Have you ever had the need to raise the hydraulic arms on a Ferguson tractor, with a dead engine?
I did. when it stopped on me during a ploughing match. 2004, the problem being a fuel blockage, which 1 could not cure in the field.
As I was still ploughing my first twelve furrows, we had not long started, so r had to wait until the end of the match before fetching my Landrover and trailer, arranging with Bob Randall, another ploughman, to give me a pull out. Now, as the plough was still in the ground. it had to be raised to pull it back onto the headland, ready for loading. To do this, you must nrst take off the P.T.O. cover, move the P.T.O. lever out of gear, (forward towards the engine), then raise the hydraulic control lever to its highest lift point.
You have now set the tractor controls ready to lift the hydraulic arms, and you do this by taking your Ferguson spanner, and sliding it onto the P.T.O. shaft, operating it left and right, just like you would a semi-rotary pump, and up will come the lift arms. If the tractor has been stood a while, you might have to pump for about 10-15 seconds to prime everything, and when the arms are as high as they will go, everything just goes slack.
You will find it quite easy, with a ten inch Ferguson spanner to lift a two furrow Ferguson plough, out of the ground if necessary.
When I was recovering my tractor at the ploughing match, three or four people were watching, and one made the comment that all the years he’d been around Fergusons, he’d never seen that before, and other people I have shown since have expressed amazement, which prompted me to write this article.
I hope this will be useful to Club members, and perhaps get them out of a spot of bother in the future.
Published in Journal No.60 Winter 2008/09 : Jeff Taylor
