nick a Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 problems with these big old girls/ power steering ram bolts getting sheared off was common. as with many four wheel drive conversions of the era - not single out county in particular! there often was problems with the rear axle. granted bearings were uprated in gearboxes but the rear axle in most cases was purely ford 5000. often these tractors were ballasted to the maximum and on occassions beyond!, first problem were cracked wheel rim lugs and/or sheared bolts, secondly sheared wheel studs. after that any problems became more expensive and serious in nature. namely sheared off crown wheel bolts/pinion bearing failure/teeth damage of crown wheel and pinion. in extreme cases failure of "muff" coupling .this was the female/female internally splined coupling that joined the output of the gearbox to the rear axle pinion shaft, these could be sheared or split open. most problems were generally in the rear axle. today many people marvel at these tractors and hold them in high esteem myself included but it has to be remembered some of these old girls were worked very hard- exactly what they were designed to do and not playthings. this is more and more being taken into account recently amongst collectors of real tractors with a great many of them receiving full overhauls when being restored. some of these rear axle problems plauged certain ford tractors for years to come!,the more serious problems of pinion bearing failure/ crown wheel bolts shearing off and crownwheel/pinion damage often attributable to heavily ballasted tractors used for high traction jobs. of these examples include 7600/7700/8100 two wheel drives used for work/equipment usually handled by a bigger tractor such as a county or muir hill etc. other ford tractors commonly affected mostly for same reason 8210 both for wheel and two wheeldrive. the wide spread use of rear dual wheels often brought rear rim lug&bolt failure and wheel studs. the one county tractor that suffered drive line problems was the 1184 tractors , these could achieve phenominal pulling power when ballasted but some paid the price. it also has to be remembered not too many fordbased tractors remained as per factory specification in poweroutput!. refuelling and upraisal was a simple operation carried out with a spanner on a locknut and a screwdiver.(so ive been told he he). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick a Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 some of these rear axle problems plauged certain ford tractors for years to come!,the more serious problems of pinion bearing failure/ crown wheel bolts shearing off and crownwheel/pinion damage often attributable to heavily ballasted tractors used for high traction jobs. of these examples include 7600/7700/8100 two wheel drives used for work/equipment usually handled by a bigger tractor such as a county or muir hill etc. other ford tractors commonly affected mostly for same reason 8210 both for wheel and two wheeldrive. the wide spread use of rear dual wheels often brought rear rim lug&bolt failure and wheel studs. the one county tractor that suffered drive line problems was the 1184 tractors , these could achieve phenominal pulling power when ballasted but some paid the price. it also has to be remembered not too many fordbased tractors remained as per factory specification in poweroutput!. refuelling and upraisal was a simple operation carried out with a spanner on a locknut and a screwdiver.(so ive been told he he). i could go on and on with stories regarding ford and ford conversion stories after being in the ford/ford new holland trade, i am sure people would get bored and accuse me of ford bashing. the truth is for a good number of years you never got bored working on a ford!. the most famous cock ups were the lack of lubrication in early sychromesh gearboxes, the rubbiks cube shift and h-pattern conversions and the most famous the porous engine blocks. saying that i did spend a year working at jd dealership i will tell the truth and put my head over the parapet even jd had their problems. i am a classic tractor fan but in the real world without being cynical all makes have their problems whatever colour or badge they carry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick a Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 i could go on and on with stories regarding ford and ford conversion stories after being in the ford/ford new holland trade, i am sure people would get bored and accuse me of ford bashing. the truth is for a good number of years you never got bored working on a ford!. the most famous Willy ups were the lack of lubrication in early sychromesh gearboxes, the rubbiks cube shift and h-pattern conversions and the most famous the porous engine blocks. saying that i did spend a year working at jd dealership i will tell the truth and put my head over the parapet even jd had their problems. i am a classic tractor fan but in the real world without being cynical all makes have their problems whatever colour or badge they carry. back directly onto subject for you mike sorry for any meanderings or boring you stupid1. on subject of old countys in my experiences i seen lots of countys at work on silage clamps,plenty of weight/grip and power. people who ran both countys and fords tended to use them that way for those reasons, it was more common in this area to have a ford7600/7700 or older 7000 on the forage harvester more often than not with a slightly tickled pump. now another memory comes to mind that should make people smile another lesson learnt the hard way and never forgotten or repated. the six cylinder 2700 series ford engine used by county/roadless etc etc when removing rockershaft always tie end rockers as the rockershaft ends do not have keepers for the rockers. when you unbolt the rockershaft to remove it from the cylinder head and go to climb down guess what happens?. you guessed it all the rockers and springs fly off of the rocker shaft - not a fun experience out in the field. combine owners with these engines beaware! this happened to a colleague up on top of a combine too! but he managed too find all the bits in the stubble. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deere-est Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 yes i echo that comment brilliant job. heres something that should make you smile! and perhaps bring back memories/nightmares for those of us that have had dealings with these old countys and hopefully serve as a warning for those that have them knocking about.the cab which mike has fitted to this model is a duncan just for those that didnt know, with the real cabs the doors swung open and had check chains doing the same job as modern gas struts. if you let aduncan door swing fully open and drive the tractor with the door swinging around guess what happens?. i will tell you -when the wheels are in full lock the doors hit the tyres and before you know it and before you come to a stop the wheel very quickly removes the door for you from its hinge pins and leaves it dangling on its chain to be smashed around in between the front and raer wheels. so i have been told whoops i meant been there done that got the tee shirt and a bollocking as an apprentice. I'd rather that than pottering up and down the ridge and furrow over my mates in a 2wd 590 on the haybob. Trundling along, hand on the window frame catching a bit of breeze from the open window on a nice sunny day in early summer. . .. Up and down, up and down, turning on the headlands. . .. minding my own business and just admiring the work and the day. WHACK!!!!!!! The window slams shut on a bump in the field. :'( :'( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tractorbob Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 thats nice ..i remember those in the woods working Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick a Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 thats nice ..i remember those in the woods working after all them posts this morning saw a county 754 working today with forestry trailer blimey what a coeincidence!. got some pictures somewhere god knows where? of a roadless 118 in bits having a crown wheel and pinion fitted that we did. poor old girl yet another victim of being asked to do too much again and extremely heavily ballasted up if i remember , wheel weights and water/calcium ballast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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