fordson tractors and fords aswell if they dont have oil leaks there is something wrong with it. usually it all leaked out.

Fordson in Aus?
Those were the later versions of Fordson that continued to be built in England long after Ford quit the Fordson F?
Here in USA there were a lot of "conversions" to track for the Fordson F. Not to sure how sucessful any were.

My father and a neighbor always said the Fordson F was the fastest way to boil water there ever was, and that more operators were scalded when the tractor "climbed the worm" often killing the operator.

As I grew up, we had a Fordson F with a Hamilton Transmission, it was not supposed to "climb the worm", still ran on the internal AC Magneto and 4 "buzz" coil ingnition system. One learned quickly to keep your elbows tight to the chest and never wrap your thumbs on the steering wheel. They were a "fun" toy but with so many hazards, learned a lot from those basic systems. I certainly learned why they were phased out as soon as possible! Cranking was a test of fortitude and strength, especially when it was on the cool side!

CTS

 They were a "fun" toy but with so many hazards, learned a lot from those basic systems. I certainly learned why they were phased out as soon as possible! Cranking was a test of fortitude and strength, especially when it was on the cool side!
CTS


You mean you did not build a fire under the engine to warm it up?  I was told that was rather standard practice down here in the colder weather.

i was referring to fordson and ford tractors in general. oil and fuel leaks are normal. no leaks? it probably has no oil or fuel in it. and yes those worm drive tractor were known to do that. dangerous bloody things. part of the issue was how the drawbar attached and applied load. later designs had the drawbar attach and pull from infront of the wheels and near the transmission. also a under pinion was just a bad idea.

FIRE -
Yes, I was told by many of the older generation that was used to warm them up, those were tough to turn in warm weather, can not begin to think of trying to start one in COLD!

A neighbor talked of working for a farmer that had several Fordson F's, one was fairly reliable and would start, they would pull start all the rest of them.

TK - The Fordson F that we had was a Barn Queen except for the learning and "play" that I had with it. My unlce used it before it came to our place. I do not recall ever having oil leaks anywhere about it.

Far as a fire to warm things up - yes I and my boss did that on Donner Summit to start a Case Diesel Loader, and it was "plugged in " to electric circut and block heater.
So darn cold it would not turn over even with boost from pickup. It was -22F that night!
I thought I was going to freeze in that loader - the heaters were minimal and I did not have transportation, Boss dropped me, said be back later to pick you up! BRRRRRRRRRR!
Like so many other stories of farming and working in the darn miserable conditions.

CTS

John Deere draw bars were not the best either. When setting a big square baler up on Deere Johns we would have to double the draw bar to stop them snapping. We did hear of a baler in Queensland that was left behind on a railway crossing after the tractor bounced across it and the draw bar snapped. Had other reports of them snapping in the paddocks as well. In highly abrasive soil i don’t think it matters what colour the tractor the draw bar will wear. Back in the day before everyone had a camera in their pocket you would see drawbars or linkages that were that worn you would wonder how you could actually use them. Thinking back now if we had the technology we have now we could put some pictures on here that would really make you scratch your head and think how are they still using that like that.