Ford Rear Adjustable Scraper Blade on MF 240

Yep they go together...

Does Massey Ferguson and Ford Go Together?

We shall see!  Scott bought a Ford Series 710, Model 19-205 Rear Adjustable Blade for mounting to the 3-point hitch of the tractor (which are universal systems).  It would appear the implement was made circa 1960.  It was very rusty but for the most part in good shape other than the fact the we cannot yet unfreeze (rusty?) the thing to adjust the blade angle from perpendicular to direction of tractor travel.  We'll try using it to see if we can free it up.  Scott wire brushed as much of the rust away as he could then primed and painted with "Ford Blue" color. It is a hefty piece of equipment and we figure the whole thing weighs about 350 pounds.  The guy who sold it to us had to lift it into our little trailer with a crane attachment he had on his tractor.  Scott had to remove the scraper blade then carefully ease it down and out of the trailer from the side.

Here is a before new paint:

After :

The moldboard (scraper blade) is also painted and ready to be re-attached to the frame assembly and then transported up to Pelham for hooking to the tractor for some road and ditch work.  Here is pic of the original Ford tag with serial number.

MF 240 back from Shop and Working!

June 14 was a big day as we got the tractor back from being at the garage for what turned out to be pretty minor repairs.  The mechanic installed a new alternator, thoroughly cleaned the hydraulic oil filter and replaced the oil with a premium grade recommended by the manufacturer.  The loader works as does the three point hitch system without problems!  

At this link you can see a video of the three point hitch being raised and lowered and the PTO on and off. 3PH/PTO operation

Scott testing out the hydraulics on the front loader bucket.  MF 240 Front Loader Hydraulics in Action

Here is some exciting work being done dragging a log over the road to grade it a bit.... Log Drag over gravel road

Lizards and Plants

On June 7 we headed up to Beechnut Hill to do a LOT of work but ended up doing not much.  Our goal was to start constructing the post and beam frame of the outhouse using the pine timbers.  When we got there we did our usual walk around observing how much everything had changed in and around the driveway but instead we hiked down the ravine enjoying the cool lushness of the forest canopy and roughly mapping out our route the tractor trail will take from the end of our driveway leading up the knoll to the area where we intend to build a little hideaway cabin not far from the creek.  After stealing a couple of hours from our work plans we headed back up to the pile of logs by the gate to see what we could pull out and start working with.  Scott picked a few of the more slender Virginia pine logs that I peeled and loaded them one at a time on his back and carried them down to the outhouse site.  In all we carried five logs down the hill for cutting to length with the chainsaw.  The great thing about our nature sanctuary is that we see something unique almost every time we visit.  This time we caught this little lizard hamming it up for the camera man.  This is a female Eastern Fence Lizard which was perched atop a pine log.  Down by the outhouse site we came across this parasitic plant called Conopholis americana.  Also known as squaw root or bear corn.  It's host is typically the roots of oak or beech trees.

MF 240 to the Shop

May 31 was another interesting day where we loaded up the tractor for being transported to the local shop in Reidsville for repair.  The tractor had to be winched up onto the flatbed.

Tractor Fluids and Outhouse Beginnings

We made it out to Pelham on Memorial Day to complete some odds and ends jobs and see what else we could learn about the MFer 240.  We finished the truss supports on the right side gate panel and then hand raked/graded some areas of the gravel driveway before the anticipated rain showers on Tuesday, May 26.  On our travel up we picked up some engine and hydraulic oil for topping up the fluids.  The engine oil level was pretty low as was the hydraulic fluid.  So much for the seller saying it had "gone through his shop".  The manual suggested that the hydraulic fluid level should be kept at the maximum level if operating the machine on slopes.  We probably need quite a bit more (full capacity is about 35 liters).  Anyway this exercise furthered our knowledge about where everything is.  Unfortunately the 3-pt hitch didn't work on this visit either.  Nothing! Again the starter switch failed to trip the solenoid so we had to run the screwdriver over the terminals again to start the engine. This worked a couple of times until I think we finally fried the solenoid on about the third try when I saw an arc to the rusty lower bolt of the solenoid.  So the tractor again parked where it wanted to.   After the tractor shenanigans we move the floor of the outhouse to its location where we spent some time leveling the concrete piers it will sit on.  Next steps are to mill some of the pine timbers we cut in the winter for the posts and beams.