Just bought 135 orchard

[Dirtleg]

Today I just made a deal for a 135 Orchard. The previous owner had it listed as a 70' model but admitted that he wasn't exactly sure. It's a 3 cylinder perkins gas engine. The tires are good and it has some 21.5" wide turf tires on it. It also came with a rear blade.

The good;

Runs really well. No smoke.
Really wide and low which is what I want for some of my uneven terrain around here.
Hydraulics work very well and smoothly.
Gauges all work except for the gas gauge. It's missing the wires from the sender and power.
1929 hours.
Good brakes.
Power steering.
Goes in and out of all the gears both high and low range easily.
Good paint on running gear but not "new".
All 3 point equipment and drawbar in excellent shape.
Can stop borrowing my FILs' Kubota.

The bad;

Inside of right rear wheel has a small amount of oil on it. Perhaps a leaky seal.
Left brake slightly stronger than right brake. Oil leak related??
Small leak from front seal of engine.
Console sheetmetal has some rust holes in it but thet are not active currently.
Have to stop borrowing FILs' Kubota.

I pick it up monday evening and am glad to have found it. It was parked alongside the road in a fairly remote area. One I don't drive through much.

What are the main areas of concern as far as maintenance goes with this model. Also feel free to give me your opinions on the axle leak and weaker brake.

 

[Dirtleg]

Well I picked it up today and everything is good. I have spent the last few days pouring over everything MF 135 related that I could find and noticed that it seems this tractor has a different rear axle housing. Looks just like the housing on a 165 I looked at a while back. Here are some pictures.

The serial # is 9A I62035.

I am anxious to start using it tomorrow.

Anyone know why that axle housing would be different? Or was there an earlier and later version of the axle?


Thanks for any info.
Greg

 

[JerryG]

Fantastic Great looking tractor. I have been looking for a 135 orchard for a long time that I could afford and restore. Your's looks like it is in good shape. Someone took pretty good care that one.
The reason the rear end is different is because the 135 orchard models had a MF 165 wet brake rear axle in them.
If you want to learn a lot about how things work and how to fix them, go to Big Dean Austin's site. He has a CD that has a lot of information. He always says it isn't to replace the shop manual, but to help out with it. He had cataract surgery a while back so his son is trying to take care of the orders for him for a while. Hopefully he will be back on-line shortly. He is a wealth of information and willing to help everyone that needs it. Big Dean’s site

I did a comparison of the two spliced together a while back.
MF 135 vs MF 135 Orchard

 

[JerryG]

The serial # is 9A I62035.

A 9A 162035 shows to be made in 1973 so it is a little newer that he thought.

 

[Dirtleg]

Thanks for the information and the links Jerry. What is the small, recessed lever on the side of the gearbox in my 3rd picture down?

I will be looking for a shop manual and parts manual for it soon. Also going to get Big Deans CD.

What are some opinions on locking the brakes together or leaving them separate during normal operation, which for me will be bush hogging or haying. Also, if I am not mistaken, the brake adjusters are the two threaded rods that stick out just above the back of the footboards.

Does anyplace sell new sheetmetal for these? I didn't post any pics of it but the console is not in the greatest shape. It's repairable but I am lazy and would much rather just replace than repair it. Here is a picture

 

[Farmwithjunk]

That "small recessed lever" sets the draft response. It also effects the rate of drop speed on the 3-point lift. Notice it says "fast" or "slow".

As Jerry mentioned, the orchard model shares the same rear end as the 165.

Aftermarket sheet metal is almost always available on EBAY. I'll look through my "archives" to see if I can find a more direct source. Lots of aftermarket replacement parts out there for the 135.

 

[flusher]

Today I just made a deal for a 135 Orchard. The previous owner had it listed as a 70' model but admitted that he wasn't exactly sure. It's a 3 cylinder perkins gas engine. The tires are good and it has some 21.5" wide turf tires on it. It also came with a rear blade.

The good;

Runs really well. No smoke.
Really wide and low which is what I want for some of my uneven terrain around here.
Hydraulics work very well and smoothly.
Gauges all work except for the gas gauge. It's missing the wires from the sender and power.
1929 hours.
Good brakes.
Power steering.
Goes in and out of all the gears both high and low range easily.
Good paint on running gear but not "new".
All 3 point equipment and drawbar in excellent shape.
Can stop borrowing my FILs' Kubota.

The bad;

Inside of right rear wheel has a small amount of oil on it. Perhaps a leaky seal.
Left brake slightly stronger than right brake. Oil leak related??
Small leak from front seal of engine.
Console sheetmetal has some rust holes in it but thet are not active currently.
Have to stop borrowing FILs' Kubota.

I pick it up monday evening and am glad to have found it. It was parked alongside the road in a fairly remote area. One I don't drive through much.

What are the main areas of concern as far as maintenance goes with this model. Also feel free to give me your opinions on the axle leak and weaker brake.

You have an awesome 135 there. A lot better condition than the 1965 MF-135 diesel orchard tractor I bought in July06. $3600, 4600 hours on the meter. It has the Multipower feature (12 forward, 6 reverse gears).

I stripped off the sheet metal, cleaned it thoroughly, rewiired the tractor, installed new gauges (except for the fuel gauge which was OK), repainted.

I rotated the exhaust system to vertical since I want to use the 135 in my hayfield.

That didn't work out well since the vertical exhaust stack interferes with the sheet metal hood. So I bought a stack with a J-pipe and the short muffler that is the correct size for the vertical setup. Now I have an interference between the J-pipe and the fuel line between the 2nd fuel filter and the injector. Need to get a new section of fuel line bent up and installed so I can reinstall all the front sheet metal.

The previous owner used it for mowing and discing his olive orchard. Those rear tires are pretty worn so I don't expect to do any heavy plowing with the 135. I have a new Mahindra 5525 (55 hp engine, 45 hp pto) for that work. The 135 will be used to tow the grain drill, the sicklebar mower and the side delivery rake when I go haying this Fall. The family members would rather drive the 135 hotrod than the 5525.

No problem with the Perkins diesel. After sitting around for about 8 months, that engine started up immediately. The oil pressure started to drop a few months ago. It was 60 psi at 1800 rpm when I bought the 135 and had dropped to about 25 psi. I put a quart of ATF in the crankcase and ran the engine for a minute or two. Drained the oil. Repeated that procedure. The pressure came back to 60 psi. I wired a bright green LED panel light into the oil pressure switch circuit that is ON when I have good oil pressure (sort of a reverse idiot light).

 

[Dirtleg]

Thanks for all the responses and info. FWJ I will keep an eye on ebay for the console. Flusher that is a nice tractor you've got also. I am already itching to repaint the bodywork on mine. I wish I had found a diesel for sale nearby but that was not the case. I am perfectly fine with gas just prefer diesel.

Also I noticed on the PTO lever there are 3 settings. One says engine and is in the middle. The rear most one engages the pto. The forward most one says ground on the casing. What is this setting for?

And another question is how to extend the mount for the top link. Is this called the draft control. I noticed in the gate for the lever to raise and lower the 3 pt there is a second handle inboard of the other handle. If this is supposed to extend that cylinder than mine is not working. If I am all wrong about this stuff please let me know.

Thanks
Greg

 

[flusher]

Thanks for all the responses and info. FWJ I will keep an eye on ebay for the console. Flusher that is a nice tractor you've got also. I am already itching to repaint the bodywork on mine. I wish I had found a diesel for sale nearby but that was not the case. I am perfectly fine with gas just prefer diesel.

Also I noticed on the PTO lever there are 3 settings. One says engine and is in the middle. The rear most one engages the pto. The forward most one says ground on the casing. What is this setting for?

And another question is how to extend the mount for the top link. Is this called the draft control. I noticed in the gate for the lever to raise and lower the 3 pt there is a second handle inboard of the other handle. If this is supposed to extend that cylinder than mine is not working. If I am all wrong about this stuff please let me know.

Thanks
Greg

The middle position is neutral (pto is disengaged).

In the ENGINE position, pto rpm is controlled by the hand throttle which controls engine rpm. Use for imlements like mowers, balers, rototillers etc that you want to control with the hand throtle.

In the GROUND position, pto rpm is controlled by the rpm of the wheels. This setting is useful for implements like pto-driven planters that like to operate according to ground speed.

The POSITION control is used to raise and lower the lower lift arms of the 3pt hitch. It's used to control the height above ground level of implements like mowers, box blades.

The DRAFT control is used to set the amount of draft or drag that a ground engaging implement like a plow exerts. In soft ground the plow will dig deeper until the drag increases to the setpoint at which point the draft control will hold that depth. If the plow encounters harder soil, the draft control will raise the plow until the drag decreases to the setpoint.

 

[flusher]

That "small recessed lever" sets the draft response. It also effects the rate of drop speed on the 3-point lift. Notice it says "fast" or "slow".

As Jerry mentioned, the orchard model shares the same rear end as the 165.

Aftermarket sheet metal is almost always available on EBAY. I'll look through my "archives" to see if I can find a more direct source. Lots of aftermarket replacement parts out there for the 135.

I wonder why the rear axles on my 1964 MF-135 orchard tractor are different from those on Dirtlegs 1971 tractor. When did MF make this rear end change?