New tractor gloat: MF 35 Diesel

The 1963 35 Deluxe runs sweetly, with an odd drip of prestone from the top hose. One rear tire is quite cracked; the other's brand new.

Now's the question. The tractor hasn't been run much for the last ten years. What if I try to walk it home, some 91 km.?

When I bought a boat, that's how she came home, high seas on Lake Ontario and all, but what little surprises might the tractor have for me at about km. 40?

What engine oil does a diesel take? Is a little cloudiness (much less than in my Ferguson's) in the transmission oil a problem? Owner said the previous guy left it outside and had a screwdriver stuck in it as a dipstick.

I just might tackle the trip tomorrow morning, so please copy advice to

[email protected] as well as posting it here.

Oh, yeah. I asked the local UHaul guy if I could use a car hauler to move a 3800 lb tractor (my estimate). He took a look at my 4Runner and said, "You can't tow it with that. It is too light." Any opinions, ideas, apart from walking it home?

Thanks,

Rod

When I ordered our manuals ( Trinity equuipment Bradford Ontario ) the parts & service ( shop ) manuals cost just under $70 CDN, and have been a huge asset so far.

Take care, and keep us posted!!
Will

I had parked the tractor in the barn, so I slid a triangular drip pan under it admidships and removed a likely-looking bolt. Wow! Did that stuff ever come out! I got the gush stopped before the pan overflowed, but barely. Into a nearby 5 gallon pail it went. And again. It slowed down to a trickle after two pansful, so I left it to drip for a while (remembering advice on another posting) and came back after an hour to an overflowing pan and a puddle. Right. Drained the pan, put in the plug, and decided to try the big one towards the stern.

Opened it with a pipe wrench. Holy Smoke! What a gusher! I got the plug back in -- tricky threads, those -- before the flood. Drained the pan again. Pail getting full. The gusher died out quickly after that and I capped it after completely filling the 5 gallon pail.

Interesting substance, that. Sorta greenish brown, with a bit of carmel in it. Lumpy, at times. The plug had gray sludge in it.

Then I went to Canadian Tire to locate appropriate oil to replace the gunk. I hit upon the only obvious one, GL4 hydraulic fluid for tractors and trucks with tranny and hydraulics together. On special at 26.14 for 20 litres.

I hope this is the right stuff. (Please let me know if it isn't before I put it in.) I assume that it gets poured down through the plug next to the gearshift. I noticed that CTC has 80W90 gear oil, but a post here warned against the high detergent level in it for Fergusons.

If this goes well, I assume that I'd better do the same thing with the MF 35, as well as changing the engine oil.

Local word is that the MF 35 is very hard to start in winter. Isn't 15W40 pretty thick?
I've always used regular #10 in tractors in winter. My dad's 414 diesel took 10W, and even then it was very hard to start.

Oh yeah, the International had a glow plug activated by a little lever and you could tell when it was hot enough by touching the instrument panel in just the right place. Does the 35 have a glow plug? Any chance the pre-heater is activated by turning the key backwards before firing the starter by turning to the right?

If you have hung in this long, thanks. Advice will be appreciated.

Rod

Agree with Bill on the Rotella T for the trip then when it gets colder go lighter (10w-30). Multi vis oils are supposed to stay thin for cold operation, yet stay thick for hot operation. So with the multi vis, you get the best of both. Would go along with you dad's choice of 10w in his 414.

Wouldn't hurt to do a couple of oil changes in a row to clean her out good anyway.

Tires.

Tractor speed is roughly 15 mph so you don't have a tire problem like you would in a car or truck at 70 (120 clicks).

Manuals.

Agree with Bill again on getting from dealer if you can.

Thermostart.

Go to the right side of the engine and look at the air cleaner. Follow the 2" pipe to the right from that to the engine. Right at the inlet to the engine is a plug sticking in the "intake manifold" with an electic wire and a small pipe. The wire is for the "Thermostart" heater, and the pipe is to dribble diesel over the hot wire (inside the manifold). This starts a fire (really) and the engine sucks this fire into the combustion chamber and gets the lazy diesel to hittin. Again get your manual and the wiring diagram to insure your ignition switch will operate it and it operates. Wouldn't doubt that you will have to order an OEM switch, and a new device, and may have to replumb the diesel line.

If all else fails, raise the hood and start cranking the engine and while cranking give it a little snort of starting fluid right there in front of the dash into the air breather inlet.

Fluids.

The Fergie's use a single sump (tranny/hyd/diff). That's about 10 gal of fluid. Ford used 3 then 2 and that separates it a little and keeps you from overflowing a 5 gal bucket.

On oil. I have and have gone through a lot of tractors. I have never had one that I rouined by using heavy duty, high detergent oil. I can recall service manuals for these 40 and 50 year old machines that mention both oils (detergent and non detergent). HD (heavy duty) oils were recommended for hard working applications and HD oil was also High Detergent. I was told as a child about puting det in after non-det. Never had a problem.

For what it's worth, I bought a MF 760 combine with a 24' header 80 miles from home . Started one Saturday morning and had it home that afternoon, driving it with the header on.

Just have someone in a road vehicle following you with flashers on. Good luck.

Mark

Your directions to the thermostarter were right on the money. I looked at the digital pictures and there it was. I must assume that it is working normally, as the engine has started cold within a half turn every time I have tried it. My mechanic tells me that that is the sign of a healthy diesel: good compression.

After a couple of hours of bush hogging I noticed that the foamy oil had gone away, leaving a transmission in need of more oil, so I drained it. I'll get more at the dealer's next trip by and top it up.

I noticed with the 10W30 the dealer sold me that as the engine warms up the oil gets thinner, settling down to the lower third of the green on the oil pressure scale from the top third when cold. The other oil must have been thicker, as it didn't get past half way when hot.

The American and British models must be quite different from each other. Dave the dealer told me that the crankcase would take ten litres of oil, yet I had overfilled it with two, 3.78 litre jugs. Yes, the filter was out, and the oil level has remained stable, about the width of the fill line above it on the dip stick.

I read somebody's post about overfilling, but I was treated to a vapour of oil while hogging, either from my clumsy pouring our from overflow.

Upwind, oil fog. Downwind, diesel fumes. A heady morning.

Thanks for the advice,
Rod

Here is a website for you. Hes a MF guru so to so to speak. Big Dean Austin, a MF mechanic for may years. Here is his website, check it out, and if you have any questions feel free to email him. He has been a great help to many of us.

Link

Take care

Will

Keep us updated

The antifreeze is likely from a loose clamp, though I read in one post that these radiators will overflow until they hit their level, and I suspect that this one had been topped up.

From the photos I took at the time of purchase I can see that the engine is quite clean and looks as though it has been gone over recently, with all connections clean of grime.

All fittings have been greased regularly.

The tire in question has cracks something like an alligator's scales (about 4" in diameter), but with no cord showing. Apart from these, the tire seems to be in good condition. Any guesses as to how much flexing a tire like that can take? Does a tractor tire get warm when run unloaded for a long time in 50 degree F. weather?

A final winsome question: how much fuel would a 35 Perkins diesel use in 50 miles/91 km at cruising speed?

BTW: I don't think the tow bar would be a good idea. That combines the worst aspects of towing with the worst of driving the tractor. We Canuck snowmobilers don't worry about the weather.

Thanks for all of the advice,

Rod

That tractor is about 3500 or so lbs. I personally like more towing vehicle than you have. For that much weight. 90 clicks is 50 miles as I recall which is a pretty good trip. I wouldn"t tow it before I had a chance to refresh the fluids in the diff/hyd, and tranny.

Engine oil, Shell Rotella T, 15w-40 for the engine here in Texas. In Canada, you might get away with the 10-30 by a reputable mfgr. Be sure and get the C (Compression engine type oil) rated oil, like a CH-4/SJ, or CJ-4/SJ type rating.

Better ask around your area about the diff, hyd, and tranny oil. Probably the newer trans/hyd fluid would be your best bet as it"s thinner. I know the tractor was mfg"d with 90w mineral oil but some manuals have thinning instructions for cold climates.

HTH.

Mark

I have a tow bar like this, made up for a '67 Kaiser Jeep, which weighs 3450 pounds. But I might end up grenading a tire without knowing about it until I leaked chloride all over a mile of shoulder. A Jeep is bad enough lurching around at the end of a tow bar. Think of what something with 1200 pounds of back tires would do on an uneven shoulder.

I think I'd rather tow the thing on a trailer, on the pavement, or else drive it down the shoulder.

Sounds like it will be a trailer or float: the thing hasn't had its fluids changed in a long time. Turns out all the new owner did, apart from raking a field of hay, was pressure wash the engine.

Rod

I lived in Ontario for a while in early 1970s. Decided it was too cold, so returned to warm Australia!