Tractor heritage, news and features

Council colours

Although the temptation was almost too strong to resist we did not actually lay waste to a stretch of Kent hedgerow with a rather lethal looking Marple Hedge Cutter. However if I had managed to persuade Bob Griggs to power up the compressor it is certain that it would have made short work of the roadside hawthorn bushes.

I had arranged to meet Bob near his home in the Kent coastal town of Hythe to photograph his Ferguson TEA which had once been part of the tractor fleet operated by the Kent County Council Roads Department. The tractor was one of a batch of nine Fergusons delivered to the council in June 1954 and which were registered as SKT 931 through to SKT 939. Allocated to the Roads Department they are believed to have remained in use until the 1970s at which time the council sold them all and replaced them with larger and more powerful machines. At least two of the batch have survived into preservation, SKT 931 (No 379807) which is owned by Bob and SKT 934 (No 390709) which has been restored by David Noel.

High side

What happened after the council sold the tractor is unknown but Bob saw the Ferguson advertised on eBay in the summer of 2005 and managed to buy it for £350 although looking it this seemed a little on the high side. The old tractor was not in an impressive state; the tinwork which had been painted in red oxide, presumably to hide the rust, was practically all rotten and it seemed to be leaking all sorts of liquids from all sorts of places. However when he arranged to collect from the owner who lived in Heathfield the Ferguson did actually start and moved under its own power onto the trailer.

As Bob recalled: “It would not be true to say that it started on the button and we did have to short circuit the electrics to get it going; but at least the engine did run!”
That’s the first time that I’ve heard of anybody ‘hot wiring’ a Ferguson!

“That was the first tractor I had bought,” he continued, “all my previous restorations had been on various types of garden machinery, which I had started to collect. I had driven tractors years ago when I worked on a farm for five years after leaving school but I had never really intended buying one of my own. All my friends thought that it was highly amusing that I had bought this decrepit old Fergie.”

eBay bargain

Once it was safely back at Bob’s workshop he could have a closer look at his 'eBay bargain'. The existing tinwork was unlikely to be of any use so the first job was to have a look at the engine. “In contrast to the rest of the tractor, the engine was in remarkably good condition and once I had taken the head off it was clear that the cylinder linings and pistons were fine and only the head gasket and water pump needed replacing. All the old thick oil was drained out and it only took a couple of months before the engine was running well and all the water and oil leaks had been cured by the new parts. I had already spoken to David Noel about the tractor and he had confirmed that from the registration it was a KCC machine, which meant that it had probably been fairly well maintained, regularly serviced and hadn’t covered too many miles.

“The wheels and axles were all OK although I needed to replace one of the front wheel bearings. Once the work on the engine was finished I ran her up and down the road a few times and everything seemed fine. That meant I didn’t have to take the clutch or the gearbox apart – I know that is probably asking for trouble but I think that there is a lot to be said for the ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ approach. I may come to regret that decision if the clutch goes or the gearbox fails halfway through a road run, but since I finished her in April 2006 it has not let me down – yet!

“With the engine sorted I had to start on the body and it was a case of removing everything that was rotten. The aluminium bonnet front was damaged, the bonnet rusted through, the mudguards were like paper and I would also need to replace the steering wheel and the seat. So began the hunt for suitable replacement parts, which are a mixture of genuine Ferguson spares and some new fabrications. Fortunately there is a young lad near Hythe who strips down a lot of old tractors including Fergusons and I managed to get quite a few spares from him. I even went back to eBay for one or two bits and pieces.

“While obtaining the new tinwork was pretty straightforward, I did have a problem with the lights. Only the mountings for the two spotlights remained and I had to search out two new lights; but new brackets for the sidelights were impossible to find and I had to use copies. These are as close to the original as they could possibly be but if I do find the correct Ferguson originals on a dusty shelf somewhere I may replace them. All the wiring was renewed and the ends of the track rods were also replaced and by then I was ready for the painting.

Bare metal

“Everything was rubbed down, taken back to bare metal, cleaned and primed and my first inclination was just to repaint the tractor in the usual Ferguson grey but I must admit that I wanted something different. There are a lot of ‘Grey Fergies’ about and as this was my first tractor restoration I wanted it to be something special. David had already confirmed that SKT 931 had been new to the KCC and I was tempted to return her to council colours. When restoring his tractor he had the correct shade of green paint specially made up and he kindly gave me the ‘recipe’. I painted the Ferguson myself but not wishing to use transfers I arranged for the lettering and the Kent County Invicta emblem to be professionally hand painted at Colour Signs in Newing Green near Hythe. That provided the finishing touch and the completed tractor made its debut at the Sellindge Rally in April 2006.”

Compressor

That summer Bob was surfing on eBay again and came across a Massey Ferguson Compressor and Marple Hedge Cutter, both dating from the late 1950s and would have been the type of equipment which the Ferguson could have been equipped with. However unlike the tractor this equipment was not in working order but in principle it is a fairly straightforward piece of equipment. It consists of an air compressor which is mounted on the back of the tractor, a flexible rubber hose and the cutter itself which is air driven. Bob decided that this would make an interesting if not unique addition to the KCC tractor and so bought the lot.

Bob continued: “With the equipment taken back to my shed the compressor was found to be in good condition and once cleaned worked perfectly and could be belt driven off the tractor's PTO. The Marple cutter itself was a different matter and presented more of a problem as it was seized solid but eventually I managed to take the whole thing to pieces. Inside there is a piston and it was the rings that were causing the problem. Fortunately they were not broken, just jammed with dirt and rust and once it was thoroughly cleaned, oiled and re-assembled it looked as though it would work.

However before I could attack any poor unfortunate hedgerows I had to replace the rubber hose and also fit a new pressure gauge. The hose is about 25ft long so when being used at the roadside by a single worker the tractor would be moved into position and a stretch of hedge trimmed either side before the operator had to stow the gear again and move up the road into a new position. A two-man team could be used but the driver would have to carefully watch his speed to avoid dragging his mate along the road on the end of the air hose. It doesn’t sound like a great way to spend a day!”

The work on the compressor and cutter was carried out over the winter of 2006 and so for the 2007 season the Ferguson came out complete with the new equipment. “I should also confess,” added Bob, “that although I have had the cutter running and it nearly pulls your arms out of their sockets I have not actually cut any hedges with it. With the compressor operating at an air pressure of 50lb holding onto the cutter when it is going is bad enough without actually getting in among the undergrowth as well!”

Tractor bug

So that is the story of Bob’s first tractor restoration and the ‘tractor bug’ has now well and truly bitten. The next project was a four-cylinder Massey Ferguson 35, which was finished a year or so ago and now he is on the lookout for the next. “I know what it will be, says Bob, “it is just a matter of tracking down the right two-cylinder French Massey Ferguson 821. I have seen a few advertised but the French-Spanish border is a long way to go to collect an old tractor. But maybe one will turn up a little closer to home.

“A number of people have helped me with the work on the tractors and in particular David Noel has been a tremendous help with information and research while I am also indebted to my friend Martin Curwood. Without his help I would probably still be working on the Ferguson today.”