What Has He Bought Now

'What has he bought now... The Cross Tractor'

By Emily Critchlow, A Ferguson Club Member

This 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.

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 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

pressure as it is so rusty. Anyway she ran very sweetly if a bit smokey, what a result. Amazingly all this took just 2 hours work!

Four tyres are scrap so Grandpa is in the process of removing them ready for blasting and painting the wheels.

Monday 14th June they meet up again and the objective was to be able to start her whilst sat on the seat and to retain as many of the original parts as possible. During the week Grandpa had freed off the throttle control rod which was seized in the aluminium casting which supports the front of the fuel tank.

They started with the on/off starter switch which they removed having cut the wires from the loom, which they had decided was of no more service. Sadly one of the small screws, that hold the wires in, sheared so a suitable replacement was found.

Jim moved his attention to the ignition light which dismantled without drama and even the bulb still had a sound filament! He then turned his expertise again to the carb, as a service kit had been found.

They had moved onto the control box which looks very clean but were unable to undo the screws which retain the wires, so a modern push on terminal type was used and they crimped suitable ends onto the loom. Next they turned their attention to the gear lever actuated starter switch. No problem for Jim to remove, but he had to be careful not to lose the split pin and pin into the bellhousing! It was dismantled and cleaned it up easily and it was checked electrically and refitted.

By mid afternoon they were ready to test out their work. She was most reluctant to start and required a ‘whiff’ but when she was running she was so sweet and is by far the tractor with the slowest tick-over speed Grandpa has. You will notice that they haven’t actually achieved their objective yet as Jim was not on the seat when he started it because he was administering the ‘whiff’! At this point a whirring noise was heard which turned out to be the dynamo running as a motor. This was not rectified but the terminals on the control box disconnected and Jim was able to start the old girl from the seat using the key and the gear lever. On this occasion he also drove backwards and forwards to test gears and clutch which were OK.

On another occasion when they met they were unable to remove the temperature sensor from the housing so had to remove the complete housing and get a replacement which has yet to be fitted because Grandpa had been offered yet another tractor, this time a ‘garage find’ known as ‘Peter’ Tractor’ but this really should be another article.