New here. And new to the ferguson

Hello folks.
I now have a 1954 tea 20, from what I understand so far anyways..

Trying to learn things about the old tractor
I am mechanically inclined worked on cars, trucks, and everything else my whole life went to school for automotive.

Only things I have done to it so far is change the oil and filter.. was unsure of what was in there but it was low and due for an oil change I believe..
Was having and issue with the oil pressure which the oil change didn't do much for..
It's got 50 lbs when cold and after it runs for a bit it ends up at almost 0lbs of pressure.. runs good no knocks or concerning sounds

Figure I will change the gauge next sine I have another at the house it will probably read the same as the current one..
It has a temp gauge on it but the wire has been cut off the back but it's not getting hot by feeling the hoses.

When she gets warmed up good it will smoke at idle but fine with throttle applied..

I installed a tach on it to see what it was turning it's idles at 1000rpm and I get about 1800rpm full throttle.

From what all I've looked at it should idle at 450 and turn around 2000
 

The temperature gauge isn't electrical , so most have the wire cut off the back unless the gauge is original . The sensor is in the thermostat housing and the capillary tube runs the length of the engine to the dash . Look for a break , leak , or kink in this .
Try adjusting the oil pressure relief valve on the top of the oil filter cannister , screwing it down a few turns might increase the oil pressure . Manual suggests that six threads should show above the cap as a factory setting when the engine is new . Sealing is via a lead washer , but an O ring will do a good job .
 
Usually you have to be on here a couple days before being allowed to post pictures but I have seen newbies do it the same day.
 

Yea it's cut off at the back of the gauge and also cut off where it goes into the thermostat housing..

I've read people saying to adjust the oil pressure and then seen people saying don't adjust it..
I'm gonna change the oil pressure gauge out before I start adjusting..

I got a stack of books with the tractor 1 thick book lots of pages a service manual and other books about working on the tractor

I'm not really using the tractor at the moment just running it and riding around some to check things out on it.. when summer comes I have a nice field for it to bush hog.. the tractor came with the bush hog, box scrape,boom pole and scoop pan
 
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Hoopty it sounds as you must have the 85mm engine as it was installed starting at S/N 172501 and that was in 1951.
 
Yeah... I ain't a gauge watcher... but zero is never good. Let's hope it is up front and not the rear main.
The smoke might be just a little rich at idle- and idle on these things is rather high, be lucky to keep running at 450, I had Allis's that idled at 120, but these ain't AC's....
It sure looks good, no obvious problems are there? So welcome to the fergie gang!
 
Not sure what this is on your tractor?

Remove ITEM # 5 OIL PICKUP STRAINER.

View suction/inlet of oil pump with light:

Bob..
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As your a wrench, you know that oil pressure is determined from clearances cold versus hot.
Those primarily being bearings. Oil pump might also be a factor and your oil pump *might* have a
tube with rubber seals in the ends. If your seals are cracked, warm up and suck air the pressure can
drop. I would drop the pan and pull some caps. If that tube is in there the rubber seals could stand
replacement at the same time. The wife's Fergy killed a credit card when it first showed up.
Then I kept going. Might get done with it someday...HA!
 
If you have 50 pounds oil pressure when the engine is cold you probably don't have a bearing problem. It sounds like you simply aren't pumping enough oil when the engine gets warm so check for a restriction in the oil pickup or a place where it can be sucking air before the pump. I'd also think about using a different gauge to make sure the gauge isn't the problem before I worried about replacing bearings.
 
Hey Hoopty. I too bought my first English Ferguson tractor this year. It is a 1954 tea 2085. When I
got the tractor it had 20 lbs.cold and 0 lbs hot. I changed the oil, filter, and the pressure gauge,
turned in the screw on the pressure relief valve, cleaned the oil pick up screen, I now have 60 lbs
cold and 5 lbs hot. The tractor engine has no knocks. It will be spring before I get to work on it
again.
 
(quoted from post at 19:40:33 12/30/15) Not sure what this is on your tractor?

That nice shiny little item would be my air filter..lol
It has a rubber hose off the carb and the filter I assume would be the type you would use on a valve cover for a vent.. I'll post a better pic of it
It's better then nothing

We got it from a guy we know.. the place he works at closed down and they had it.. they bought it,in 1991 and planned to you it some on job sites but he says all it really ever did was pull a boat around in the yard
 
I did remove the screen in the pan when I changed the oil it was as clean as could be.
I will change the oil gauge first but
I may have to chage out those seals later..

I did give the screw on the oil filter and little turn and went out riding around on it a few minutes ago.. it seemed to help at idle it would drop just below 10 but throttled up it was between 10 and 25..
The gauge reads 10- 25- 50 and then 75 I belive hard to see the last number..

I adjusted it cold when I first started it set it just a little above 50

The tractor seems to run great for the most part. I've had to change a wire on the solenoid it was smoking while attempting to start the tractor it was in bad shape.

Last weekend it kept turning over and over and would not start I was getting a little mad at it trying to figure out what it was. I finally bypassed that resistor at the coil and it fired right up as soon as i hit the start button.. it was very wet out that day. The tractor is in a garage with no door but the tractor was dripping wet..
I figured it was moisture in the cap but it was dry as could be
 
I've got 2 of the 87mm Standard motors petrol tractors and both won't hold oil pressure. One drops to zero and the other holds 5 hot.I adjusted the big screw in all the way and sprung the gauge. My thoughts are that these models have oil pumps that quit functioning hot. Someone who has replaced the oil pump will have to chime in. I replaced rod and mains, gauge,oil line,relief spring, plastigauged mains and to hold 5 lbs. when hot 15w 40.
 
Your comments are very interesting,I thought for sure the reason for my hot low oil pressure would be in the main bearing area. Thanks (85mm)
 
You need to pop a main cap and plasti-guage it, if alls well then I'd put a pump kit in it.Please let me know what fixes it.
 
I took it out to the field last nite to get some lumber for a buddy..
It really surprised me how well it fired up in the cold..
It was probably 30 degrees as soon as I hit the start button she fired up and ran great i,wasn't expecting that..
Figured I would be cranking on her and choking and it would start and die and have to repeat a few times.
Fired up and I went back inside and let it warm up some..

That may not be cold to some of yall but I'm in North Carolina... yesterday and today are probably the coldest we've had so far this winter..
We get down in the 0-20 degrees range here some but not for a long period.. last winter was the coldest year I've seen in a while as far as it getting down and staying cold

I will get some pics of this thing I promise I just haven't had time
 
My neighbour, purchased a TEA 20 and found it had 5 lbs. oil psi,at 190 deg F with 30-W oil at idle and 25 under load with a tack on the PTO reading 540 RPM. I was asked to give him a hand with a total Engine overhaul. We used and inside, outside Mic. and found the the Camshaft bores to be at max clearance ".0045". I assured him the clearances we found were runnable. The Crankshaft MAIN Journals,and Connecting Rod Journals, were found to be at MAX clearance, as well, the JOURNALS were noticeably rough by hand touch.
The owner WOULD NOT install a different Crankshaft,to bring all MAIN BEARING Journals down to MIN running clearance of ".001" and the CONNECTING JOURNALS ".001".
We installed a NEW OIL pump and found the engine gained 4 lbs. oil pressure!
One afternoon, my neighbour called letting me know he had removed the Crankshaft, and was looking for direction. We installed new undersize BEARING SHELLS in the MAIN BORES of the BLOCK, and new BEARING SHELLS in all FOUR CONNECTING RODS. With all bearings CAPS torqued, "Connecting Rods 42>46 ft" and MAINS 90>100 ft"
We dropped the ENGINE BLOCK,CRANKSHAFT,and CONNECTING RODS off at my brothers machine shop, with instructions as to the final JOURNAL SIZES, also that my brother was to do all machining himself.
Engine assembled, oil PSI was operating at 28>30 psi hot at Idle.
I have no idea ,if this is the problem with your TRACTOR, however, this was the problem with my Neighbours TEA 20 with the ENGLISH Engine.
After operating his tractor for several hours on a PTO driven Sickle Mower, my Neighbour had me install a Spin on Oil filter adaptor.
Bob..
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Thanks for the story John deere.... I sure hope i,don't have to rebuild this engine but if that's what it comes to I will..
Definitely be trying simple things first

I don't really have the time or the money for that right now.
I have a 7 month old at home.

There's to many projects at my house between the house needs work. 72 blazer been down for over a year rear axle came apart. 75 k20 needs TLC. The list of thing I want to do to my jeep and the problems i create by doing so.. it's always something
 
I went into my folders to reassure myself that it was the standard that got the new mains as with 4 tractors it's hard to remember what all has been done to each, after all this was in early 2013. I was able to replace each of the mains from the bottom and then did the plasti-gauge. I know its not near accurate but even the old ones looked great as did the crank. It also got a new timing chain and gears but not rod bearings.
I hope your experiences with the neighbors tractor are as enlightning to CC in NC as they were to me, thanks JD.
 

If you do replace the oil pump check the clearances against the wear limits as specified in the Ferguson manual . Some new pumps have larger clearances new than the maximum wear allowed in the manual .
The pin that holds the impeller onto the shaft can work loose as well . make doubly sure this is really tight [ it is an interference fit ] before installing .
 

I figure I'll end up moving this filter to a better area instead if it just hanging out there the way it is..
Maybe up behind the dash like the original would be
 
(quoted from post at 03:21:41 01/09/16)
(quoted from post at 07:24:22 01/08/16)
(quoted from post at 14:39:51 01/08/16) Finally got some pictures this morning

Where in NC are you?

Near archdale, I'm right at the line of guilford and randolph county

I don't know where that is. I was just curious because although I'm in TN I'm about 40 mins from Asheville.
 

Just my opinion but I think you will find it steers easier with an original steering wheel on it. Bigger wheel=more leverage
 
(quoted from post at 09:21:49 01/09/16)
(quoted from post at 03:21:41 01/09/16)
(quoted from post at 07:24:22 01/08/16)
(quoted from post at 14:39:51 01/08/16) Finally got some pictures this morning

Where in NC are you?

Near archdale, I'm right at the line of guilford and randolph county

I don't know where that is. I was just curious because although I'm in TN I'm about 40 mins from Asheville.

I'm around 170 miles east of Asheville 2.5 to 3 hrs
 

I don't have any problem steering it.. I'm 6 foot 5 inch
320 lbs..
It does feel a bit cramped with the seat it has..
I'm gonna have to modify and move it back more and tilt the front up some.. my butt is constantly trying to slide forwards in that seat..
If that doesn't make me happy I change seats
 
Get a flat steel plate.
Mount that to the tractor.
Get some seat slides from an import.
Mount them on the steel plate.
Get another steel plate.
Mount that on top of the slides.
Mount the tractor seat on top of the second steel plate.
You now have sliding adjustable seat.
Now if your me, You picked up an adjustable seat riser along the way and the seat will go
back and forth, up and down. Now to work on the steering column for tilt and extension...
 
(quoted from post at 09:19:08 01/11/16) Get a flat steel plate.
Mount that to the tractor.
Get some seat slides from an import.
Mount them on the steel plate.
Get another steel plate.
Mount that on top of the slides.
Mount the tractor seat on top of the second steel plate.
You now have sliding adjustable seat.
Now if your me, You picked up an adjustable seat riser along the way and the seat will go
back and forth, up and down. Now to work on the steering column for tilt and extension...

I like the way,you think..
I've actually got a leather captains chairs out of a van that I was also thinking about putting on there..
I have 2 of these leather comfy seat and i,had the other one in my old beater civic for years.. it sits to good..

Figure if I mounted it to the spring base that is under the current seat it might be real nice and I could use the track from the van seat of course
 
I'll you guys something fun about oil pressure. If it has anything to say in this case I don't know, but here is the story.

A cousin of min has a TEF 20, in other words the 4 cylinder 20C engine.
He had extremely low oil pressure, for years, and he is not a mechanic. Once I was with him changing engine oil, and the spring and plate in the bottom of the filterbox was not there. I thought it had flown out by mistake so I was down in the dirty oil with my hand trying to find it. No such luck. It was never there from he bought the tractor. Who knows how many years it has been gone.
Anyway, we struggled a bit finding new parts, but finaly they arrived. We changed oil, and now the oil pressure came back up. So, something in the filter system makes either the pressure drop, or it makes the gauge silly. I have not studied it, but it was so odd since it had been clearly no or little oil pressure for so long and several oil changes, but when all the parts was in place the pressure got up to normal.

I found it very strange, but that is what happened.


Bill
 

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