Vintage Scene SeptemberOctober 2021_Layout 1 03/09/2021 15:53 Page 8
'What has he bought now... The Cross Tractor' By Emily Critchlow, A Ferguson Club Member his does not mean that the tractor is cross but that Derek Cross introduced Grandpa to it! Derek is a fellow Ferguson Club member. Apparently it belonged to Derek’s brother-in-law who had recently died, and the tractor had been in a shed, which had collapsed onto it, for between 50 and 60 years.
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Grandpa and Jim collected it on Monday 24th May 2021, and got it onto the trailer using the new winch but with a double pull as 3 tyres were flat. Back at Tractor Heaven they were able to appraise it a little better after they had unloaded it and towed it round to its new resting place. They found that the engine was free, it steered, you can select all gears and starter switch, the clutch was stuck but came free during the tow and the hydraulic arms are free. What more could one possibly want for £200? So what is it? It is a 1951/2 TED 20 in surprisingly unmolested condition. Sadly the identity plate is missing. It has had a heavy owner they suspect, as the seat spring has been welded. There is a lot of
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wear in the offside rear track rod end which will have to be replaced but there is very little wear elsewhere in the steering. The lift arm ends show very little wear but the levelling boxes, it has two, are shot, but that is to be expected really. It will certainly play another day.Grandpa fiddled about removing seized items from the hydraulic linkage but Jim and he had a better look at it in the afternoon of the 7th June. They had established that the engine was free, so Jim decided to do an oil and filter change and see if the old girl would go. The coil is as rusty as a horseshoe, the ignition leads are virtually non existent so they 'borrowed' a cap and leads from another, the points cleaned up so they gave her a go...nothing. Time to remove the carb and Jim tinkered and then put it back. It should be said Grandpa had cleaned the fuel bowl out and given her some new fuel. This time with a bit of a struggle, mainly due to a rubbish battery he had provided, she was up and running and even the original oil pressure gauge showed 60 psi. It is a wonder the pipe to the gauge stood up to the
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