Advice on buying a ted20 fergie

pcp20us

Member
Hi all

I looked at a ted 20 today ( vaporized oil i think). I am looking at buying it. It seems to have a few problems, as listed below.

Its not running and has been sitting for a couple of years.

I could not turn the engine over with the crank handle. that tells me its seized or stuck?
Does this mean a rebuild or you may be able to soak the rings with oil for several days?

Radiator was dry and rusty, rusty outlet from engine to radiator.

i could only get it into second gear and no other gears, ( does this suggest gearbox trouble, or is it something to do with seized motor?

I am wondering if i can get it going without doing major rebuilds or does it sound stuffed?

low oil in hydraulics but it was clear
sludge oil in engine, seized adjustable LHS linkage arm.
very stiff accelaerator.

Interested in peoples opinions.

Cheers
 
I will only answer about hydraulic oil. Just because the oil is clear does not mean it is not contaminated. If you were able to start it and use the hydraulics you may see a different type of oil as there could be water in there and over time it has settled to bottom.
 
hope for the best,expect the worst,u don't say how much the tractor is?u could be looking at a rebuild of motor/hydraulics.shifter probly normal,rails are dry from sitting>
 
How much? Even in oz one in this condition is scrap iron value. If you are prepared to take this down to the last nut and bolt, clean and inspected every bit of it inside and out, and pay for whatever it takes to become a really nice tractor again. Then just get it home.
I lost a race with myself a couple months ago, tried to take a TEA20 all apart, rebuild it, and restored in 30 days of spare time, didn't happen. It was running and rolling in 30 days, but still not show ready.
You'll have 2 or 300 hours and several hundred dollars into it, but well worth it in the end- if- big 'IF'.... the seller is reasonable...
might have to change out that TVO stuff for petrol, but that can't be hard to do.
 
It all depends on price and your need. By the sounds of it, it may be a Aus$500 maximum tractor? A full engine overhaul kit (if it needs it) is around $500. Probably not much wrong with the transmission and rear axle.

The TED20 starts on petrol and runs on power kerosene. Power kero is 3/4 lighting kero, 1/4 standard petrol but due to the cost of buying kerosene, makes the brew more expensive than standard petrol.

I seem to remember Charles has a nice TED20?

Bob in Qld
 
Thanks for you thoughts.

$500 is the going price, maybe worth it, but maybe more work than i want to put into it, I ll see

But I dont want to see it go to the scrap yard.
 
All comes down to the rear tyres , what condition are they in ?
I have a TED [ thanks Bob, very complimentary :) ] I just run it on petrol , no issues at all .
$500 is probably what it is worth , rings stick and valve springs break when the engines have sat idle for years . My FE35's engine was stuck ,the magic formula of acetone and atf poured down the cylinders soon loosened it enough to be freed by removing the starter and levering the starter ring teeth gently . After that it only needed a thorough flush and oil change .
 
Hi charles.

One reae tyre is near new, the other has a few chunks taken out of it, and probably repair or replace the 2 front.

What do you pay for new second had rear tyres for these things?

Good to hear about you method of unseizing the motor.

Pete
 
11.2 / 28 '' tyres are usually around the three to four hundred mark new [ Some Chinese brand ], each, add tubes aprox $70 and fitting and it becomes an expensive process. Second hand tyres of that size are extremely difficult to find , $200 is about the going price for a nice looking one , the reason for their expense is that someone is always looking to match an existing and so is prepared to pay more to save buying and fitting two .
A few chunks out won't hurt much so it sounds like you have the five hundred in rear wheels and tyres already .
Radiator dry might mean split hoses or it might mean an internal engine leak , pull the plugs if you can and have a look down the hole , feed some clean soft sash cord into the hole and poke it with a chop stick or some other probe that won't scratch . Pull the cord out and see if it is either, oily, covered in carbon or worryingly , rusty as this will point to a leaking liner , head gasket or other problem that might make it a little harder or more expensive to repair .
 
Well, for 5 bills, and the way Charles rationalizes the price of used parts, go for it. Take it all down to the last bolt, cleaning, elbow grease and paint is cheap, slowly buy the needed spares as your budget can afford it. Being an expensive fuel even at the time, it was probably not even broke down when put away, just..redundant? as they say downunder? Could be bound up dry with age, and be a cheap fix. Good luck with her! Oh, be sure to buy a manual....
 
(quoted from post at 13:36:47 08/26/14) All comes down to the rear tyres , what condition are they in ?
I have a TED [ thanks Bob, very complimentary :) ] I just run it on petrol , no issues at all .
$500 is probably what it is worth , rings stick and valve springs break when the engines have sat idle for years . My FE35's engine was stuck ,the magic formula of acetone and atf poured down the cylinders soon loosened it enough to be freed by removing the starter and levering the starter ring teeth gently . After that it only needed a thorough flush and oil change .

Ha Charles. I have got the tractor here and ready to go. You said you used acetone and atf. What is atf and can you give me any more info as in quantities used. Cheers
 
(quoted from post at 23:52:25 09/03/14)
(quoted from post at 13:36:47 08/26/14) All comes down to the rear tyres , what condition are they in ?
I have a TED [ thanks Bob, very complimentary :) ] I just run it on petrol , no issues at all .
$500 is probably what it is worth , rings stick and valve springs break when the engines have sat idle for years . My FE35's engine was stuck ,the magic formula of acetone and atf poured down the cylinders soon loosened it enough to be freed by removing the starter and levering the starter ring teeth gently . After that it only needed a thorough flush and oil change .

Ha Charles. I have got the tractor here and ready to go. You said you used acetone and atf. What is atf and can you give me any more info as in quantities used. Cheers

I'm not Charles but I'll tell you. ATF is automatic transmission fluid. Mix the transmission fluid 50/50 with acetone. Pour it in the cylinders of the tractor and let it sit for a week or two. Don't rush it. Let it sit and give it time to work. When you decide to try and break it loose,drain all the water you can out of the block. Then shut the drain off and get you a few gallons of water boiling and pour it down the upper radiator hose. Make sure there is no thermostat in there first. A lot of times the heat from the boiling water will help break the rust loose because it will make the sleeves expand some. Then put the tractor in high gear and rock it back and forth. You can remove the starter and pry against the ring gear but you run a chance of making a bad spot in the ring gear. I prefer to rock them back and forth personally but to each his own.
 
Sorry a bit crook lately and missed your post . Jason has summarised it fairly well . The auto transmission fluid can be any old stuff you have , used is just as good I have found , paint thinners can be used instead of acetone as well .
The first thing I would do is take the rocker cover off , see if there are broken springs or other surprises . Some of the fluid poured over the valve gear won't hurt either . Remove the oil filter while you are at it as the mixture will make it swell and stick . Rocking works though I have never had trouble with levering the starter ring before , less effort on your part to do it that way as long as you are careful .
 
Hi.

Thanks for the info.

Pulled the tappet cover off. Does not look to bad. There was a little bit of water ( moisture in there) . Valves seem stuck, so hit them with the special brew and poured some down the sparky holes. So fingers crossed and we shall see what happens. i ll give it a rock in aweek or so.

I did not flood the pistons, probably used about 400 ml for all 4 pistons, i assume thats enough?

Cheers
 
Drained the engine oil today. Not looking good for the old fergie.

Not good when water comes pouring out before the oil... Never experienced that before. Looks like it could be a head gasket... I ll have to wait and see. Bugga
 
Whip the sump off , doesn't take long and will allow you to look at the big ends at the same time . Remember to take off the side cover and oil strainer first .
 
OK time for more action.

All valves are free and moving.
Looks like 2 and 3 cylinder stuck pretty solid.
Tried rocking in top gear. And pry bar on the fly wheel teeth. Its no go.
So going to pull the head and manifold of for a look.
Anything I need to note before o remove the head?

Cheers
 
With the head off rocking the engine will lift the liners off their seats in the block . To stop this use some big washers held down with head studs and spacer tube to secure the liners in their place .
 
(quoted from post at 17:43:11 09/16/14) With the head off rocking the engine will lift the liners off their seats in the block . To stop this use some big washers held down with head studs and spacer tube to secure the liners in their place .

Thanks, I had read this somewhere. can you expand on the head studs and spacer tubes. trying to see what i have to do to stop them lifting?

Ta
 
Any old big washer or piece of flat plate that will go over the edge of the liner and hold it down . Use the head stud or a suitable bolt and a bit of tube or pipe to take up the extra threads where the head used to be .
 


Nothing wrong here, what you recon?

Do you recon this is beyond saving?
Or time for a rebuild kit.

mvphoto11176.jpg
 
I have seen better and worse , are the liners pitted ? This will determine whether you can reuse them or not . Just realised my Grey and Gold FE35 has a blown headgasket , I will have to do much the same job soon :(
 
(quoted from post at 13:04:13 09/21/14) I have seen better and worse , are the liners pitted ? This will determine whether you can reuse them or not . Just realised my Grey and Gold FE35 has a blown headgasket , I will have to do much the same job soon :(

The liners have rust stuck on them, cyclinder 2 is the worst. I am soaking and cleaning them up slowly to see if they are OK.

Can you replace the liners and pistons with the engine in or does it have to come out?
 
'' In frame '' engine overhaul kits are available . No need for removing the engine . Depends on the condition of the rest of it to see how long the piece of string is .
 
righto Back onto the fergie this week.

Ok so the head is off. Whats the best action from here. I assume as the head is off i get it machined?

If i free the seized pistons ( as its been soaking for another 2 weeks now)
Can i put the motor back together using the old head gasket, rocker cover gasket as they seem in good shape?

Anything else i should do while the egine is apart?

I rember reading that the heads have a weak spot betwwen no 2 and 3 cylinder?

Is it OK to hit the rust spots on the liners with sandpaper.

Cheers
 

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