Since its a full blizzard outside, I thought maybe I'd share my first experiences with a Ferguson tractor. I suppose this is all very familiar to many of you, to me its much of the pleasure of working on these old tractors, Having just finished a complete restoration on a 1945 Farmall A, and having a Farmal M to start on, I figure this Ferguson is a nice change. I aquired this tractor about a year ago as payment for work (about $400.00 worth) done on a Ford 8N. Previous owner said it had started popping back throught the air cleaner and lost alot of power, so he just parked it and bought the 8N. I have no idea how long it sat, hood and grill are fair, rear fenders are beat fairly bad but not beyond repair. All four tires are almost new, worth the price of the whole tractor. Serial #TEA266272, according to the list on this site is a 20-85, 1952. January 1st I decided to try to bring her back to life. I checked all the fluid levels, engine oil thick and black but up to level on the dipstick, transmission low and showing signs of water in oil, radiator antifreeze full with a tiny film of oil on top. The hand crank is there so I tried and she turned over. Figured out it has a 12 volt positive ground system, so I installed a battrey and after finding out the starter switch is closed through the gear shift linkage she also cranked over on the starter and oil pressure started to show on the guage. Pulled the coil wire off the distributor, (oops, didn't know about the threaded connections on the plug wires), held the coil wire close to ground and had spark but very weak. As she showed some promise I pushed her into the shop and thought I'd give serious attempt at making her run. First job was remove the hood and fuel tank, drain tank and clean sediment bowl. Removed distributor cap to clean and adjust points. Removed spark plugs for visual inspection and quick cleanup on wire wheel, checked gap and set to .025". Cleaned and repaired spark plug wire connections at distributor and coil. Spark was way stronger with clean points, so I set the fuel tank back on and reconnected the fuel line to the carburator. When I opened the fuel valve on the sediment bowl gas poured out of the carburator as fast as it could get there, guess I could have expected that. I removed, disassembled and cleaned the carburator. Found the needle valve stuck open and the bowl gasket shrunk from sitting too long. Made a new bowl gasket and reinstalled the carb. Opened the fuel valve again and seemed to have cured the leaks (smiles). Left the air intake pipe off the carb and giving some choke I tried to get her to fire, actually I did get a few pops but could also here puffing back out through the carburator and would not fire-up. Removed the sparkplugs again and checked compression, with throttle wide open results = #1-28, #2-45, #3-70, #4-100 lbs. Removed the valve cover and cranking her over by hand I could all valves were moving although lash on all valves was very loose, I'd guess at least .050". Decided to also do a cylinder leakage test while the cover was off, removed the manifolds to better access where leakage was, results = #1-85% intake valve, #2-80% intake and exhaust valves, #3-65% intake valve, #4-42% intake valve. After looking into the ports I decided to remove the head and at least clean the carbon from the valves to try to get a better seal. I disassembled and cleaned the head and gave a quick lap on the valves and seats while it was apart. Valves are not great but the guides are surprisingly tight and I did not want to spend a bunch of money before finding out what the overall running condition of the tractor is. The bad news came when I removed the head gasket (I don't know why I didn't look as soon as I pulled the head). The block is cracked where the head stud threads in between the #1 and #2 cylinders, cracked from the threaded hole toward the center of the block, the deck is actually pulled highter then the liner flange near the crack but the head gasket (copper) showed no signs of leakage from the water jacket or combustion chamber. With the head off I also pulled the cam followers out to check the condition of the cam lobes whick all looked good. Another surprise, a little tappered head screw was in one of the cam followers, after some searching I found it to be the lock screw holding the rocker arm shaft in the rear shaft tower. Cleaned the rocker arms and shaft and checked for wear, tips a little worn where they contact the valve stems but shaft in great shape. A little loctite on that screw and I don't think we'll have that problem again. Well keeping with not wanting to spend much yet, I thought whats the harm in reinstalling the head with the old gasket and at least try to get her to run. The cylinder walls look good with no ridge to speak of. I degreased the old gasket, deck and head surface and installed using copper coat on the gasket. Set the valve lash to .010 intake and .012 exhaust thanks to the info on this forum. As the manifold gaskets disintegrated when I removed the manifolds I reinstalled them using hi-temp silicone. Set the fuel tank back on without the valve cover on so I could make sure the top end is oiling, and recheck the lash hot, if it would run! Gave her the fuel and a little choke and she fired right up but would not keep running without alot of choke, (figured I had the carb settings not even close) but at least she ran. I did manage to get the mixture screws close enough to have her keep running without and choke, but she sounded terrible. Popping back through the carb and would not rev above I'd say about 700 RPM. I reinstalled the pipe from the air cleaner to the carb, to keep from getting gas on the warm exhaust pipe, and checked the oil cup on the air cleaner to find it full of water and ice, no oil. Removed the whole air cleaner and disassembled to clean, reinstalled with clean oil in the cup. Restarted her, she ran the same and I could really feel air blowing out of the dash vent (scratching head, what the !?!). Plugged exhaust maybe? removed exhaust pipe at the manifold, no change. Back to this forum, I found there is supposed to be a timing hole below the starter, I still cannot find it. So using a piston stop through the #1 spark plug hole, I found TDC and made a timing pointer from a bolt on the front cover to a mark I put on the front pulley. Checked spark timing and found it way advanced but I could not get the distributor loose to adjust the timing, with the valve cover still off it was not hard to check the valve timing. Found some results that I think may be my problem, intakes opening at 30 degrees BTDC and closed at 20 degrees BBDC, exhaust opening at 50 degrees BBDC and closed at 45 degrees BTDC, seems valve timing is also way advanced? Pulled the front end off and removed the front cover to find one very loose timing chain, advanced 3 teeth from the marks. Just for kicks I reset the chain back to the marks and tried to start her without the front cover, I only let her run for a few seconds (kinda ackward trying to control the choke, starter and throttle with no governor linkage) but for those few seconds she sounded good. Now I've had to spend some money, $26.33 for a new chain through the local Massey dealer. Two days to get it here, I have it now and as I was getting ready to put the front end back together I found a button from one of the governor weights had come off and was stuck between the oil seal and flange of the timing cover. I got the button back in the weight and reset it with a center punch but I really should order a new weight assembly. If the block wasn't cracked it wouldn't even be a question but as it is I can't justify putting any more into it than absolutely necessary. At least if I can get the engine to run decent I can find out if the rest of the tractor is in working order. Anyway, thats where she stands right now. Hope some of you may have enjoyed the read. G Top.
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