4 Wheel Drive Massey Ferguson

[Steven]

Forsale is this extremely rare 1958 Massey-Ferguson MF 65 tractor, with its Perkins 4 cylinder diesel engine, converted by Selene in Italy to four wheel drive. The tractor is in good running condition as can be seen on our you tube channel but needs a cylinder head..

It would be the 1980s, and tractors like the MF 698/698T, 699, and 3000 Series, when Massey Ferguson truly utilised four-wheel drive technology, but four-wheel drive was available for the 100 Series in various forms should you have required the benefits of such a configuration.

In the UK, there were no factory-fitted four-wheel drive models available, but solutions could be found to overcome the problem. Ford buyers, and International Harvester buyers for that matter, had their four-wheel drive needs covered by the likes of County Commercial Cars and Roadless Traction, but these renowned conversion specialists chose not to dabble with Massey Ferguson models.

One company that picked up the baton was Robert Eden & Co Ltd of North Audley Street, London. It supplied kits for the MF 135, 165, and 175 (as well as the MF 65 MkI and MkII) that could be fitted on farm, or by the local Massey Ferguson dealer.

Drawbacks

There were several drawbacks to such a system, meaning that not all jobs could be undertaken as they could with the standard, two-wheel drive tractor. Firstly, as the PTO needed to be in the ground speed position to drive the front axle, it was not possible to use engine speed PTO and four-wheel drive at the same time.

Secondly, the Pressure Control coupler and belt pulley could not be attached, and, lastly, the power take-off shaft was now positioned eight inches (203mm) further back than it was originally. The automatic pick-up hitch could be used, providing an adaptor kit was purchased.

In addition to the PTO Transfer Gearbox system (PTO type), the Transmission Transfer Gearbox (S type) was made available for fitting to tractors. Drive was taken via a transfer box, between the gearbox and rear axle, via a prop shaft to the front axle.

In addition, the design was, it must be said, superior to the Four Wheel Traction system, in that the axle was a centre drive unit, with the prop shaft running fully guarded under the engine sump from the transfer box to the differential.

Like the Four Wheel Traction arrangement, the addition of the transfer box had the potential to increase the length of a two-wheel drive tractor (depending on the model), but this was not a bad thing.

The Massey-Harris G.P. (General Purpose) was the most perfectly

executed designing dream that ever proved that two plus two do not

necessarily mean four. This model was completed about 1929 and was

tested on gasoline at Nebraska from May 5 to 27, 1930.

Considering the mechanical intricateness and the employment of

novel elements of design, it was a minor miracle that no need for

repairs or replacements developed. For the Massey-Harris G.P. was a

four wheel drive, and it had devisements to avoid winding up on

inflexible metal while traversing rough ground that no automotive

vehicle had ever had before. The front axle mounting was standard

so far as movement and turning of wheels was concerned. But the

rear axle was an eyebugger. If there were nothing to stop it, it

would have been possible to rotate the rear axle around the center

drive and differential gears.

There was corresponding difficulty working out cultivating

attachments which would follow the axle oscillations while keeping

the shovels exactly at the predetermined and set depth of

cultivation, measured from the ground surface. And that is just

what that designer did. It was the most perfect job of traversing

rough ground to grade level ever accomplished.

3a8082e126