Runners, TAKE YOUR MARK...........

[Farmwithjunk]

Hey Farm,
What a beautiful job on your tractor, that was certainly alot of effort and work, those two tone tractors are much more labor intensive !

BTW, didnt mean to steal your thread !

1st off, I'm not one to insist on one subject threads. I like to let 'em go where they go. I don't consider it "stealing".

And on the 2-tone paint jobs. They're MUCH more time consuming Even a simple touch-up is difficult sometimes. This is a picture of my 3000. It tokk all of one weekend to get ready and paint. That Ford blue is so much more forgiving that the Massey Ferguson flint grey metalic. You can't dump that metalic on. The slightest run looks horrible.

 

[scott_vt]

Mornin Farm,
You definitely got the touch ! Cant figure out whats taken me so long to do everything, oh now I know its my wife !

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Mornin Farm,
You definitely got the touch ! Cant figure out whats taken me so long to do everything, oh now I know its my wife !

Sometimes I get all ambitous. Then I'll fly through a project. Others take a while. The Ferguson F-40 and Massey Ferguson 50 I have in the barn are examples of the latter. The F-40 has been sitting for 7 years since I started dismantling it. The MF 50 has been ready for restoring since 1990. The best part about antiques.....Let 'em just sit there and they'll only get older.

I had always planned on my son helping me restore those 2 tractors. We're well on the way to my GRANDSON being involved. Hopefully NOT with HIS SON

 

[Farmwithjunk]

FWJ, it's probably just me, I thought that was a pretty fine looking machine in the early pictures. It looks great now. Thanks for sharing!!

I appreciate the comments. When I painted the tractor last winter, I couldn't find any flint grey metalic paint. New EPA regs on paint make it difficult to get metalics unless you're ser up to do it professionally. (spray booth, filters, ect) I finally found a decent supply of O.E.M. MF/AGCO paint. This tractor is getting the royal treatment. It still gets used. (more than my other tractors) I just want it looking like it did when I bought it back in 1971.

After the sheet metal is re-painted, I'm mounting an O.E.M. ROPS and canopy. Then I'll re-install the remote hydraulics. Final step will be new rear rubber. Those tires are one size larger than stock. I'll probably go back to the 13.6X28's that came originally, only in a LONG BAR/SHORT BAR tread. Rubber that's on the Massey now will go on my Ford. Then she's done for another 35 years of use.

I've also located a NOS grill assembly. The original has a couple dings that don't show too bad, but in the name of obsessive restoration, new is good.

 

[scott_vt]

Mornin Farm,
Just curious how the MF 150 and the Ford 3000 compare side by side ? Weights, HP etc, also your opinion.

BTW, both two fine lookin tractors!

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Mornin Farm,
Just curious how the MF 150 and the Ford 3000 compare side by side ? Weights, HP etc, also your opinion.

BTW, both two fine lookin tractors!

The 3000 matches up better against a 135. The Ford is RATED at 2 more HP, but the Perkins will work circles around the slightly bigger displacement Ford, and do it with less fuel. (The Perkins AD3-152 in the Massey came stock at 38 HP. I've turned up the fuel screw and slightly bumped the wide open RPMS. Now dyno's at 47 HP @ 2050 RPM. Ford dynoed at 42 HP @2150 RPM. Both PTO.) The 150 is a few inches longer wheel base. That makes it more stable with a load on the hitch. With the heavier front axle and steering bolster, the 150 is roughly 400 lbs heavier than a 135 and about 450 lbs heavier than my 3000. No need for front weights. Same Bush Hog 286 mower on the Ford as I use on the Massey and the Ford gets a little light on the front. I like the gearing better on the Massey. The Ford doesn't seem to have much difference between low/4 and hi/1st. The Massey has a little bit better spread. Those are mowing gear and plowing gear for both. Massey runs quieter. That Ford replaced the 3000 I bought new back in 1974. The original was a gasser. I had a loader on it most of the time I owned it. The front end was shot. The 3000 I have now was babied. It was a mower tractor at a small private school. It never did get used hard. I planned on mounting the loader on this one but so far, no loader. Back in the spring, we plowed about 8 acres for a corn maze our church does every year. I was on the Massey and my son was on the Ford. We both had 2X14" plows. The Massey would run off and leave the Ford in the dust under the same conditions. The 3000 matches a 135 and the Ford 4000 matched up with the 165. Massey's 150 was sort of in a class of it's own. I've always told everyone it was a 135 on steroids.

 

[scott_vt]

Thanks farm, great evaluation ! I drove by a Massey 135 diesel last year or maybe it was the year before senior moment And stopped to look at it. Looked like a real nice low hour tractor that was used mainly for some light mowing chores and came very close to making an offer ! In the end I decided that three tractors would have to get me through, since the barn hasnt been built yet But a nice lookin machine just the same!

 

[flusher]

Sometimes I get all ambitous. Then I'll fly through a project. Others take a while. The Ferguson F-40 and Massey Ferguson 50 I have in the barn are examples of the latter. The F-40 has been sitting for 7 years since I started dismantling it. The MF 50 has been ready for restoring since 1990. The best part about antiques.....Let 'em just sit there and they'll only get older.

I had always planned on my son helping me restore those 2 tractors. We're well on the way to my GRANDSON being involved. Hopefully NOT with HIS SON

Got a similar problem. The MF-135 refurbishment work is going slow because of other work. Right now I'm hustling to finish the shed for my telescope (will be an observatory once the scope is installed) before the Nov rains come.

I work on that construction in the morning while the winds are low (it really blows in the afternoon this time of the year). My to-do list has MF-135 work scheduled for the afternoon, but by lunchtime I'm too pooped from ladder climbing and muscling lumber and plywood into place (my Medicare kicks in on 1Nov). Don't like to start jubs when I'm tired. Too easy to screw up or have an accident.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Got a similar problem. The MF-135 refurbishment work is going slow because of other work. Right now I'm hustling to finish the shed for my telescope (will be an observatory once the scope is installed) before the Nov rains come.

I work on that construction in the morning while the winds are low (it really blows in the afternoon this time of the year). My to-do list has MF-135 work scheduled for the afternoon, but by lunchtime I'm too pooped from ladder climbing and muscling lumber and plywood into place (my Medicare kicks in on 1Nov). Don't like to start jubs when I'm tired. Too easy to screw up or have an accident.

Looks like it would double as a bomb shelter! Good looking framing job.

I find myself in less of a hurry on projects as time goes on. That's sort of a self-fullfilling prophecy.-------- I'm not in a hurry because it doesn't do any good for me to be in a hurry, 'cause I can't hurry like I want to.

 

[flusher]

Looks like it would double as a bomb shelter! Good looking framing job.

I find myself in less of a hurry on projects as time goes on. That's sort of a self-fullfilling prophecy.-------- I'm not in a hurry because it doesn't do any good for me to be in a hurry, 'cause I can't hurry like I want to.

I'm an old aerospace engineer. Our motto is "When in doubt build it stout".

Seriously, the winds can get pretty ferocious here in the North Valley. Last week we had steady 15-20mph winds with 30-35mph gusts at my place. Don't like to work on ladders in that kind of breeze and definitely can't handle plywood sheet while it's blowing.