4000 industrail S-o-S

This 4000 is unique in Britain. Brought over by USAF for use on airfield. Was disposed of 30+ years ago in auction, and has been sitting in a shed until this year.

The engine was totally seized and took a month to free up. Fuel system contained white powder residue. Possibly caused by it being run on aviation gasoline which burns hotter than regular gas. The gas engine tractors were not built in Ford factory in Britain, nor were any imported here.

The Select-o-Speed has been totally rebuilt, the specification and parts used in the USA built tractors is different to that built in British built tractors.

The original colour was yellow, and had been over painted in the brown thick paint by the USAF. Note the light brown-orange paint is undercoat applied by the current owner who is restoring it for his collection.

What colour were these industrial 4000's painted? He has seen US brochures showing yellow castings with blue fenders & hood. Suggestions please.

My guess is that it is a 4400 - a utility derivitave of the ag 4000.
Should be painted all blue chassis with Buff (light yellow) tin, fenders and wheels.
The yellow on the tractor is a bit too yellow but other than that it is real close to original..

If the USAF was the original buyer it was probably painted solid USAF Blue or Gray. No yellow fenders, hood or wheels.

It may of been yellow, for a while the Air Force painted AGE (Aerospace Ground
Equipment) industrial yellow, theory being that if it was yellow the pilots
could see it and wouldn't run the aircraft into them- okay also so the sky cops,
maintenance troops, Civil engineers (snow plow drivers)and the POL troops
(petroleum, oil & lubricants)could also see them and not hit them. Then we
became warriors and painted everything O.D. and then put reflective tape on it
so we could see it. I was an Air Force 4045B, Aircraft & munitions maintenance
officer, EOD qualified, and yes I still have a camouflage field jacket with a
reflective strip sewn on the front and rear and my reflective belt if I was on
the flight line after dark without my field jacket.

Im kinda liking the muddy n red combo with yellow accenting. Kind of an interesting combo. Long as there are no neon under lights or anything in that neighborhood.

I have seen middle 60's photos of my grandfather on the flight-line with his bombers and the equipment all in yellow. Even had one long retold a few times too many story of drunk bored pilots racing the different tractors down the runway and the winning tractor getting fighter plane insignia on the fenders as a prize. Seems gramps had a hookup for bootleg Irish whiskey that commonly "happened" to fall onto a plane headed for the states, frequently, very frequently.

Has the owner done any test scrapings to see what the layers of paint are underneath?

By the way,
Did any of you gasser fans catch the upside down coil in his pictures?
I replaced the coil on this 2000 gasser I posted about and the secondary coil wire jams against the bottom of the carb if you use both bolts on the coil bracket.
I didn't thing about turning the coil upside down but will do that tomorrow.
Great idea.

Actually did myself. Have a replacement coil ready to go in when I finish testing out my existing. Made me think about having to replace my main coil to dizzy wire that would be too short. Wondered what I was going to do as the existing coil is about half as tall as its soon to be replacement. Have a few parts to change when I have no mow down time, and that pic gave me more gooder idea than I had!!

I did notice the upside down coil. Mine must still have the original coil, or at least one with the same dimensions as the original, as mine is mounted with the wire terminals at the top and there's plenty of room.

This tractor has only done just over 500 genuine hours. The dark brown paint is very thick - almost like the stuff you paint onto corugated steel to protect it. Its preserved the original yellow colour which is quite a deep shade of yellow. The seat is original.

The owner is going to repaint in blue chassis with yellow tinwork, which will look unique over here.

The other interesting thing is the sound of the engine - because we never had gasoline engined tractors this sounds really weird to our ears :lol:

Yes the gasser is Quiet.
You will learn to like it.

Yes, I did notice the inverted coil! I was thinking that was a good idea for anything out in the elements.
BTW That is a nice looking unit, we would like to see the pictures when it is completed!
Brian

Make sure the positive battery cable is well insulated, not cut are gonna get cut... A shorted cable has destroyed quite a few ford tractors....
http://ytforums.ytmag.com/viewtopic...ostorder=asc&highlight=cable&start=15

Are you saying there was a problem with some of Ford's wiring?

Hi David, what are you doing in Sonny Smiths workshop. Sony is a good friend of mine and I hope to see him at the November tractor show at Newark. MJ

(quoted from post at 12:21:25 10/08/12) Hi David, what are you doing in Sonny Smiths workshop. Sony is a good friend of mine and I hope to see him at the November tractor show at Newark. MJ

Click to expand...

Sonny and I have been friends since the 1970''s. I may live on the Welsh coast, but I do pop up all over the Country. Beware I might appear with my camera at your place one day :lol:

Hello KFD , First off your friend Sonny has a 4400 Utility tractor , there is no such thing as a 4000 Industrial , a 4000 is an AG tractor with an Adjustable front axle but the rest of the tractor is the same as a 4400 Utility . Ford built a 4500 Industrial with same engine and rear axle but different transmission combinations and a BIGGER FRONT AXLE to handle bigger loaders and backhoes than what can be installed on the 4400 Utility or the 4000 AG tractors . Select-o-speeds in the USA or in England are the EXACT SAME THING there is no difference in parts or specs . You may have 7 speeds which are our 8 speeds 8th gear locked out or removed but the rest of the trans. is also the EXACT SAME THING . And yes Ford did build gas engine tractors in Basildon and import them there just as we have imported them back here with different British fenders , lights , grilles etc, etc. all in all very minor changes , Mostly all of the Roadless Converted Four Wheel Drive tractors are British built Fords that were imported here in BOTH gas and diesel as I have a 5000 4x4 here now plus one more kit I will be installing on another Ford 5000 , and I just sold a Fordson New Performance Major with a Roadless Conversion on it this past weekend and have one more Roadless kit for another Fordson Major left along with a Schindler 4x4 kit for a Ford 4000 AG tractor , so I have done a little research on both US and British built Fords . Thanks Tony