Tractor & Farming Heritage Magazine October 2014

RED GIANTS ARE COMING TO

Tractor OCTOBER 2014

OCTOBER 2014 www.tractormagazine.co.uk

3 2 PA

DEXTA

GES

BRILLIANT BITSA

The John Fordson 165 Universal Selectamatic

14

◆ JOHN

PAGES TECH TIPS

& ADVICE

CANADIAN COLOSSUS Versatile 700

AT WORK

IH 956 XL

BEACH BEAUTY

DEERE 4020 ◆ ALLIS-CHALMERS WC ◆ RENAULT PE

October 2014

FIGHTING THE GREY MENACE

£3.90

OF TR A FOR SCTORS ALE

No. 132

■ INTERNATIONAL 956XL ■ JOHN DEERE 4020 ■ MF 100 SERIES ■ DEXTA ■ KULLERVO ■ ALLIS-CHALMERS WC

AND FARMING HERITAGE MAGAZINE

CONTENTS

TRACTOR AND FARMING HERITAGE OCTOBER 2014

Regulars 3

Welcome

18

News

20

Graham’s Grumbles

Ever had trouble with call centres, or even understanding them once you get through to someone, don’t tell Graham you’ll only get him started!

Tractor Talk

80

Industrial action!

COVER STORY

Your news, views and comments about the vintage and classic scene.

If you want something a bit different then perhaps it’s worth looking out for specialist versions of industrial tractors.

Turning the corner

There comes a point in a full restoration where it changes from repairing to rebuilding the tractor, Graham Hampstead has reached that stage with his Dexta.

114 Next Month

Preview of the November issue of your Tractor & Farming Heritage magazine.

146 Last Word

A tale of how two ferrets and a Pekinese led to Farmer Brown acquiring a vintage grain shovel.

YourTractors 6

What a beach beauty

COVER STORY

12 COVER STORY

28 COVER STORY

32 COVER STORY

4

We take a look at a Classic on the beach; an International 956 XL working on a boat launching service at Beadnell Bay.

It’s big but it’s Versatile

Classic tractors don’t come much larger than this Canadian-built Versatile 700, especially when you’ve only seen it on the internet before!

Dave’s Tractors

If you long for a tractor that is unique, why not create your own like this John Fordson 165 Universal Selectamatic.

Dexta delights

We focus on the Fordson Dexta, Ford’s answer to the ‘grey menace’ and how it changed the face of farming.

TractorOctober2014

Readers’ Tractors

Duane Craig of Butler, Missouri, USA tells us how retirement has given him the time to rekindle his passion of old tractors.

All the latest news in the world of tractors and heritage.

24

88

38

40

70

French fancy

The story of Kullervo

A figure in Finnish mythology called Kullervo has inspired Tolkien, Sibelius, philosophers, – and even a tractor manufacture.

Heritage 44 COVER STORY

50

54 COVER STORY

60 COVER STORY

66

70 COVER STORY

71 76

Standing the test of time

What made the John Deere 4020 one of the most widely used and recognised tractor models ever produced.

Model World

Henry Smith picks out a selection of the many replicas produced of Massey Ferguson’s 100 series from around the world.

RED GIANTS are coming

What better excuse for a preview than the Newark Vintage Tractor Show in November which will have a special display of the MF 100 Series.

A tractor flushed with success

Bernard Holloway reviews the development of the Allis-Chalmers WC and how it advanced the use of pneumatic tyres.

Soon be Christmas!

It’s October on Home Farm, autumn is here, the days are getting shorter, and the clocks will soon go back.

French fancy

Stuart Gibbard describes one of Renault’s early tractors – the Type PE introduced in 1926.

86

Little Grey Fergie

The adventure begins with the first instalment of our new children’s feature.

Workshop 92 COVER STORY

98 COVER STORY

DIY plating

Richard Lofting shows us how plating can be done in your own workshop.

A Major restoration

It was a case of Major by name and major by nature as tractor restorer Ben Phillips had to clear the decks for this Fordson Major.

Marketplace 103 What’s on

Your guide to heritage days out throughout the season in our comprehensive event guide.

108 Sales & Marketplace

Old Sump Plug reports on the Cheffins Harrogate Vintage Sale where more than 70% of the tractors sold.

Tractor Archive

More heritage memories from the farming literature of yesteryear.

Tractors and roses

Polly Pullar’s camera expertise has captured some stunning imagery; but visiting the Sands Rose Nurseries proved to be a breathtaking first.

108

Hammer down in Harrogate tractormagazine.co.uk

TRACTORS FEATURED THIS ISSUE

6

International beach beauty

86

Back on the farm

80

Industrial action!

Allis-Chalmers WC ...................................60 David Brown 900D..................................80 Ferguson TE-20.................................76, 80 Ferguson TEP Shunter...........................80 Fordson Dexta...........................................32 Fordson Major...................................98, 76 International 956XL...................................6 John Deere 4020......................................44 John Deere..................................................38 John Fordson 165 Universal Selectamatic Selectamatic..........................28 Kullervo ........................................................40 Massey Ferguson 20 20...............................80 Massey Ferguson’s 100s ...............50, 54 MF 35X Industrial Industrial.....................................80 Renault PE .................................................70 Super Dexta....................................32, 88 Dexta Track-Marshall 90 90................................66 Versatile 700 .........................................12

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32-PAG E TRACT OR CLASS IFIE SECTIO D N Page 11 5

98

A Major restoration

✦ see page 22 for further details

76

Tractors & Roses

28

Dave’s Tractors

Having trouble finding a copy of this magazine?

Why not Just Ask your local newsagent to reserve you a copy each month? tractormagazine.co.uk

112

Local Heritage October2014Tractor

5

YourTractors

It’s bIg but it’s

Versatile Tractors don’t come much larger than this Canadian built Versatile 700 standing at just over 12ft tall, especially when you’ve only seen it on the internet before!

The lines of the Versatile 700 are pleasantly simple, suggesting strength and rigidity. Ample ground clearance is provided at both ends.

Neat controls for a tractor of this size. Twin gearstick setup provides 12 speeds through a three-speed gearbox and a four-speed selector gearbox.

WORDS & PICTURES Dave Bowers

B

ill Heaton had only seen details of this Versatile tractor on the internet, plus some photographs, before he bought it. Now he paused for a few moments to reflect on the sheer scale of what he had let himself in for when he saw his new acquisition in the flesh for the first time as it was driven off a low-loader in 2008.

Bill owns a number of tractors of ‘normal’ dimensions such as a Fergie with a Scottish Aviation cab and a Fordson Major E27N; although he was looking for something when he spotted a Hungarian built DUTRA tractor first of all which was being offered for sale by Robert Fearnley Tractors of Denton, Norfolk.

“Robert told me that they were having a few problems with the Dutra,” said Bill. “So I asked him what else he had got in stock, and that’s how I bought my Versatile tractor.

“When it arrived near my home in Ashton-in-Makerfield, I suddenly thought, ‘What have I done now!’ What made this situation worse, the tractor came with a dual set of wheels; so it was almost as wide as it was tall at about 12 feet in either direction, both the height and the width!

When I drove the tractor home, I was really scared, although going back to single wheels since then has made driving this tractor a lot easier.”

Improvements

Initial improvements included a new set of four tyres – the eight that the tractor arrived with were all completely shot, suggesting it had lived a hard life. Bill arranged for a set of four Firestone 18.4 x 38 tyres to be fitted to the 36in wheel rims, which were supplied by Ashton Tyre and Exhaust. A replacement exhaust of the upright American truck type was installed by JP Exhausts of Macclesfield. e Versatile 700 came with a V8, ninelitre, normally aspirated Cummins engine producing 230bhp, so Bill reckons that if this motor had been turbocharged like many of today’s tractors, the power output would be in the region of 260-270bhp. ➤ October2014Tractor

13

YourTractors

Dexta delights

Farming DVD producer Jonathan Whitlam reflects on the Fordson Dexta, Ford’s answer to the ‘grey menace’ and how it changed the face of farming and Ford’s tractor production WORDS & PICTURES Jonathan Whitlam

A

er filming a particularly nice Fordson Dexta pulling an Albion Number 5 binder in a field of old fashioned tall wheat, I began thinking a bit more about

these little tractors and their place in farming history.

On the face of it they are known as Ford’s answer to the Ferguson TE-20... or ‘the grey menace’ as many within Ford used to describe them.

But in fact the Dexta was much more

than this and set the standard that even Massey Ferguson followed! It also proved to be the first in a three-cylinder dynasty of blue tractors that would be some of the best selling models of the Ford brand! ➤

In 1962 the Dexta was joined by the more powerful Super Dexta taking the concept into a new power band and proving just as successful.

FarmingHeritage

The

Home Farm

DIARIES

OCTOBER 1972

Here we are, it’s October and as the saying goes; it will soon be Christmas. Autumn is here, the days are getting shorter, and the clocks will soon go back.

66

TractorOctober2014

WORDS & PICTURES HR tractormagazine.co.uk

It’s autumn at Home Farm and the leaves on the trees are changing colour, sometimes into some of nature’s most wonderful displays.

New varieties march on

The land for our winter crops was worked down with a County crawler and a set of Pettit discs. It was not considered necessary to work the land down into a fine state for the Massey Ferguson Suntyne combine drill. It was still standard practice to drill the seed and fertiliser together. A little should be said about the varieties being grown in 1972, as there was a bit of a revolution going on.

For a good many years THE variety to grow had been Cappelle, or to give it it’s full name Cappelle-Despez. Although a good reliable wheat and still on the NIAB list in 1972, it was quickly being replaced by the Cambridge bred Maris varieties.

Maris Huntsman was to achieve some rather remarkable yields in the next year or two, but like all ‘modern’ wheats it did not last long, the march of new varieties was on and it was soon replaced by the next generation.

Some C2 seed would be bought in as well, just to spread the risk. e seed for drilling was dressed more thoroughly and carefully before it was finally ‘poshed up’ and the chemical mercurial dressing applied. e ploughman had been busy since straw carting was finished in the middle of September, and he would be on and off ploughing until the end of November. All the land destined for wheat was ploughed first, followed by land for spring beans and barley.

The quest for power

I

n 1972, October was a very busy month on Home Farm, as it was on every other ‘mixed’ farm in the country.

Here in the eastern counties the main job in the first half of the month was drilling.

About 30 acres of winter barley ‘went in’ on the last day or two of September, followed by a few acres of oats, then it was on to wheat, the deadline here being the 14th of the month.

Whereas today the drilling is deemed to have to be completed almost a month earlier, in 1972 the tradition of October drilled wheat still held good.

Yes, I know early drilling is all to do with varieties and yield (including a damn good crop of blackgrass). Blackgrass in 1972 was certainly not the problem it is today, it was there for sure, but rotation and timing kept it very much at bay. It was a practice at Home Farm to buy C1 certified seed for a few acres and then dress this up the following year for drilling the major part of the wheat acreage. tractormagazine.co.uk

HR had joined the ‘power race’ in early 1971 with the purchase of a new Track-Marshall 90 to replace the 70 of the same breed. e tractor cost £3697 plus £555 for the three point linkage. What a disaster this thing was.

It got through its first 150 or so hours of spring work in 1971 without much trouble. en the fun started!

Ploughing seeds came next; full throttle was needed on this job. At full throttle water was continually coming from the cooling system overflow until the engine boiled. e

first of many trips by the dealer – and eventually Fowler itself – ensued. ere was a fault with the radiator, so it was replaced. At the same time the fan was changed from one that blew the air out of the front of the tractor to a ‘sucker’ fan.

Off we went again, but not for long. Next thing was a serious final drive oil leak. When the final drive was disassembled to replace the seal it was also discovered that there was no gasket, just some blue ‘goo’ between the final drive case and the transmission where the gasket should have been. Inspection revealed the other side was the same, so it was rebuilt with a new seal and gasket at the same time. Away we go again. en, one morning, there was an almighty squeal and the thing stopped dead. It was not a Marshall problem this time, the fuel injection pump on the Perkins 6.354 had seized up and twisted the quill sha off. Yet another visit from the dealer. e injection pump was repaired and replaced and that should have been it, but no chance. ➤

A good dresser was required to ‘posh’ the seed up…

October2014Tractor

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