John Fordson
New User
This message is a reply to an archived post by Wayne Macfarlane on March 11, 2010 at 04:52:47.
The original subject was "Fordson Farm Major".
I stumbled onto this sight while looking for some info on Super Majors. The Farm major was indeed an Aussie special. It was simply a down rated Power major. My father bought one new in 1960 and we still have it. It had a major engine overhaul in 1978 at 8600 hours and is still going strong. The Australian Majors all had unique features. They were imported as skid units without wheels, tyres primary air cleaner or muffler. The wheels were made here and were mostly cast centre rears and one piece cast fronts. However the standard rear centre on a Power Major was a pressed item just like the FM. Most buyers opted for the cast ones so the pressed centre rears were very rare on PMs. The primary air cleaner was like a top hat and had a felt insert. The vertical exhaust was a spark arrester as required by law, to lessen the risk of starting fires. All the majors had a decal along the side of the hood/bonnet that said "Diesel powered" or "Kerosene powered" depending on the type of fuel required. The reason for the local parts was that local content regulations allowed for lower tariffs on imports if content was above a certain level.
The Farm Major had 13.6 X 28 rear and 6.00 X 16 front tyres as standard compared to 16.9 X 28 and 7.50 X 16 on PMs. Is rated RPM was 1600 rather than 1700 for the PM. The injector pump setting was the same as the Mk2 Majors. Engine numbers were interlaced with power majors so it wasn't made up from leftovers.. Hope this might help... John
The original subject was "Fordson Farm Major".
I stumbled onto this sight while looking for some info on Super Majors. The Farm major was indeed an Aussie special. It was simply a down rated Power major. My father bought one new in 1960 and we still have it. It had a major engine overhaul in 1978 at 8600 hours and is still going strong. The Australian Majors all had unique features. They were imported as skid units without wheels, tyres primary air cleaner or muffler. The wheels were made here and were mostly cast centre rears and one piece cast fronts. However the standard rear centre on a Power Major was a pressed item just like the FM. Most buyers opted for the cast ones so the pressed centre rears were very rare on PMs. The primary air cleaner was like a top hat and had a felt insert. The vertical exhaust was a spark arrester as required by law, to lessen the risk of starting fires. All the majors had a decal along the side of the hood/bonnet that said "Diesel powered" or "Kerosene powered" depending on the type of fuel required. The reason for the local parts was that local content regulations allowed for lower tariffs on imports if content was above a certain level.
The Farm Major had 13.6 X 28 rear and 6.00 X 16 front tyres as standard compared to 16.9 X 28 and 7.50 X 16 on PMs. Is rated RPM was 1600 rather than 1700 for the PM. The injector pump setting was the same as the Mk2 Majors. Engine numbers were interlaced with power majors so it wasn't made up from leftovers.. Hope this might help... John
