Taking a look at Jack's Brakes

This last weekend gave me the opportunity to have a look at Jack’s brakes, because Jack had been used for boat launching the salt water had taken its toll here as well. I firstly took the offside wheel off for access to the inboard brake drum mounted to the front of the axle. The brake is fixed to the brake shaft by a single bolt in the centre if the drum, with a few blows to the bolt head with a hammer prior to fitting a socket on a long bar and the bolt was easily freed off and removed. After releasing the brakes by slacking off the adjustment with a screwdriver through on of the large holes in the brake drum, I was able to lightly tap the side of the drum with a hammer and remove it.

With the drum removed I could see the effects of the salt water on the mechanism. The pull off springs were well rusted, one of which had come away from the lower shoe and was just hanging there next to the adjuster. The springs that hold the brake shoes to the back plate were fitted were fitted wrong and part of the spring fittings were missing. The brake drum itself was rusted inside and there was evidence of standing salt water in the drum that had contributed to the corrosion. I had quite a bit of rusty metal to clean up before refitting and I also had to figure out how the replacement brake springs kit should fit because one of the replacement springs did not look like any of the springs that were already fitted.
I repeated the process with the nearside brake to find a different spring arrangement which did not represent the offside spring arrangement nor the replacement spring that I had received from my suppliers.

This is the way I’ve fitted the replacement spring kits, pictured is the nearside brake. My reasoning is the wheel turns anticlockwise when the tractor’s traveling forwards therefore the brake drum turns clockwise. Recalling my dad’s explanation of braking systems back in the late 70’s and my college work at the time, this is a leading/trailing arrangement with the top shoe leading and the bottom shoe trailing. However with the floating adjuster, a heavier pull off spring should be fitted to the leading shoe to enable it to activate first then letting the self-energising effect increasing the effect of the trailing shoe which would normally be reduced.

So back to the tractor repairs, the first thing I needed to sort was the offside front wheel bearings, there was so much play in it and it was obvious one of the bearings had collapsed. So out with the jack and off with the wheel just to find the inner wheel bearing on the offside had totally collapsed, even to the point of breaking the inner track of the inner bearing into pieces.

I decided to strip the nearside wheel bearings down to see what state they were in, fortunately these were in a poor condition but if push came to shove, and considering Jack was only to be used as a hobby tractor, I could have got away with cleaning and re-packing them with clean grease. I decided to replace the bearings and using these bearing I headed off to a local bearing supplier for the parts. The guy at the bearing stockist was very helpful, he took time to examine the bearings and make several phone calls to local the parts but when he came back with a price, I got the impression he’d got his figures from a telephone book rather than a price list. I returned home to study the internet and found the parts from a supplier that I’d used before and had a current order with them. I phoned them up and they put the bearing kit in with the same order, the replacement parts arrived 9:30-am the next morning. With the wheels assembled with new bearings I took a ride around the field and immediately noticed an improvement to the steering.

Having a good look around Jack

Well now Jack’s back home it’s time to have a good look around him to see what I’ve got here. When we were bringing him home on the trailer Richard said he could see movement of the offside front wheel in the mirror which could be the king pin/spindle assembly of a wheel bearing and sure enough he was right. There was really an excessive amount of play in the offside wheel bearing when I shook the wheel and that was with the full weight of the tractor on the wheel. So I took the hub cap off and yuk what a sight…


…I put the hubcap back on, this is one of the first repairs I’ll need to do on Jack.
As Jack (or Freddie in his previous life) had been used for boat launching at Heacham on the Wash, I was un-surprised at the damage caused by the salt water to the rusty tin work. The parts that had suffered most were the tin work and the parts made from light gauge materials such as the pull off springs on the brakes and the brake cables. The engine has an oil leak but whilst I thought it was from the front crank seal from where the drips of oil landed on the floor, I now think it’s the leak from the fuel pump drive that’s the problem.

I also need to get Jack registered for the road so I’ve started the registration process, This is the third vehicle I’ve applied for an “age related” registration number but it’s the first time I’ve had any trouble. I went through the process of identifying my Fordson Major Diesel with the help of the Fordson pages forum and with a formal letter of identification from Grace Popplewell of the Ferguson Club, who was very efficient and who deals with all makes of vintage tractors. I submitted all the appropriate paperwork to the local office of the DVLA who were also very helpful, that was last Thursday. Saturday morning a letter with the DVLA frank on it dropped through the letterbox and I eagerly opened it to see what my registration number for the Fordson was. The letter told me that Jack had been previously registered on a “Q” plate and I would need to complete a form “V62” and return it to them, they would then attempt to contact the last known registered keeper to verify they no longer own the tractor before issuing me with a registration document, and that this could take up to 6-weeks. I was knocking on their door this morning with the completed form for them to check prior to me submitting it.

Jack - My 1957 Fordson Major Diesel Tractor

When I purchased Susie May, my little grey Ferguson named after mum, I thought she would be the ideal size tractor for use up at the field but sadly it was not to be. Yes, Susie May will pull the trailer, 2-furrow plough and can just about cope with the hay rake but the one task I really wanted a tractor to do was to handle the large round hay bails and the hydraulics on the little Fergie just aren’t up to it so something bigger is needed. I’d been looking around and thinking a Massey Ferguson 65 might be right for the job but they a rare as most were exported apparently, so when I saw this Fordson Super Major on eBay and won the auction later that evening. Next was how to get it home from Heacham on the side of The Wash, unlike Susie May who only weighs 1,100-kgs and can easily be towed on a trailer behind my car, the Fordson weighs in at 2,417-kgs. I know where I could borrow a trailer that could carry the tractor but what to pull it with. A text to a mate to ask what a Land Rover Discovery could tow? I soon got a reply “3,500-kgs why?” Another text to explain why and he told me he had a trailer that would carry it. That got me thinking, I wonder what he’s doing Tuesday? A phone call to Colin the guy that was selling the tractor to arrange collection then I called my mate Richard to enlist his help and the collection of the tractor was arranged.

Tuesday morning and I drove over to Richard’s place where we hooked up the trailer and off around 9-am to Heacham to collect the tractor. We arrived as planned around noon where Colin was waiting to greet us. Colin started the tractor and pulled it forward so we could look around it. The tractor had been used for boat launching and the salt water had taken its toll on the tin work which I already knew about but it started okay with no horrible noises from the engine. Richard got the ramps set up and I drove the tractor straight up them onto the back of the trailer while Colin made us a drink then we secured the tractor to the trailer with straps. As we came to leave Colin told us that all the tractors locally had name and this one was called “Freddie”. Well I know its bad luck to change the name of a boat but I hope it doesn’t apply to tractors. When I bought my little grey Ferguson I named it “Susie May” in memory mum and I always said if I got a diesel it would be called “Jack” in memory of my dad, so Jack it is. We now set off on the 3-hour journey home calling for some rather nice fish and chips on the way. We took a shorter route home as we had been held up by trucks on the way down and with Jack on the back there was no chance of overtaking them on the way back. This route took us up hill and down dale and some of the hills really made the discovery change down its gearbox, Richard commented “this is when you know something heavy on the back” yet we were 400-kgs within the maximum train weight. Arriving back home at the field where Jack will live until I’ve got an ‘Age Related Registration Number’ for him.