South African MF 35 found in a shed

   / South African MF 35 found in a shed #1  

zimbo

Bronze Member
Joined
Aug 28, 2010
Messages
60
Location
south africa
Hi all

A couple of weeks ago a friend told me about a very sad old MF 35 in a farmers shed, Ive been looking for an affordable tractor for ages, so after a bit of scraping, and making sure it was a model with available spares I brought it home on Monday.
The engine had seized, but apparently the back end, gear box and hydraulics are OK, It has the 3 cylinder Perkins, single clutch, serial No 298833, so looks like its a 62 model.

There are quite a lot of issues to work on, Im going to get it up to a good running condition, not necessarily show room, as it has to work for a living.
The front axle in the weeds
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The body getting cleaned up
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Problem No 1, getting the brake drums off, someone got angry.
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The engine was in pieces, and kept in a box, the crank shaft is quite badly scored, pistons and sleeves arent great, but the rest looks Ok. Ive sent it in to a good engineering co to get a quote on a rebuild.
Today Im going to fight with the brake drum, There is an oil leak out of the right rear axle. Is it possible to weld a nut onto the screw?
 
   / South African MF 35 found in a shed #2  
Hello Zimbo,

You have your work cut out for you. I applaud you for taking on such a challenging task. Good luck and I'll be watching closely.
-kid
 
   / South African MF 35 found in a shed #3  
Hi Zimbo,

Yes it is possible to weld a nut to that damaged screw. I would clean it up good and then set an undersized nut, that is a nut with a smaller diameter than the screw head, on top of the screw. Make sure the nut is centered on the screw and carefully weld the inside of the nut to the screw as you might for a plug weld. The idea of using an undersized nut is that you don't want to inadvertently weld the screw to the tractor. Since the screw head is thin at the edges you'll have to be careful not to penetrate too deep. Also, soak the screw with penetrating oil for a few days before trying this to give yourself the best shot at success. You might have to repeat the process several times and don't give up if you break the nut off, just get a new nut and try again, you'll get it. The welding heats the screw and the repeated heat and oil soaks will eventually work. I think there are videos of this method on youtube. HTH!
 
   / South African MF 35 found in a shed
  • Thread Starter
#4  
Ok, got the wheel hubs off, it wasnt too bad using a chisel, Brakes look Ok. Just need to get into the seals now, At least they are cheap, $3 for each.

Im going to wait to see what the engine rebuild costs before I go much further. The way I see it is the tractor has cost about $1000 so far, rebuilt ones go for between $5000 and $6000, and often it looks and sounds as if the rebuild consists of changing the oil, and painting everything!
If I spend another $3000 on repairs, Im still ahead, and will have a tractor that I know and hopefully trust.

Ive got quotes for a new clutch release bearing, pilot bearings and seals, and its cheaper than my car spares. This is going to be one **** of a job, but work is slow at the moment, so I have plenty of time on my hands, and it keeps me busy, its better and cheaper than therapy too.

Thanks all

Ryan
 
   / South African MF 35 found in a shed #5  
Hey Ryan. Good for you. Yes it will take some work to rebuild but it will be worth it. As they say " No pain, No gain".
I went through the same thing a few years ago with a old forklift. People thought I had gone mad when I dragged it home but it worked out well and its used daily.
Look forward to following your build.

Cheers. Paul


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   / South African MF 35 found in a shed #6  
Hey Ryan. Good for you. Yes it will take some work to rebuild but it will be worth it. As they say " No pain, No gain".
I went through the same thing a few years ago with a old forklift. People thought I had gone mad when I dragged it home but it worked out well and its used daily.
Look forward to following your build.

Cheers. Paul

Wow, definitely hard to believe that's the same machine. Awesome job.
 
   / South African MF 35 found in a shed
  • Thread Starter
#7  
4shorts, thats an incredible job, gives me hope to see its possible.
 
   / South African MF 35 found in a shed #8  
Wow, definitely hard to believe that's the same machine. Awesome job.

4shorts, thats an incredible job, gives me hope to see its possible.

Thanks guys. It was a lot of work but it's paid me back ten fold. Gets a little embarrassing seeing folks stopping and snapping photos of it though :eek:. If your interested, here's the video on it. Looking forward to seeing the progress on your tractor. :thumbsup:

Toyota forklift restoration - YouTube
 
   / South African MF 35 found in a shed
  • Thread Starter
#9  
Hi all

The old girl is slowly coming along, I'll post some pics later.
I got the engine back today, and I want to try and fit it to the transmission tomorrow, Ive hired an engine lifter to pick it up and it has to go back on Friday.

The question for now it what sizes are the bolts that hold the engine to the transmission? They aren't in the box with all the other bits, so Im going to have to find some

The engine was a bit of a nightmare. Had to get a new head and crankshaft on top of the normal sleeves, pistons etc. I thought it was a lip seal engine, so I got all the wrong parts first time around, then had to drive miles back to get the correct bits. The first new crank was rejected by the engineering co, it was really badly finished, and would have had to be ground down, so I took it back, the 2nd one had a crack where the balance weights bolt on, so back it went again. Finally I went to a different supplier, and got a very nice quality part. and it was cheaper than the junk ones!

Anyway, its pretty much a brand new engine now, so should be good to go for another 1/2 century!
 
   / South African MF 35 found in a shed #10  
Hi all

The old girl is slowly coming along, I'll post some pics later.
I got the engine back today, and I want to try and fit it to the transmission tomorrow, Ive hired an engine lifter to pick it up and it has to go back on Friday.

The question for now it what sizes are the bolts that hold the engine to the transmission? They aren't in the box with all the other bits, so Im going to have to find some

The engine was a bit of a nightmare. Had to get a new head and crankshaft on top of the normal sleeves, pistons etc. I thought it was a lip seal engine, so I got all the wrong parts first time around, then had to drive miles back to get the correct bits. The first new crank was rejected by the engineering co, it was really badly finished, and would have had to be ground down, so I took it back, the 2nd one had a crack where the balance weights bolt on, so back it went again. Finally I went to a different supplier, and got a very nice quality part. and it was cheaper than the junk ones!

Anyway, its pretty much a brand new engine now, so should be good to go for another 1/2 century!

According to "agcopartsbooks.com" the attaching bolt are 7/16 x 1 NC and 7/16 x 1 1/4 NC. Both quantities are listed as AR (as required) I would be sure to get the best bolt available to you such as a grade 8 for strength. I have to give you a lot of credit for undertaking a large task like this and not being the one that originally disassembled it. It must be like a large expensive puzzle. Good luck it sounds like you have everything under control.

namyessam
 
 
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