Proud new (old) MF 35 owner (diesel)

The tractor starts and runs\drives spot on and is in really good condition.

A couple of questions will come up time and again, so you might as well prepare the answers to them ahead of time. Is it a four cylinder or at three cylinder diesel? Standard built the fours up until about 1960, and Perkins took over after that. Your dealer will want to know if it is an American or a British model. The plaque on the dash should take care of that.

Is it a 35 or a 35 DeLuxe? The DeLuxe models have a second PTO setting which confuses the daylights out of newbies. If you find you have it, don't use it until you get some advice. The PTO lever pulls up for normal PTO and down for the ground-speed setting. The trouble is that it will turn an implement backwards if you reverse, and this isn't always good.

The most pressing maintenance need, from my experience since November, is likely the air cleaner. Mine hadn't been cleaned for a very long time. Lay in a gallon of cleaning fluid, some rags, and disposable clothes. Changing the transmission fluid was a real adventure, largely because I had a hard time figuring out how much fluid was in the transmission -- a lot, but not the ten imperial gallons I poured in. I think it held onto about eight of that. Anyway, when you take a plug out of the transmission, you'd better have a big pan there to catch what comes out.

Engline oil changes are interesting if you haven't dealt with a cannister oil filter before. No problem. Just take the thing apart, put the replacement in so that the oil filter can work, and go for it. Use the recommended oil.

The guy who sold my 35 to me warned me sternly not to start the tractor if I wasn't sitting on the seat. The safety interlock on my machine is not connected, so it would be very easy to reach over and start the machine in gear, and then get driven over by one of the back wheels when it surges forward.

Get an owner's manual. It is very helpful.

Unless you are an engine service tech, though, forget the Massey Ferguson Workshop Service Manual. I have found it useless, as all it does is explain how to rebuild engines and transmissions. A parts manual would be nice, but they are very expensive, even on eBay.

Today's task was the fitting of tire chains. Lesson learned? Chains which fit 28 X 11.4 tires need about 8" of extensions to fit a 28 X 12.4 set.

You'll have to let us know what it's like outside where you live. If it's cold, we northerners will have a lot of survival advice. (If the road is so icy one of your front wheels stops turning while you're driving, watch out. A spin-out is gonna happen right away.)

The Texans will no doubt have instructions on driving in the south -- t-boning armadillos, avoiding cactus spears in the tires and rattlesnake bites, I suppose. We'll leave that up to Mark.

Glad to have you on the list. You'll find the contributors are generous, clever, and quite often well informed.

Im not sure if it is american or british.

it must be the deluxe as it has both pto's.

I intend to do a full service so i know where i am with it and i need to change the welsh plugs.

Mine won't start unless the hi-lo lever is in neutral.

In what instance would you use the ground speed setting on the pto?

What is the bottle next to the air filter it has a tube running to a push button pump and back to the inlet manifold. I am thinking its for some sort of starting fluid but am also told not to use that . Is that correct?

The bottle you refer to may be a "ki-gas" reservoir. It's mentioned in my '59 Coventry parts manual, but I've not seen the installation in our region. We've had units with a thermostart plug in the intake manifold, and one with glow plugs. Neither really helped starting - the most effective was an electric block heater or heater in the lower rad hose.

According to the manual, the ki-gas system was replaced with a CAV starting aid (probably the thermostart) at s/n 125652 (deluxe) and 128088 (standard). I'm surmising the numbers are chassis numbers.

The ki-gas unit plumbing runs through a dash unit called a primer assembly to an atomizer in the intake manifold. Some of the knowledgeable British folks may know what liquid was used in the system.

If you have a Lucas or CAV starter or generator, it's not likely North American build.

You have one of the best tractors ever built. The only one better, in my opinion, is the perkins engined unit. The 35's are remarkably reliable, parts are common and cheap, they are easy to service in a farm shop, easy on fuel, in short - an incredible unit. Look how many are still around, 50 years after they first came off the line! And there is the most informed help available here on the board....

Enjoy your new tractor!

Jack Wetmore in Canada.

Ground-speed pto? Something like a hay rake or seeder would work best with this setting. The manual warns only to use it for non-ground-breaking implements. It's pretty lightweight in comparison to the other one, I guess.

The bottle with primer? I have no idea. What is a Welsh plug??

I envy you the warm weather at this time of year. The 35, of course, doesn't have a thermostat or any temperature control that I can determine, so be sure to check your coolant level. Mine had a very porous upper rad hose which I replaced in failing light with many curses one evening. Who could believe that a 5" hose could be that hard to install?

Enjoy your machine.

On eBay at the moment is an owner's manual. I found this one quite useful.
#3866032228

Rod

Why does my clutch seem to engage and then fully engage is this the two stage clutch set up and what's its purpose. when the first stage engages should the tractor move off (it doesnt) or is it to get the pto going.
Thanks again for the help

It is good to see a fellow Tasmanian on the site.

The 35 you have will be a UK Built tractor. It does have the 2 stage clutch but it does not have a diff lock. The two stage clutch is designed to allow you to stop the forward movement of the tractor but keep the PTO running. So as youy depress the clutch pedal the tractor should stop moving forward when the pedal is half way down. If you then push the pedal the rest of the way down the PTO will stop.

The Ki gas tank is a cold starting aid. There is a heater coil in the manifold, the small push button pump delivers diesel to this hot coil causing a small fire in the inlet manifold. Having said this, the best thing to do is make sure that the heater coil works and forget about the ki gas pump etc. If you give the engine about 30 seconds of heat before starting, this should be enough to get it going.

Where in the state are you?

Cheers

Phillip

I live over the hill from you in Broadmarsh, If you ever need any info for the Fergie give us a ring,62681534 I would like to hear from you. By the way what we call slashing the lads on the over side of the globe call bush hogging.
Hey Sibbie! temperature at the moment here is 20c/62f I call that just comfortable guess you need a bit more heat up there to bend them bananas.

Cheers Arthur from Tassy

It is good to hear that you had the 35 out doing some work. I spent yesterday pulling large rocks out of my lawn with a 65. Then carrying them away with my Ferguson.

If you want any help, or advice on where to get parts, please send me an email and we can talk.
phillip.g at wacco dot com dot au

Bye

Phillip

During the sail age, on Her Majesty's ships of war the cannon balls were stacked in frames made of brass on the deck. For some arcane British reason, they called the frames brass monkeys. With differential shrinkage rates between brass and steel, the sound of the cannon balls hitting the deck meant that the temperature of 28 degrees F. had been reached. It was cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey.

No kidding.