New Money Pit-MF TO 35

[saltbranch]

I decided against the AC and went with this one today. 1955 Massey Ferguson TO 35 tractor runs great, very smooth through out the throttle. Tires a fairly recent and it runs good through the gears on the Low and High side. PTO engages fairly easy. Already converted to 12 volt.
Hope someone can help on this though. The Hydraulics work, it raises the shredder, but as soon as you press the clutch-even part way down. The shredder drops. Any ideas as to what is happening? I can raise/lower while moving/driving. As soon as I hit the clutch, it drops.
Anyone know what kind of gear oil for the tranny it takes and is this part of the hydraulic system. Maybe just low on oil? Tomorrow I am draining all fluids and replacing. Looking for a service manual in case anyone has one they want to sell.
Thanks for any advice

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Sounds like you have a leak in the lift circuit someplace. Could be the seals in the lift cylinder or I think the 35 has a stand pipe with a few o-rings in there that go bad, could also be a bad/sticky relief valve. Should be able to take the little round cover off the side of the rear axle and have somebody operate the tractor and look for the leak.

 

[skyhightree1]

Tractor looks nice like it has some fresh paint and tin is pretty straight from what i see.

 

[hrsr]

I might be wrong about this but if I am remembering correctly the pto has to be turned on for the three point hitch to lift up and when the pto shuts off the three point hitch will go down and with the weight of a mower it goes down quickly. When you step on the clutch the pto stops turning and hence the mower goes down. As I remember my dad always said that this was one of the main flaws with these tractors and he could never really understand anyone wanting to run a mower with one as the mower had to be running in the raised position. So if I am correct nothing is actually wrong with your tractor.

 

[hurleyjd]

http://www.yesterdaystractors.com/mf/wwwboard1.html

Try your questions at this website

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

hrsr you are correct the PTO needs to be running for the 3pt to lift.

But the lift should hold the UP position if you shut the PTO off or push the clutch in, unless you have a leak in the system.

 

[saltbranch]

hrsr you are correct the PTO needs to be running for the 3pt to lift.

But the lift should hold the UP position if you shut the PTO off or push the clutch in, unless you have a leak in the system.

I am not so sure this is correct. On this tractor the lift works and lifts the shredder without the PTO on, granted I have to rev the motor up. Even with the PTO on, it makes no difference..does the same thing. I drained all the milky fluid out of the tranny/rearend and threw in about 10 gallons of diesel. Drove around with tractor on trailer for about 2 hours on some rough FM roads to let it slosh around. Then pull both plugs, letting it drain over night. Tomorrow I will be adding the correct 8 gallons of GL1 oil and see, I am thinking there is a leak in the hyd. pump system. I pulled about 8 gallons of milky oil out.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Forgot the 35 could have live hydraulics. Some came with a 2 stage clutch to give a live pto others did not.

If you take the round cover off on the right hand side and look up you will see the casting for the lift cylinder, you can also move the 3pt lever and watch the linkage move and see where it connects to the valve. It will be normal for some oil to be splashing around as the pump is turning in there, but if you look up at the cylinder and notice fluid leaking out then the seals are bad. If you notice oil spraying out of the relief valve then it is stuck or damaged. There is also the stand pipe that takes the oil from the pump to the cylinder and it has O rings on both ends and they are known to go bad since they aren't in the oil.

Pretty simple tractors to work on, just takes a little investigative work to get to the root of the problem.

 

[saltbranch]

Forgot the 35 could have live hydraulics. Some came with a 2 stage clutch to give a live pto others did not.

If you take the round cover off on the right hand side and look up you will see the casting for the lift cylinder, you can also move the 3pt lever and watch the linkage move and see where it connects to the valve. It will be normal for some oil to be splashing around as the pump is turning in there, but if you look up at the cylinder and notice fluid leaking out then the seals are bad. If you notice oil spraying out of the relief valve then it is stuck or damaged. There is also the stand pipe that takes the oil from the pump to the cylinder and it has O rings on both ends and they are known to go bad since they aren't in the oil.

Pretty simple tractors to work on, just takes a little investigative work to get to the root of the problem.

Right side meaning "drivers side like a truck when looking at vehicle from the front to the rear"? The side that has the PTO lever to engage? When I pull that cover..what about the PTO lever, how is it connected to the shaft..I am assuming a shaft?

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Right side if you were sitting on the seat. Opposite side to the PTO lever.

 

[saltbranch]

Right side if you were sitting on the seat. Opposite side to the PTO lever.

Thank you for the help. I will post back tomorrow. If the fluid does not work...I dont think it will , I am going to pull the stand pipe and replace o-rings.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Fluid may help. The valve can sometimes get crud in it and stick, flush and new fluid can clean it out.

 

[saltbranch]

Here is where I am at on this.
PTO, engine,tranny all work very well. After I changed to correct fluid, the lift is much faster but I still need to rev the motor. I can rev motor and lift shredder...then I can push the clutch or turn off the motor..same results, it drops. That tells me there is a leak in the system.... But, I see videos of TO35 with a FEL so that eliminates that.
Thoughts please?

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

I'm confused what does a FEL have to do with it?

 

[saltbranch]

I'm confused what does a FEL have to do with it?

Please don't misunderstand my reference to to the FEL. I think if you have searched as much as I have, you would understand my reference to the FEL. Other than being hydraulic, it has nothing to do with it.

 

[greybeard]

Sure sounds like piston seals leaking in the lift cylinder, but the reality is that it could be leaking anywhere between the pump and the cylinder too. The lift works at high rpm only because your output gpm is overcoming the leakage.

 

[saltbranch]

I'm confused what does a FEL have to do with it?

Please don't misunderstand my reference to to the FEL. I think if you have searched as much as I have, you would understand my reference to the FEL. Other than being hydraulic, it has nothing to do with it.

I don't think this came across correctly. I am on vacation this week and I had a few(several) beers last night :cowboy: while messing with the tractor.
From what I have read so far on this tractor, the hydraulics should work close to a modern day tractor.On another board, one guy is saying this is the way its suppose to work I.E. drop when I push the clutch in. I have seen videos of TO35 with a FEL and no drop when the operator is push clutch,shifting gears etc.....thats why I made reference to the FEL. My tractor does not have a FEL, it does have the hood for a FEL tractor though. I am going to wait for my manual to come in before I go any further. Thanks for the help and advice.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

I own a TO30 which is almost the same tractor and used to own a TO35 and will tell you that is NOT how the tractor is supposed to work, with the lever all the way UP and the clutch in or motor off the lift should stay all the way UP (some slow dropping is normal though). And like greybeard alluded to the lift should lift at an idle if everything is leak free and in good shape, mt TO30 will try and lift things so heavy the front tires lift at an idle.

 

[Phil in Tupelo]

I agree likely some kind of leak. No one has mentioned milky fluid which implies water in the fluid. Need to replace the two boots on the gear shift and hi/lo shift. As they get old and tractor is left outside, water will slip down these shifters and into your oil. If they look good and that is hard to tell, be sure to check water in rad. If low, fill it up and then check regularly. Might check Yesterday's Tractors, Massey blog and find some one with more experience. Good luck.

 

[saltbranch]

After washing out with diesel and replacing with correct fluid. I pulled the stand by tube and replaced the 3 o'rings with standard size and over sized. Problem still there. I pulled the plate with the dipstick, and when at full lift and I push the clutch or turn off the motor, I see turbulence in the fluid coming from what I believe is the pump.
How hard is it to pull the pump on these tractors. They seem very easy to work on. I am still waiting on my manual, but...thats hard to do. From what I have read there a couple different styles of pumps used, thats from yesterdaytractors. Just making small talk, so if you have time to chat, please reply.
Thanks