What am I in for?   It starts, runs, drives, and the rear hydraulics seem to lift with no obvious leaks.














A few minor obvious issues.   She smokes a little at start up, but I haven't seen it run over a long period yet.   I'll put some injector cleaner in the tank along with some fresh diesel and see if that helps.   The Perkins manual I was reading indicated the "atomisers" should be removed, cleaned, and inspected twice a year and I'm guessing it hasn't been done once since the last owner had it.

Jerry rigged alternator replacement for when the Generator went tits up.  Sadly, they cut off the ear of a mounting point to make the belt clear.

Left side tie rod tube looks like it needs to be replaced.    Half the gauges look to be gone, so no telling how many hours on it.

Judging by the serial number and the info at tractor data, I believe this is a 1959 manufactured tractor, which would make it a Mk I MF65 rather than a MK II.   And I think mostly that just means it has the earlier Perkins 4 192 rather than the later Perkins 4 201?

Also, looks to be a high clearance model.

I will change all the fluids and look for a lube order so I can find and relube all the grease points (or replace any fittings that are broken off as some appear to be missing)

Aside from that... what do I do?    Help me Farm and Garden... you're my only hope.

It did come with the 100 page Shop Service Manual.  The guy bought it from TSC years ago for 12.95.  

Good rear tires was a big selling point for me.   One of the fronts is kinda bad but, that's not too bad.   He had a couple of new in the box front inner tubes for it, so bonus on that.

let me put it to you this way.. nobody puts new rubber on an old worn out POS.    That's a sign of a good strong machine.



 

Not a bad looking tractor. Sounds like you already plan on doing a good "tune up" essentially so that will cover all your bases pretty much. I'm a big fan of older equipment. Easier to work on and parts normally aren't that bad. You mind if you let us in on how much you paid for that gem? If that MF was up by my families farm, I would of scooped it up.

2900.   I probably overpaid but it's hard to gauge the value on these kinds of things.

Reminds me a little of my IH 784.  You got better tires.

Fluid changes and fuel treatment improved start-up and general performance.  Wound up replacing a leaky hydraulic cooler with an engine oil cooler and had the starter rebuilt.  At the price, you get a lot of tractor for the money.

Bought mine to brush hog, but I find myself pulling lots of stumps, dragging logs, etc.

Primary purpose was to keep the 15 acres behind the house mowed for dove season.  Yeah, I'm late this year but it'll be ready for the december short season.

There's a few places where I had some minor dozer work done to clear some small trees.  I'd kinda like to run over those spots with a plow or something to maybe churn up/break up and remaining roots of those trees.   I've never plowed anything with a tractor before tho, so not sure if that's feasible, advisable, or what.

Friend gave me an old single row plow awhile back.    I'm wondering if that will do what I'm thinking of.

That Perkins 4.2 is an amazing engine

Nice.how many :-P?

Txl

40 to 50 bristling diesel ponies depending on how you measure it.

go out and plow a field before you mess around with those old roots.... get a feel for what the single bottom plow feels like in just dirt.  be careful, go slow and stop if something doesn't feel right.



 

Sexy

I have never been around them but they are highly spoken of.

For plowing take it easy, you can spring a plow snagging roots without trying too hard.

Looks like a std issue row crop to me unless they did something weird.

I think I figured out the smoke issue.   Fired it up and drove it off the trailer and around the yard a bit.   Noticed the smoke was coming more from the front.

Shut it off and did a careful flashlight inspection.   Looks like the valve cover gasket needs to be redone.  About a 1/16" gap between the valve cover and the top of the engine block.  So right now it has a bit of exterior self-lubrication going on.

I'll have to pull the tank to re-do that gasket as the fuel tank sits right on top of the engine.

Might try to get a little bit of mowing done first, as if I go to the trouble to pull the fuel tank and redo the valve cover, I'm going to want to check and adjust other stuff while I'm in there.

*sigh*

Futzed around trying to adjust the clutch pedal to get the pto clutch to work.   According to the shop service manual, it's a 2 stage clutch.   So about half way down should engage the clutch to operate the transmission and all the way down will engage the pto clutch.    In theory.

The arm that the clutch pedal is attached to via a connecting rod turns a shaft going into the side of the tractor.   The arm slides onto the shaft and clamps down by means of a bolt.   Arm is split so when the bolt is tightened it clamps around the shaft.   Well I adjusted it the way the shop service manual said to, then tightened the arm down and pressed on the clutch pedal to test it.   Got about halfway down and the arm rotated in relation to shaft.  Dang it.  Round 2, I tightened the bolt enough to strip the threads.  

So I took the arm totally off and have it soaking in old gas to clean all debris to make sure there's nothing keeping it from clamping down on that shaft, bought a grade 5 nut and bolt from TSC to replace the one I stripped and will try again tomorrow.

If all else fails, I'm just going to engage the damn thing before I start the tractor and mow with it that way.

I hope the clutch isn't just totally worn out.   I'm thinking it might be a huge pita to rebuild the clutch.

probably have to split the tractor to do a clutch....  

Most tractor clutch replacements involve splitting the tractor so I hope for your sake that you won't need to do that.

Basically, what I attempted was this, starting at 6:45

https://youtu.be/VMXXzSKUZkM?t=6m45s

I think I was on the right track as I figured out from the service manual what this guy is describing.  

The first part of that video is splitting the tractor.   Yikes.   That doesn't look fun.

I'm hopeful it was just a pedal adjustment issue.   We'll see tomorrow.

We had a 165 on the farm for a while. Actually about 4 of them between my uncles and cousins. The weak point on them was the hydraulic system. Keep the fluid and filter changed and you shouldn't have any trouble. Also don't hoss it shifting under a load.

Look for an 8 foot hydraulic lift harrow for the land cleanup, or maybe a 6 foot 3-pt harrow. These tractors have a good weight to power ratio, meaning they seem to pull more than the newer lighter tractors for the same Hp. You done good for the money.

Got it back together and adjusted.  The pto shaft never does stop spinning with the clutch fully engaged, but the clutch is doing something.  With care, I can use it to engage and disengage the pto with the engine running.

Long term, unfortunately, I think the clutch needs to be rebuilt.  And yeah, that will require splitting the tractor.

For right now, it's fine.  She'll chooch.

This would one of those.

Not too skookum.   Took her out to mow for a bit before dark.   Strong smell of anti-freeze in the air.   I'm guessing this is not "A good thing"

Mowed for about 30 minutes and shut her off.  Temp was just a tad warm when I shut her down.   When it cools off, I'll check the coolant level again.

Steiner Tractor Parts will have a lot of parts for these older tractors.. including gauges and tachometers.  Have fun with your new toy!

ETA.  If you're smelling antifreeze and getting a bit warm, check your water pump out.

Check for bubbles in the coolant, fill radiator all the way and then check for the bubbles as soon as it starts.

PSA, C.A.V. fuel injection pumps are HELL to bleed out. Don't run it out of fuel if possible. Join an antique tractor club in your area! Us old guys have a lot of experience to share and as a whole, you will never find a better bunch of people to call your friends. Also go to yesterdaystractors.com and check out Massey Harris Ferguson section and search functions.

Yes-you have an antique tractor.

I think I figured out the coolant smell/leak problem.


Topped off the radiator, then mowed for two hours.   It ran great the entire time, temp was fine.

When I shut it down, however, it started leaking slowly, then fast, then spraying right from what I think is a crack in one of the hoses coming off the water pump.

There is a internal adjustmment also, thru a access plate on the bottom of the bell housing.