Oil & Fuel MF 235 D Leaking Oil Seals (?)

[Catenary Kid]

I have a Massey Ferguson 235D I got when my dad passed many years ago. He retired to mowing hay - square bales, using a sickle bar mower and rake - and worked this thing like a Dickensian stepchild. It still starts, runs and works amazingly well considering, but I need to either invest the time and money in it to bring it up to snuff or sell it and replace it with something newer. My first concern is oil. Plenty of it. Seems to be coming from both the front and rear main seals on the engine and I'm getting hydraulic oil leaking from somewhere in the back of the tractor, too. How much of a project is it to replace the main seals in the engine? Is this something a reasonably well equipped homeowner could tackle successfully? Am I going to get into a project where it would make more sense to just strip this down and rebuild it in total? I once rebuilt the engine on a Harry Ferguson TO20 in my garage, but hoped I would never have to do that again. Any advice or direction would be appreciated.

 

[stan33]

If it were me there is no way I would sell it, but that's me. Where there's a will there's a way to fix it....hang onto her and if it seems too difficult or expensive today, there is always tomorrow; but if you sell her, she's gone forever.

 

[KYKub]

Hi, Catenary Kid. I've used a product called Blue Devil - they make several different kinds of products to stop various leaks (head gasket, engine seals, etc.). I've always been suspicious of these snake oils, but after reading quite a few good reviews I figured it shouldn't hurt to try. I used the BD rear main seal product in a tractor with a moderate leak (hard to define or quantify, but I could see it drip every few seconds especially at start up) and was absolutely astounded when the leaking stopped completely! It seems to be designed for automobiles and the instructions said something like the leak should slow or cease after 100 miles or so, so I ran the tractor engine at about half-throttle for an hour. The leak simply disappeared! I have no idea how long this will last, although the bottle says it's a "permanent solution", but even if it's only a year or two I'd consider that great. Good luck.

By the way, I agree with stan33 - keep the tractor.