Fordson major repkacement engine

Earlybird

Member
Hi. Im new to this forum and thought id join up as a good helping hand to my new project. I'm attempting to start an old fordson major been standing outside for about 15 years. I think she's taken water through the exhaust so I'm carefully removing bits as I go with a view of rocking the engine gently once I've some oil in the bores. My first query is what engine I have . I recall the owner saying something about a digger engine but 20 plus years ago and a bit keen to buy I wasn't listening as much as I should . It very similar to the major engine but the manifolds look different it was fitted with a element filter direct on the air manifold and the rocker cover has 6 screws holding it not the normal 2 bolts. Not too sure if i can upload photos but wondering if there were popular alternatives back say in the 80,s fitted to these. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks
 
Welcome to the board. The Major engine was updated over the years and also many
thousands were used in industrial applications and, of course, trucks. All were the
same basic engine and there were few alternatives apart from the 590E six cylinder
truck engine which would drop straight in but need extension side rails.

I would suspect you have a truck engine of a later type, if you check under number
one injector for the serial number you may find it starts with an S. The truck
engine had an air filter that fitted straight onto the manifold. The manifold and
cylinder head was also changed in 1957 from staggered ports to straight inline
ports.

After 1957 all Major rocker covers were held on with six screws, right through until
the end of 1964.

I would use either diesel or Automatic Transmission Fluid (ATF) down the bores
rather than straight oil. You may also have to take the head off and hit the pistons
with a block of wood or even burn some diesel on top of the pistons to free them
off. If she has been standing with water in the bores then you may have to drop the
sump, disconnect the big ends and put a jack under each connecting rod and push
piston and sleeve out together. That is the worst case scenario. Been there, done
that, many times. :0)

Majors do have a hole in the exhaust elbow so, with any luck, water will not have
got into the engine and all you have is rust between rings and bore.
 
(reply to post at 06:12:13 08/06/21)
Thankyou for your quick reply . That's interesting reading and I now know a little more what to look for. I seem to remember something about a digger engine and the rocker is in fact yellow underneath. I'm wondering if they put a later style head on the original block not sure if this is possible. I'll check the manifolds I think they are inline in keeping with the later rocker cover. . There is a number on the block by the oil filter so I can look it up once I've cleaned it up enough to read
Sadly the manifold hole is rusted up . The exhaust was covered up in the main so hopefully not too bad. I think the liners and piston etc may be a little too involved for me to tackle if I have to go that far. I'm thinking of rocking it gently in the crank pulley bolt or is the starter ring gear a better option. I don't want to damage the teeth at all doing it this way. Thanks again
 
Ok. I'll have a look over the weekend. I've cleaned around here and removed the pipes ready to take out the injectors so hopefully it'll be easy to find.
 
I shall go over mine and see what I can do to get it running and maybe replace some bits along the way. It ran well when I last used it but that was years ago ! Shame really but I'll get them undercover eventually
 
Hi, checked for codes under the injector and I have the code 1567302. No letters before hand so maybe a standard engine after all. I'm thinking maybe someone simply removed the air cleaner and replaced with a direct bolt on one instead so they could just change a cartridge when needed. I'm guessing I should be able to date the tractor from this also ?
 
Did the power majors have a live clutch. This has the horndraulic loader fitted. It's always been a case of out of gear when u wanted to lift the loader unless of course u were moving at the time. About time I did some more reading up too.
 
The Live clutch was an optional extra all through the Majors, we sold as many standard
clutches as we did Live. The Live clutch had its limitations when it came to hard work
and, even back then, was an expensive item to service.
 
Ok thanks for all your helpful advice. My guess is someone at some point has fitted a later (power major) engine to this tractor and I shall look into putting an original oil bath cleaner back and making it as original as possible. Meanwhile I'll crack on with getting it running. I'm cleaning out the fuel side at present. Once I'm ready to remove the injectors I'll put the atf fluid in and see what I can do.
 

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