MF135 Progress (sort of)

[Texas Blues]

Got the crankshaft back from the machine shop. He ended up going 20 over to get it right. Putting things back together slowly. I ordered the piston/ring kit today, should be in before next weekend. Will possibly have the motor back together in a couple of weeks, then there will be another couple of hurry up and waits while I get together more money for the clutch assembly and misc things. I have yet to find anyone just giving that stuff away! lol

 

[flusher]

Got the crankshaft back from the machine shop. He ended up going 20 over to get it right. Putting things back together slowly. I ordered the piston/ring kit today, should be in before next weekend. Will possibly have the motor back together in a couple of weeks, then there will be another couple of hurry up and waits while I get together more money for the clutch assembly and misc things. I have yet to find anyone just giving that stuff away! lol

Glad to hear you're making progress. Keep up the good work.

My 1964 MF-135 diesel has an oil leak somewhere on the engine. I'll get around to it eventually but I'm not looking forward to handling that heavy cast steel oilpan. My 135 has been modified to sit low for orchard work. It's almost too low to conveniently work on the bottom of the engine. I may have to remove the front axle assembly, split the tractor and get the engine mounted on a service stand to work on it in relative comfort and safety. I prefer to do that kind of work standing upright instead of lying on my back with heavy stuff hanging over me.

 

[Texas Blues]

Yea Flusher they didnt mess around when they made that oil pan, I was toting mine around on a 3pt boom arm. Im hoping I will be able to do the same with the whole motor when its done. The oil pan on my 135 wont come off unless you take the front end off. I suooprted the tractor under the trans with some jack stands and some wood. It supported the weight ok even with the motor still attached to the tractor. In this picture I have jack under the oil pan, but even without the jack being there it supported all the weight on the stands. Used the jack to lower the pan when I took the bolts out.

 

[flusher]

Yea Flusher they didnt mess around when they made that oil pan, I was toting mine around on a 3pt boom arm. Im hoping I will be able to do the same with the whole motor when its done. The oil pan on my 135 wont come off unless you take the front end off. I suooprted the tractor under the trans with some jack stands and some wood. It supported the weight ok even with the motor still attached to the tractor. In this picture I have jack under the oil pan, but even without the jack being there it supported all the weight on the stands. Used the jack to lower the pan when I took the bolts out.

Yep, that's the way I'd handle the oil pan removal job.

The top cover on the 135's hydraulic unit is another heavy sucker. I'll use the engine hoist to handle that thing when I dig into the hydraulics on the 135 later this year.

 

[Texas Blues]

Got the piston/ring kit. Need to get the wrist pin bushings, thought they came in the piston kit but didnt. Once I get those, I will be putting in the crank and pistons in the block. I hate being held up by $4.00 bushings! I can get them in Houston, just have to go up there on monday.

 

[soulasphil]

My 1963 diesel MF 135 has a semi-permanent oil leak where the fuel pump is attached to the block (number 30 in the drawing). There are only two bolts and they quickly become loose with the vibration and the leak starts again. Do you have the same problem or have you found a solution?

 

[Texas Blues]

No soul, my 135 is a gas motor and uses gravity feed to the carburator, so I have no fuel pump. Do the studs back out or do the nuts back off? If a flat washer and a lock washer wont stay tight, then maybe use some thread lock or a lock nut. In the past in simular situations, I have used a double nut setup on a bolt or stud. Tightening the two nuts together (once the inside nut is tight against the lock washer) should keep it from backing off. If the stud is coming loose, the threads on the stud or the threads on the block could be wore out. Replace the studs and use locktight (thread lock) when you put them back in the block. Not sure what else you could do about that. Good Luck, TB

 

[soulasphil]

Thanks for your advice. The nuts come off the studs and the studs are too short to take two nuts and washers. I couldn't take them off the block for replacement. I've just tightened them once more, next time I'll try new nuts and locktight. The tractor works great in spite of its age though, hope yours too.

 

[Texas Blues]

Hey soul, I just looked at the picture of your tractor. What kind of rig is that? Does it pivot and lift using the rear lift arms? Didnt see any hydraulics in the front. TB

 

[soulasphil]

She has a Massey Ferguson loader that came with the new tractor. The sticker says it is MF but I don't know who built it for them at the time. Any way it's indestructible and is in my view a very strong point of this machine. I use it about half of the time I spend on the tractor, climb in the bucket to pick fruit, trim hedges or saw off branches, carry earth, stones, concrete, wood etc around. It is worked by a big single cylinder underneath the tractor and massive mechanical parts. You get about as much lift as on the rear arms. Only drawback is the system is low over the ground, often on or in the dirt or mud, but it's real sturdy. It reaches very far forward and rather high, so that I'll be very sorry when I have to change for a modern tractor with a short FEL. It takes about a quarter of an hour to take it off or put it back on, but I keep it on most of the time as a counterweight to heavy tools carried on the rear. The vertical lever near the exhaust is for emptying the bucket.