1965 Massey Ferguson 135

Coming to a close now. Decided to prefit primed bonnet and panels as they need a little persuasion and its better to do it on unpainted surfaces. They all fit well and Mollie looks pleased. Now back to the paintshop.

1965 Massey Ferguson 135

The restoration has moved on a bit but rather slowly because of other tractor work, vintage tractor events and holidays. New Good Year tyres, a new seat, a refurbished steering wheel and some red paint all help the appearance and the engine runs like new. New mud wings with original cast handgrips are being worked on along with the remainder of the tinwork

1965 Massey Ferguson 135

After some delays and distractions (people keep bringing me tractors to fix) we are starting to put things together again. Mollie looks a bit impatient and would like to see progress on the painted engine gearbox and rear transmission. Once again Eugene Dixon at Maine Surface Finishing has done a super job. The paint finish is really good and should last another lifetime. Believe it or not putting it all together again is very time consuming but hopefully things will move on from now. We have a target date for completion but we will keep that under wraps in the meantime!

1965 Massey Ferguson 135

A really badly worn set of balls on the lower links is an indication of a lifetime’s workload. We decided to retain the original arms and get the balls replaced. Ashgrove Engineering cut out the old balls, made new balls and new seats to match, fitted them and finished the job with a nice tidy weld at each end.

1965 Massey Ferguson 135

The picture shows some of the preparation of the main train of the tractor for blasting prior to painting. This requires great care and attention to detail because blasting shot really is not very kind to threads, engines, transmissions, clutches and hydraulics. These must all be protected. By leaving nothing to chance we are certain that there will be no contact with these areas. A combination of tapered rubber bungs, purpose cut wooden covers sealed with polyurethane based sealer (doesn’t react with the paint) and duct tape are used too ensure good seals. Threaded holes simply get a bolt inserted and exposed bolts are easily covered with piece of pipe secured with a nut. The shot blast operator at Maine Surface Finishing is very sensitive to vulnerable parts of the job and will treat them with caution. Again preparation is the key and nothing is left to chance.

1965 Massey Ferguson 135

Some of the parts have been blasted and painted stonleigh grey. We believe in removing and seperating as many parts as possible so that all rust and old paint will be removed in the blasting process and everything will be properly painted. Otherwise rust on surfaces between joined parts will persist and will quickly show through the new paint work after the first rain shower. Maine Surface Finishing like to receive the tractor in 3 seperate lots - firstly all removed parts for grey painting in a large box, secondly the main trunk of the tractor on our unique wheeled frame and thirdly all parts for painting red. Thus nothing gets lost, everything is the right colour, neither paint nor time are wasted a really quality finish is achieved.

1965 Massey Ferguson 135

The engine has now been refitted. We replaced the water pump, fuel lift pump and thermostat and now we will get some fuel to it and get it running. It was missing the domed plate in the bottom of the oil filter housing so the oil was not being filtered properly as the filter element was not sealed. Someone must have chucked it in the bin with the old oil filter, ages ago. You see you can never assume thet everything inside is ok! These are no longer obtainable so we will make one on the lathe. It tell us something about the perkins engine - it will keep going whatever the conditions! Unfortunately we have been distracted by having to do some urgent repairs to another 135 but life is not always simple.