Just Bought a Ford 4000

[DaveDiesel]

Hey all.

I just bought a Ford 4000. Pictures included. I'm not going to be putting a ton of hours on this beast, but we just bought 11 acres of heavily wooded land and my driveway is 0.4 miles worth of gravel and there are many fallen trees that I want to clean up That's why I went with a tractor with a loader. It's bigger than what I originally went looking for, but it'll do the job. So far, I have the loader (6' bucket) and a 6' box blade. The driveway is no longer a two wheel wagon rut. I'm also wanting to buy a PTO driven wood chipper. Any recommendations?

This is my first tractor and I'm trying to figure out a few things. So far, I've figured out that it's a 1969 3 cylinder diesel built in the UK (Basildon)and that it has an independent 540 PTO. I've uploaded a photo of the info I've managed to find so far. From what I can figure out, the transmission should be the Dexta 2000, Super Dexta 3000 or Major 4000. They all have an independent PTO option (I think), so how do I determine which one I have? Also, since the lights don't work and not all the instrument panel works, how do I determine which wiring harness it has? I think serial no. prefixes A & B use the same 1 piece harness and that prefix C uses a 2 piece harness?

Any help you can give is much appreciated!

Regarding maintenance, I just changed the oil in the air filter. I think it was "factory original". I also changed the motor oil and flushed the radiator. What else should I check? What should tire pressures be set to? The rear tires have a little dry rot - is there anything I can do to help them last longer?

 

[Destroked 450]

Nice looking tractor, my 4000 is also a 69 model but I have later model flat fenders.
Check the oil in the trans and rear axle, if it is milky looking it needs changed. If it has power steering there's a filter in the can under the hood that's probably never been changed.
4000 uses a 8x2 trans that only fits the 4000 series tractor, 2-3000 trans is smaller, it also has inboard wet disc brakes that are much better than the drum brakes on 2-3000 models. It is a little larger but has a nice solid feel when working on rough ground. The straight front axle is also much better for loader work.

I've owned mine for over 25 years and have not plans on getting rid of it, other than the cost of fixing it up from a pile of junk I've done very little work on it until this year when I replaced the front axle and steering.

 

[centash]

Good tractor. With a loader as heavy as that one appears to be, keep the front wheel bearings packed and properly adjusted. Ben

 

[Tracy Brown]

All the UK 4000s I've seen have 6 lug rear wheels where the US 4000s have 8

 

[Sean in PA]

(quoted from post at 22:53:56 05/29/16) All the UK 4000s I've seen have 6 lug rear wheels where the US 4000s have 8

I have seen conflicting information regarding that, as well as the inset headlights vs. the headlights out on the side, which this one appears to have had originally before someone moved them to the top of the nose when they added the loader. I think that if a tractor was made in Basildon and was specifically intended to be exported to the US then they used the 8 lug wheels and the US style headlights and grill, but others that were made for the European market were made with the 6 lug wheels and headlights inset in the grill. That's not to say that a lot of tractors that left the assembly line configured as a European tractor didn't end up in the US, but they didn't know that was to be their fate when they were assembled.

 

[Sean in PA]

From what I can figure out, the transmission should be the Dexta 2000, Super Dexta 3000 or Major 4000.

After 1965 all Ford tractors used the same engines, transmissions, rear axles, etc., within a particular series (2000, 3000, 4000 or 5000) regardless of which assembly line they were made on and regardless of which country they were being sold in. In Europe they added the Dexta"", "Super Dexta" and "Major" names to the model numbers that they sold there because the European consumers were used to those names from the earlier Fordson tractor lineup and they didn't want to lose customers over brand loyalty, but they were the same as the tractors made and/or sold in the US that had the same model number. So your transmission is simply a Ford 4000 8 speed manual transmission.

 

[Ultradog MN]

DS,
For what it's worth...
The 2/3/4000 transmissions are all
physically the same size and would
interchange. That's not taking into account
the different types of hyd pump and pto.
However, I have been told that the output
ratio is higher on a 4000 to compensate for
the double reduction rear end on the 4000s -
though I never understood why they did it
there and not in the ring and pinion.
Davediesel,
The 4000s used independent PTO with the hyd
pump in the rear end whereas the 2/3000 used
live (or transmission pto) with the pump on
the side of the engine.
Welcome to the Ford Board. Those are
outstanding tractors.
PS, for all intents and purposes the wiring
harness is the same except the Brit and Euro
models had some extra gew gaws on them -
tail lights, blinkers and maybe a horn.
The basic starting and charging systems
should be the same.
Tracy,
Yes, I'm surprised to see the 8 lug bolt
pattern on it.
But who knows what might have been changed.
Dave, does it have the parking brake on the
right side of the tractor?

 

[DaveDiesel]

Parking brake = T-handle that you lift straight up and twist 90o? I'm assuming that that is what it is - I just found it and haven't tried it yet. It's on the floor pan behind the brake pedals and in front of the differential lock.

 

[Ultradog MN]

My bad. Forgot my left from right.
Yes, you should have the T handle on the right step plate. I think they all did.
Many of the Euro models had another brake handle on the LEFT side - next to the pto handle.
It engaged a disc brake that was turned off the pinion shaft.
You can kinda see it in the photo.

 

[DaveDiesel]

The loader bucket has a "tomahawk" label and looks new (not just newly painted).

 

[DaveDiesel]

I'll check the tranny, rear axle and hydraulic fluids. Thanks for the tip.

 

[DaveDiesel]

The wiring harness is a shambles. I pulled the engine shroud and someone cut the harness to the horn and front lights. The rest looks spliced and electrical tapes to hell. I opened up the control console and someone had stuffed the tach cable up into to the housing. I need to figure out where it attaches to the engine... Also, inside the "dash", it looks like someone mixed rockwool with glue and sprayed it all over everything. What a mess. I think I'm going to replace the wiring harness, ignition switch and light switch. Anyone know the PN for the wiring harness w/ lights?

 

[Sean in PA]

Tach cable goes to a fitting on the rear of the generator.

 

[Hogleg]

Got to wonder what in the h**l people were thinking when you see a tractor all goofed up like that.

Good luck!

It is an outstanding series of tractors that will do all of the jobs you need it to do.

John

 

[274]

I wish my paint looked that good on my 4000.

 

[fredstev]

I've come to the conclusion that some people should stick with stamp collecting or rock collecting after seeing butchered repair jobs on tractors and equipment. It's one thing to make a field repair to get through the day, but when you see things like bondo on a hydraulic fitting or duct tape to replace a fan belt, you wonder about your fellow man.