Hey everyone, I just took over caring for some family property and it came with a MF265. I'm not sure what year it is.
It seems to be in pretty good shape (I just mowed 20 acres with it) for its age, but it needs some help. I have a background in automotive stuff as well as electronics, so I'm not worried about being able to wrench on it... I just don't know anything about old tractors.
First question is, where is the best place to find an owners and service manual for it? There are a few controls on it that I don't really know the function of.
Second question is, where is the best place to find parts? Are parts generally available for this tractor or are they hard to find? My goal is to bring it up to a maintained and fully functional state, so I'm more concerned about functionality than restoring it as an antique.
The fellow who's being keeping the tractor running for the last thirty years is an awesome guy, but his idea of repairs are that if it will run and perform its function, its a permanent fix. For example, it has a fuel leak somewhere around what I think is the high pressure fuel pump. It drips fuel on the ground at something like 10 drips per minute. The fix for that was to cut the fuel line and put a shutoff valve in it, so the fuel tank wouldn't be empty the next time it was needed. The cutoff valve wouldn't pass enough fuel to run the tractor at high load, so that valve was replaced with a piece of rubber fuel line and a clamp is used to stop fuel flow when the tractor is parked. There are a few other fixes like that around and some involve bailing wire.
So far, this is what I'm planning to repair:
Thanks for any info or resources that you all can provide to get me started on this. I'm in east TN, U.S.
It seems to be in pretty good shape (I just mowed 20 acres with it) for its age, but it needs some help. I have a background in automotive stuff as well as electronics, so I'm not worried about being able to wrench on it... I just don't know anything about old tractors.
First question is, where is the best place to find an owners and service manual for it? There are a few controls on it that I don't really know the function of.
Second question is, where is the best place to find parts? Are parts generally available for this tractor or are they hard to find? My goal is to bring it up to a maintained and fully functional state, so I'm more concerned about functionality than restoring it as an antique.
The fellow who's being keeping the tractor running for the last thirty years is an awesome guy, but his idea of repairs are that if it will run and perform its function, its a permanent fix. For example, it has a fuel leak somewhere around what I think is the high pressure fuel pump. It drips fuel on the ground at something like 10 drips per minute. The fix for that was to cut the fuel line and put a shutoff valve in it, so the fuel tank wouldn't be empty the next time it was needed. The cutoff valve wouldn't pass enough fuel to run the tractor at high load, so that valve was replaced with a piece of rubber fuel line and a clamp is used to stop fuel flow when the tractor is parked. There are a few other fixes like that around and some involve bailing wire.
So far, this is what I'm planning to repair:
- Remove the seat and have it rebuild/recovered
- Remove the radiator and have it checked out. Mostly just to have an overflow nipple brazed back on. It was broken off at some point, shoved back in (not sealing) and is connected by a hose to an old gatorade bottle (where was the original overflow bottle on this tractor?)
- Replace the hard fuel line that was cut (I have the tools to make and flare a new line) and figure out where the leak is. I doubt it is just a leaky fitting or he would have fixed it. Do the HP fuel pumps have any common leaks?
- Replace the shifter boots. They're torn and will let rain into the transmission if it is left out of the barn in the rain.
- Fix the fuel gauge. It just bounces around the center and doesn't reflect the fuel tank level at all. Do these have a float type sending unit?
- Fix the tach. It doesn't work at all. I'm told its the drive cable and supposedly there is a new one somewhere here I can install.
Thanks for any info or resources that you all can provide to get me started on this. I'm in east TN, U.S.