactured towards the end of 1958 (during which time the company was called Massey Ferguson), but was still badged a Ferguson – with both the front badge and the side decal.

Are the Ferguson side stickers available anywhere?  Not that we know of (please tell us if you know where to get them from), but Dave has had some made and the last we heard was that he had some left over.