Lucky I saved this. I have re-posted the origanal plus yesterdays response. Lets keep going.This is the original post. Gents, its time to let our imagination's run wild. We are going to design a tractor. Here we go. Its January 1964. Back at Troy, Michigan, USA, the corporate head quarters of the newly formed world wide Ford Tractor Division, a crisis meeting is under way. Testing of the new Ford tractors at Mudlands Farm in England is not going well. Engine problems, the Selecto Speed transmission is giving problems and the Chief Design Engineer is asking for 18 months to 2 years to get it all sorted. A decision is made to do a feasibility study and put forward a proposal to upgrade the old E1A "New Performance Super Major" for a further two years production. This will delay the introduction of the World Tractor until January 1967. A telex is sent to Daganham with the brief, and a separate design team, under the watchful gaze of Brian Dye is hastily put together to further upgrade the much loved Super Major. Within three months, Steven B presents the concept drawings to Brian for his approval before the board at Troy will give permission to build a prototype. The concept is based on The New Performance Super Major ENGINE
The engine is the new "Dorset" 4.1 litre four cylinder engine. The engine has a 107mm bore (up from 100mm from the old engine) and the same 115mm stoke. The injector pump will be set to 2100rpm, giving 72BHP. Maximum torque is 193lb ft at 1500 and 1600 rpm. CLUTCH
There will be anew clutch based on the existing "Live Drive" twin plate assay. Basically the modification is to make the PTO clutch a fixed coupling so that the PTO shaft is permanently engaged. CHASSIS
The existing side chassis members are to be deleted. There will be a solid cast sump that will have two integrally cast chassis rails. These "rails" will have ears at the back that will slip onto the existing transmission bosses where the old rails were bolted. The Sump will also have ears at the front to bolt the front cross member. The front cross member will be based on the one designed for the Ford 5000 tractor. The cast sump will have a removable pressed steel cover underneath to allow access to the crankcase without splitting the tractor. The minimum criteria is to allow a change of big end bearings or oil pump without removing the engine. MAIN TRANSMISSION The main transmission will be the same as the existing Super Major. The transmission hand brake will be deleted. The PTO lever will be deleted and the gears will be permanently engaged in the old PTO housing. AUXILARY TRANSMISSION A new casting will be placed between the transmission and rear axel housing. This casting will be 5 inches long. In the lower portion, the PTO shaft will be split. There will be a hydraulic servo controlled muti plate clutch to engage the rear portion of the PTO shaft. This will be controlled by a lever on the left hand side of this new housing. In the upper potion a planetary gear set will be placed between the transmission out put shaft and the pinion gear. The outer drum will be controlled by a servo controlled band. This will give a 1.25:1 reduction. A servo controlled multi plate clutch will give direct drive. There will be a remote lever for this placed on the opposite side of the throttle lever. There will also be a locking pawl provided to lock the transmission in a park position. There will be a governor included in the assembly that requires the tractor to be stopped to engage the lock. This will give a total twelve forward and four reverse gears. REAR END The rear end will be largely unaltered. The right hand disk brakes will have a hand brake fitted. The standard ratio will be 3.5 to 1 as the new planetary gears will give the same reduction as the 4.3 ratio when in low. The raised PTO option is no longer required HYDRAULIC PUMP The hydraulic pump will be relocated to the engine below the injector pump. There is a mounting pad provided for the Air Brake compressor when the engine is used in the truck application. The pump is driven off the engine timing gears. NAMING AND STYLING. This is for the board to decide. StevenB And this is yesterdays response to all your posts. Ok, this is the second draft. What we have to remember is that this tractor will only be in production for two years. Also, it is now March 1964. The aim is to have a pre production prototype working in June. Also, the tractor plant at Dagenham is about to close. All the tooling for the FSM will have to be set up at Basildon. One of my aims was to reuse what we have with the minimum development. Lets keep the ideas running, debate them all, then Brian can dictate the final specs for the tractor next week. So the first thing I have changed is the sump. The existing side rails are to remain but a new sump based on the old design will be required for the "Dorset" 2172E engine. Brian, I agree about the clutch. I suggest we use a Live Drive clutch in the first prototype but set the linkage so that the so that the PTO is permanently engaged. We will look at adopting the 13inch HD clutch with a driven plate that fits on the live drive input shaft and a permanently engaged PTO shaft. I would like to keep the existing gearbox. This thing has to go into production in 9 months and we don't need the headache of another selecto speed. The planetary gear set will allow a two speed up/down shift on the move for each gear. This could be an option. Remember, the arch enemy is about to introduce "Multi Power". The PTO that is in my original proposal is servo controlled and can be engaged on the move. Brian, you don't like my idea of the hydraulic pump mounted on the engine. How about I put that in the new casting between the gearbox and back end and we split the PTO shaft near the old pump. We can then mount our PTO clutch in the back end near where the old pump went. By the way, my intention is to use the transfer case casting of a Salene/Plough Master on the prototype for the "Multi Shift" gear set. Consideration can be given to using the 330 CID 5.4 litre six and the 360 CID 6 litre six as options. The colours will be as per the existing range, Blue and Grey. Oscar, we dropped the chrome badge on the New Performance Super Major. We have to come up with a new styling to "fool" the market for two years. I suggest the Dexta becomes the "Fordson 2000", the Super Dexta is now the "Fordson 3000". The new tractors we are designing are the "Fordson 4000" for the four cylinder, and the "Fordson 6000" for the 330 six. The 360 six option could be the "Fordson 6000 Super Major". Brian, are you thinking this tractor may have to last longer than two years? Are you looking at delaying the world tractor until 1970? Steven B BTW Brian, the "pulling tractor" has had his moment of glory and now he has to do some proper work.
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