Sparts conglomerated tractor thread, now with added Massey Ferguson 50b loader!

[somewhatfoolish]

Need to fit some ballast to it; are the main wheels waterfilled? That seems to be quite common.

[spartacus]

No, they're not. Both the previous owner and the tractor enthusiast who delivered it for us have said it's could do with some ballast at the rear. I'm thinking of welding up a frame with a steel box on and filling it full of bricks, of which there are hundreds lying about our place, or making a rail I can hang proper tractor weights off.

[warch]

I had a drive in a 50b last year, see my Plant shite page for pictures. Basically a 135/35 so a spiritual successor to the Ferguson. Very good tractor although I’d forgotten how heavy clutches and gear changes used to be. They were available with a back actor but most didn’t have them.

They are inherently a bit light on the rear, water in the rear tyres does help, some people used to use a concrete weight block on the rear linkage. 

[spartacus]

I was initially reluctant to add to the overall weight of about 5 tons but having driven it tonight, across a muddy paddock, with a big roll of haylage in the bucket, it definitely needs something.

@warchis there a link to your plant shite page please.

My only other tractor experience is with our Fergie, so the controls seem fine to me!

[warch]

Got my Massey industrial tractors mixed up. I was driving a 40E. Actually very similar tractors but yours has a posher cab. The 40E was a more basic version for use by councils and the like. The one in my thread spent most of its working life in central London on parks maintenance so probably did get used in city traffic.

Not all 50Bs came with a back hoe but the one that did was basically Massey Ferguson's version of the JCB 3C range. I used an 80s MF backhoe loader on a farm in the early 00s, It looked just like a contemporary JCB and had rather nifty hydrostatic transmission. It also did awesome wheelies if you accelerated hard or drove too fast over a speed bump. 

I'm glad someone else on here posts tractors. I am very envious of all your land, I live in the countryside but scarcely have enough land to justify a tractor. We do have a village tractor club, but I like to drive tractors on the land really, road runs don't really do anything for me.

[spartacus]

Yeah, we're really lucky to have the land, there's always something to do and it's helped keep us both sane during the 'unpleasantness'.

I'm living the dream really, I've got a girlfriend who's idea of a good Saturday out is to buy a 46 year old loader!

[Blake's Den]

Its great to see some tractor content on these pages.

I was tempted to by a grey Fergie but whilst browsing Ebay one day I decided that this would be more fun! Its a Turner Ranger - a Ferguson Research design from the 1970's with a 1098cc A-series in the middle, four wheel drive and four wheel steering. Not as practical as a proper Fergie but I can carry a passenger

[spartacus]

That looks ace, is it, or can it be, road legal?

[somewhatfoolish]

2 hours ago, spartacus said:

That looks ace, is it, or can it be, road legal?

Mudguards and lights would suggest it's possible.

[spartacus]

7 hours ago, somewhatfoolish said:

Mudguards and lights would suggest it's possible.

Yeah, I worded that badly, I really meant is it possible now, many years after it was built, having probably never been registered, without some kind of SVA or IVA or whatever might apply.

Basically, could you fill a form in, insure it and go.

[somewhatfoolish]

Ag vehicles get an easier ride, so it may still be possible.

[LightBulbFun]

Pretty sure it is road registered or that another shitter has one that is

I remember said shitter making up some number plates for it and of course I had to see just what it showed up as on the DVLA!

[LightBulbFun]

2 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

Pretty sure it is road registered or that another shitter has one that is

I remember said shitter making up some number plates for it and of course I had to see just what it showed up as on the DVLA!

yeah here we go  tis indeed @Blake's Den's one that I was thinking of

 

 

[Blake's Den]

26 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

yeah here we go  tis indeed @Blake's Den's one that I was thinking of

 

 

Yup, that's me! I made that plate back in lockdown 1.

 

Yes fully road legal! But I've only driven it down country lanes. I haven't been brave enough to take it on an A road yet. Or B road either. Flat out is 20 mph, more realistic is about 12mph. 

[spartacus]

We're really lucky, the village we live in is surrounded by farms, there's an old boy over the road whose daily driver is an old restored tractor and he collects old John Deere tractors, so the locals are happy with agricultural vehicles being used for the shopping/ride out/joy riding etc.

It's all fairly open though, I can imagine in a place like Devon for example, where the hedges are high, driving an old tractor must be nerve wracking. Whereabouts are you @Blake's Den

[Blake's Den]

12 minutes ago, spartacus said:

We're really lucky, the village we live in is surrounded by farms, there's an old boy over the road whose daily driver is an old restored tractor and he collects old John Deere tractors, so the locals are happy with agricultural vehicles being used for the shopping/ride out/joy riding etc.

It's all fairly open though, I can imagine in a place like Devon for example, where the hedges are high, driving an old tractor must be nerve wracking. Whereabouts are you @Blake's Den

I'm in Cheshire. One day I'll take the plunge and take it on a road run. I've got a cab for it, I might feel less vulnerable with that on.

[warch]

23 hours ago, Blake's Den said:

Its great to see some tractor content on these pages.

I was tempted to by a grey Fergie but whilst browsing Ebay one day I decided that this would be more fun! Its a Turner Ranger - a Ferguson Research design from the 1970's with a 1098cc A-series in the middle, four wheel drive and four wheel steering. Not as practical as a proper Fergie but I can carry a passenger

I would love to have one of those, never heard of this model before. I absolutely love miniature tractors and ‘systems’ tractors and as this ticks both boxes I will no doubt engage on a fruitless quest to find something extremely rare, difficult to find and for which I have no practical use. 

[spartacus]

1 hour ago, Blake's Den said:

I'm in Cheshire. One day I'll take the plunge and take it on a road run. I've got a cab for it, I might feel less vulnerable with that on.

I reckon just get out there, you'll be like a rolling road block for all the RR's and Q7s that presumably plague your roads!;-)