I called my Father to come for a ride with me yesterday, he did not know where we were going but was absolutely interested in coming out into the world for an afternoon.
I think he was just happy not having to deal with the crazy snowstorm we had all been dealing with for the last 5 or 6 days. A lot of snow drifted in his yard and across his driveway. It was very compact and deep at his house and made for a lot of work.
We were going for a drive to pick up the 1948 Ford Ferguson with a flat deck tow truck. I had paid for the Tractor and we did the paperwork the day before.
As we were moving the tractor down the driveway in preparation to load it onto the tow truck a bonus came from a neighbor of the gent I bought the tractor from. He came out with a tractor manual from the 50’s and gave it to me along with some mechanical history on the Fergie. He told me that he did quite a bit of work on it over the years.
The picture at the top of the page is when we were offloading it at the bottom of my driveway. There was not really enough room for the truck to turn around up the hill with all the snow still piled up along my driveway.
The little Fergie really needed to get to its new home at the Red Barn Farm.
This little tractor looks to have been setup for logging and that would explain the heavy duty cage which been built on it.
The cage system will all be going away, it makes it difficult to get on and off of the tractor and I will not be skidding logs off the mountain with it.
The logs it will be moving will be hanging on the Log Arch we are building. That project is half fabricated and we did not get any video footage of that first portion of the build. The next step on the Log Arch will be video documented and posted here and on our YouTube Channel when the time comes.
A short walk around of the Tractor was done the afternoon we unloaded it and that video is posted below on this page.
The other video in the playlist is simply a tripod shot of the tractor running while I explain how all the controls and clutch work to my girl.it was a crash course in the controls minus any real crash.
The engine in the Fergie runs quite well, it needs an exhaust system and maybe some new spark plugs and wires along with a carb rebuild. I will be getting some tuneup parts as listed below for upcoming videos. A complete rebuild of the distributor may be the best way to go.
- Spark Plugs
- Distributor Cap and Rotor
- Points and Condenser
- Carburetor rebuild kit
- Figure out an exhaust system
Depending on the RPM you may hear a violent rattle on the video which is the plexiglass windshield vibrating against the steel frame where some weatherstripping has let loose. That is also all going away with the cage though.
The engine was rebuilt in 2006 and should not need major work anytime soon. The head was done along with some bottom end bearings and I think the cylinders were bored out.
The engine oil smells a bit like gas and I think that could be because at some point it was likely parked without having the fuel shutoff valve closed. The Carburetor likely passed gasoline through the cylinders and past the rings into the bottom end. The oil must be changed immediately before it has a chance to damage the cylinders from lack of proper lubrication while running.
From what I can tell right now the only big thing to address might be a shifter fork in the transmission. Hopefully that can be fixed by taking the cover off the top of the tranny where the shifter is attached. The manual I got shows some great illustrations and that will be another project for the future.
The Fergie will be a small project for now but one of these days it may be a complete teardown and restoration.
The reason for the 2 model numbers in the title is due to my need to research actual serial numbers to be sure of the model.
The immediate plan of attack on the Fergie after the tuneup will be.
- Complete power wash and degrease
- Remove entire roll cage & winch
- Rewire everything
- Figure out good lighting
- Change all oils
- Grease everything
- Add a solenoid for auto fuel shutoff
- Assess alternator and charging system
- Research the 1st gear shifter issue
- Try to get the brakes working better
- Tighten all accessible bolts as some loose ones were discovered
- Fix the throttle control problem
That should be about it for this post.