charging up an E4A magneto - 1925 Ford on steel

Yesterday I rode with my husband to drop something at a machine shop. While there, he charged our E4A magnet. Prior to charging it up, one could easily remove the steel keeper bar. One little zap later...and the guy had to really pull in order to slide the magnet off of the steel frame of the charger. The actual zap reminded me of when my husband strikes an arc when welding - I was not expecting to see sparks, so that surprised me. After the charging, the keeper bar just slammed onto the magnet. I was amazed that one little jolt made such a big difference.

The guy has a 1925 Ford on full steel and the steering wheel has wood on it. That was really neat to see. He told us that the first Ford tractors used to be bad for tipping over backward and killing people because the drawbar is so far foward on the tractor (its way up close to the axel). He has an extension added to his drawbar for safety reasons. Though he told us that Ford redesigned the fenders in such a way that they were supposed to support the tractor if it tipped and keep it from going completely over backward.

It was a really fun shop to see. Next time we go there I will ask him if I can take a couple photos.

I have been told that another reason the Fordsons would turn over was because they had a worm gear somewhere in the rear end that didn't free wheel like a conventional gear, but I do not know if that is true.
Zach

Zachary,
The owner of the tractor did mention a worm gear in the rear end. He said you can't pull start them because of that worm gear.

Any tractor hitched close to the centerline of the rear axle will have a tendency to tip, and hitching higher will accentuate it. It's a matter of physics. When the hitch point is further behind the rear axle as the tractor rears up the load becomes lower than the axle thus lifting the rear wheels and causing slippage which relieves the load. That's why operators manuals tell you not to hitch directly to the axle. The Fordson did have a worm drive rear axle, and while it did not contribute to tripping itself, it was self locking. So if the operator released the clutch the tractor would tend to remain in position. Hope this all makes sense.

You know the phrase, "you're in the hot seat"? Well anyone who has used a fordson plowing will understand how hot that worm gear gets, and you're sitting right above it. We used to have to pour buckets of water on the rear end to cool it off in order too keep plowing.

My Case LA has the hitch bolted to the front of the tranny where it hooks up to the engine.
Walt

The reason (or one of them) they turn over is the drawbar was so short, there was nothing to hit the ground as the chassis revolved around the axle. I'm not saying it's impossible, but I do think it would be difficult to flip a similar tractor like a McDeering 10-20 in that manner, because the drawbar sticks out past the rear wheels

Every mechanical thing has its little idiosyncrasies and the old Fordson was no exception. Three come quickly to mind that caught my uncle one day.
1. As they advanced in age they could become hard to start when hot.
2. Again, when aged, they tended to jump into gear when left to idle. (Farmer let it sit idling - see 1. above.) Some farmers would bring them in at noon and leave them idle while having lunch only to look out the window and see them going across the front lawn.
3. They tended to flip over backward. Killed many a farmer.
Henry Ford became very concerned about the backward flips and had heavy duty fenders installed to stop the tractor from flipping over backward. These became a required $50 option after a certain serial number. Well, my uncle hurried into town and got one of the last ones made without fenders. Boasted about how he'd saved $50. Some years later, he was working in the yard with the old Fordson idling nearby- Remember #1? Tractor jumped into gear,headed straight for the silo and when it hit, because the front wheels hit first, climbed right up the side of the silo, flipped over backward, crashed, caught on fire and, in spite of being made almost completely of solid steel, burned beyond recognition. My uncles next trip to town was to buy a new Allis Chalmers tractor. Pretty funny. We still laugh about it.

That wasn't the only cause of the flips. When farmers got stuck they would chain a wood fence post to the wheel(s). A recipe for disaster.

YOU ARE EXACTLY RIGHT! A good friend is a FORDSON nut job. I pull his tractors from time to time and when they get cranky you will crank till you pull your shoulder out! Still waiting to invest in the Sweetfeet yearly calender.

Supertrucker,

The guy who owns the 1925 did say it is a bear to start.

Thanks! The calendar may happen someday.

But just grabbed another part time job doing computer work - so going to be kind of busy for awhile.

Ron W,

Well the "hot seat" might be nice for fall plowing... but probably not when plowing at summertime shows.

Bill(Wis),
Wow. Really fortunate for your uncle that he was not on the tractor! Squished and burned - eewwww.

Fritz,

Yeah, the drawbar is way up and really tiny.

I hope to get back there and get some pictures of it.