[Bryce]

I have a TE20 and the hydrolics have stopped working. I checked the oil in the dip stick on the right hand side, just below and forward of the seat. The oil was white in colour, which would indicate water.
I have drained the oil from 2 threded drain bolts. 1 under the gear box, the other under the diff.
I am hoping when refill the oil my hydrolics may recover.
1. Does any one know whether this is correct.
2. Also what type of oil do I use?
3. How much oil is needed?
4. Do I fill up both areas via the 1 inch bolt next to the gear shift or is there another spot for the diff?
Very kind regards
Bryce
Karuah
NSW Australia

 

[Volfandt]

Welcome aboard Bryce. I used to have a 48 TE20, it was a great tractor for me well over 16 yrs.
re. type of oil, GL1 is the spec'ed oil but if you live where it gets pretty cold you may want to try a good quality 15w30 or 15w40 motor oil.
The thicker GL1 takes alot longer to get circulating in the cold.

re. white oil, Yep, thats a good sign that it's highly water contaminated.

A good long drain, perhaps over night, should get the worst out but there will still be some lingering around the gears etc.
When you fill through the hole next to the shifter, it will take alittle longer for the oil to work through the tranny back into the rear so be patient when filling. That fill hole is the only fill hole but theres small passages between the tranny and the rear. Unfortunately I can't recall how much it took but I want to think it took the good part of 5 gals US.

re. alittle trick an old timer told me. My lift was having problems lifting and it got real jearky so he told me to drain the oil and refill with kerosene. Run and work it for 20 - 30 minutes then drain it out and refill w/ oil.
Well, I did it and it did clear up my problems but it did cause another. After that my 3ph wouldn't stay up anymore without having to use the lift lever to raise it once it started to slowly drop. In my case it was an acceptable trade off since the lift worked great afterwards. Just beware that the kerosene trick may or may not work for you.
Good luck and let us know.

 

[Bryce]

Thank you very much for your reply.
I will try just the oil this time but will keep the kero in mind.
It's good to know that the oil will move back to the diff from the 1 inlet hole near the gear shift.

Would 20 w 50 be ok?

I'll start with 5 gal, thats about what come out.
Great help, thanks again.
I'll have a good look around the site, it's great to talk to other that have experience with the same tractors, mines an early 1950,s model.
Kind regards
Bryce

 

[Volfandt]

Bryce, 20w50 would be on the thick side but will probably work. I suspect that your 3ph will be very slow until it warms up

MyTE20 was a work horse. Over the approx 16 yrs I worked it I had to replace the waterpump, oil pan (unusual story) and rebuild the oil pump.
The waterpump was my fault. I was hauling some big rocks w/a pond scoop from the garden to my dump spot when I twisted the tractor alittle too much in a little ravine which caused the fan to get up into the shroud, she leaked after that.
I bent the oil pan right at the point where the oil filter plate was so it started leaking oil. How I bent it was when I was brush hogging a corn field one of the front wheels rode up over a bump and came down hard right over a cutdown corn stalk. That ole cut down corn stalk was just high enough and stout enough to bend that steel oil pan, unusual I rekon

I rebuilt the oil pump w/ a kit (new gears and a gasket) that increased my all around oil pressure by 10 psi!
Surprisingly all the parts were readily available from the same old timer that told me about the kerosene trick .

Another trick I used was to use a good gasket sealer on both sides of the rubber gasket that seals the oil filter plate to the oil pan. Never had a leak after an oil filter change.

I also had to seal a couple seams on the gas tank. I used JB Weld after I cleaned the spots up real good down to the shiney metal and they never leaked.

One more. The std rear seals were notorious to leak oil/grease down onto the brakes making them useless. I found a kit called "Sure Seals" that stopped the leaking. They are made with a steel body that fits perfectly into the axle housing and they have a tight fit rubber automotive type seal that seals around the axle. If I remember correctly you leave the std seals in there. After I had the brake shoes relined my brakes worked great. I found those turning brakes to be very handy
You have to remove the wheel, brakes and backing plate then slide the axle out. Litely pound the sure seals in then reassemble. Works good.

My TE20 was still 6v and I kept it that way. How I got it to start easier would be to use one of those turkey cooker injectors, fill it with alittle gas then directly inject it into the carb. I had a rubber radiator hose between the carb and air cleaner so pulling it off a little bit at the carb wasn't any problem and it would start right on up, even when freezing
Course most folks around my way change there TE's, TO's and Fords over to 12 volt but my little trick worked good enough

I started missing that tractor as I watched it's new happy owner turning out of my driveway with it on his trailer......

In any case, let us know how it goes.
Dave

 

[Bryce]

Dear Dave,
Thanks again for your information.
My te20 is also a work horse, it is the only tractor I have and I have used it hard for about 10 years now.
My brakes do not work at all. A mate and I tried rebuiding it a couple of years ago but they started leaking again. I will look at your advice and try again as soon as I can get some time.
I spend most of my time in Sydney running a business called Kindifarm. We take farm animals around to schools and Kindergartens teaching kids about the farm life. The rest of our time is up at the farm, about 2 1/2 hours north of Sydney. That is where the te20 is. I mainly use it for slashing but also have a blade and do some clearing of tea tree re-growth, very hard work on the tractor and me. Also a general work horse.

Another problem I have is there is some corrosion of the metal at the bottom of the steering box. This means that the steering box cannot hold lubricant. I will try some of the JB weld you used on the fuel tank to fill the hole but I'm unsure what to fill up the steering box with, Oil or grease? Do you know?

Nice talking to you and thanks for your help.
Kind regards

Bryce

 

[Volfandt]

Bryce, I never had to add any lube to my steering box even tho it did weep alittle from around the seals where the steering arms came out. It just never got low enough to add. But, if I were to add lube I was going to use the GL1 oil I put in the tranny. Whatever you use for the tranny should be fine for the steering gearbox.

re. JB Weld. It's a hit or miss but worth the try. It claims it'll fill in cracks in an engines bkock & head but I'm not so sure about that

Back in my younger days I got to travel around the world but never made it to Australia. I wanted to catch a SouthPac cruise but alas, never could visit the Phillipines nor Australia which are consifdered the best Port O Calls in the world .
My SE Asia tour included Okinawa, Taiwan and S Korea...
Probably it was a good thing as I may have just settled down there
We heard good things from those that did make it there

I met some folks from New Zealand through work and I had a friend take a 6 month job down there. The New Zealanders would talk about crossing the "pond" when they went to Australia. Very interesting in how similar we all are, with exceptions of course

 

[shedman0143]

Hy Bryce.
Cant say i have had any of these problems as yet.I too own a fergie te 20(1956 petrol only)there are loads of grease nipples around the moving parts of the tractor,i would like to know what sort of grease i should use.sorry to get off the track.My cousin runs a lot of vintage motor cycles and to prime the engine he squirts some petrol into the air intake of the carb using an old squeezy bottle.Not to sure about the kerosene idea though sounds a bit dangerous regards safety wise.
Regards Ian.

 

[shedman0143]

Hi a little bit of fun here in England we spell hydrolics in a different way,we spell it Hydraulics,but the meaning is just the same.

 

[Ken N Tx]

:MTF_wel2: ..

You can also check out our Ford N's 9N/2N/8N Forum they are basically the same tractor for the engine back!! :goodl: