Vintage Tractor Engineer

Hello,

I am having a problem with a Massey 35 4cyl. When I bought it I was told that the Hydraulic pump had been totally reconditioned, however the lift didnt work. I removed the lift cover and found that the hydraulic cylinder was cracked. I replaced it and the piston. I started the tractor with the lift cover off and moved the control valve by hand, the pump seemed to be working ok and pumped oil out the outlet hole of the pump. I replaced the lift cover.

When I started the tractor the lift raised to the top and went into `constant pumping`. I removed the side plate on the right hand side ath the dipstick. When you move the lift lever it seems to be working ok but in the wrong direction. The lever pushes the control valve lever back, when you raise it. This seems to be the wrong way. When I move it by band, back, seems to be to lower the lift rather than raise it. Could the wrong control valve have been fitted? Which way is the control valve lever supposed to move to raise the lift arms? Any help you can provide me with would be gratefully appreciated.

Richard Trench.

When you look through the side cover you can see the control valve actuating lever fixed to the pump (the vertical lever with the rollers on either end). That is operated by the two levers that come down from the top cover. The two levers should be in front of the control valve actuating lever, so when you have lowered the top cover into position you will have needed to have held the control valve actuating lever backwards towards the rear of the tractor so that the levers would locate to the correct side of the control valve actuating lever.

If the levers are in the correct place then possibly the control valve has been assembled and fitted incorrectly.

Also we have found that it is always advisable to use a genuine Massey Ferguson control valve, the other brands of valve that we have fitted have not been manufactured accurately enough (it is an extremely precision component).

The control valve should move forwards towards to raise the lift (i.e. the top of the control valve actuating lever should move backwards).

Let us know how you get on with the above suggestions.

Regards,

Steve Ridsdale

Hi, I’ve got a MF35X which I have been using to “top” the reeds with a small topper. Unfortunately, the PTO has been slowing and even coming to a stop when under load, and the lifting hydraulics have failed several times when trying to lift the topper. Both functions appear to return once the load is decreased.
Do you think the two problems are linked? If so what is causing the problem, and finally, how do I fix it?
Many thanks in anticipation of your help. Best wishes,
- Mike

Most of the 35X’s have a dual clutch. As you may know this means that when you press the clutch pedal half way down the drive to the gearbox is disengaged. When you depress the clutch pedal all the way to the bottom it disengages the drive to both the pto and the hydraulic pump (which means you can easily engage the pto).

Therefore, if your pto and hydraulics are slowing down when under load it will be this clutch which is slipping. The first thing to do is to remove the plate on the underneath side of the clutch housing. You will notice a hole in the bottom which has a split pin in it - this hole is designed to let any drips of oil out of the clutch housing which may have entered from either the crankcase or the gearbox. On occasions this hole becomes blocked and oil gets onto the clutch plates and makes them slip.

More likely is that your clutch will just need adjusting. All the instructions you need are on the clutch page.

Hopefully that will solve your problem. If the clutch still slips then you will need to split the tractor and replace the clutch.

Hope that helps. Let us know how you get on.

Regards,

Steve.

Hi Steve, took off inspection plate and out poured about three quarters of a pint of oil!! cleaned out inside of casing as best I could, and cleaned out the hole that the split pin sits in. Tried to adjust the PTO clutch, but locking nuts were on too tight. Decided to give it a go with the topper back on, and everything now seems to be working fine. Thank you very sincerely for your help, it really was invaluable.

Many thanks and best wishes - Mike

Glad you found the problem.

If your tractor is now working fine for light work then that is OK. The oil will have got onto both clutch plates (i.e. the one for the hydraulics/pto and also the clutch that operates the transmission drive. If you experience problems you may need to replace the clutch plates some time in the future.