Fordson Major E1A Unknown Lever??

[FordsonMajor]

G'day lads, i was at the tractor museum and i was driving the E1A Major, which happens to be the tractor drive the most and maintain, but i knocked a lever ( the lever in the circle) and im wondering can you tell me what this lever does, it feels like it has 3 stages and when in the centre stage the onlyway i can describe it is as though it holds the clutch on because you can realease the clutch and brakes while it is still in gear and the tractor doesnt move, but when i pushed the lever down and drove it the tractor goes like a bat out of 'ell and thats only in 3rd. i will say i have been driving this tracto each time i have been to the museum because nobody else does as there arent many members but ive never had it this fast in 3rd, so have a done something wrong to this machine that is potentially harmful, or have i just finally got all the crap out the carbie or have i unleashed an evil side to this machine haha, thanks in advance and i will post a pic with this thread of the lever, because its got me stumped. The lever i am talking about is circled on the right hand side of the instrument panel.

Lindsay

[martyn williams]

Job to see on the photo,but its the High / Low gear selector.
Martyn

[FordsonMajor]

Ahh thank you very much Martyn i thougth about that but nobody could verify this theory thank you

Lindsay

[essexpete]

The Major has a funny arrangement of 6 gears.

1st 1 L
2nd 2L
3rd 1H
4th 2H
5th 3L
6th 3H

Hope that makes sense.

[FOWLER MAN]

Hi Lindsey,
For road work, if you timed it right, build up speed in fifth gear ( 3 rd low),
de-clutch and drop the revs at the same time, drop that high/low lever down into high and you could change into sixth gear (3rd high) on the move.
Fred

[Scooby]

Hi Lindsey,
For road work, if you timed it right, build up speed in fifth gear ( 3 rd low),
de-clutch and drop the revs at the same time, drop that high/low lever down into high and you could change into sixth gear (3rd high) on the move.
Fred

That's true Fred but of course in later Majors with livedrive it worked the other way round. Pull the H/L gear lever up to get into 6th. And if you lean forward and take the air cleaner mushroom off (and rest it on the PTO lever so that you don't lose it) you get another 200 rpm out of them.

[martyn williams]

I drove my Fordson from home to St Fagans,about a 15 mile trip.I came through St Fagans village and down the hill towards the Welsh life museum.There was a que of traffic at the railway level crossing,just managed to stop the tractor in time as I had a thrashing machine on the towhitch. I too change up to top on the run using the high low lever. I remember top gear on the old JCB 3's give you a good turn of speed with the engine reving lower when changing to top.Then the bounce would start and you hoped that the brakes were ok,which were not that good on the old JCB 's
Martyn

[FordsonMajor]

Thanks very much everyone, its funny you mention putting it in 3L and 3H because ive tried to put it into then gears while still in low range and because the gear shift it spring loaded you have to push is down and then side through but ive never been able to get it to go through into 5th and 6th is that because it was still in low range?

Sorry about all the questions just learning to ropes thats all. Thanks
Lindsay

[kaos]

Hmm, I think there may be some miscommunication about what 5th and 6th speeds are. Not sure if the following will help, but I hope so

To summarize the gear arrangement: The Fordson major has two gear ranges (that's the lever you asked about in the first post; it also has a neutral position). In each range it has three speeds forwards and one reverse, organized in a standard H pattern. So far, so common. What's unusual about the arrangement is the big gap in gear ratios between 2 and 3. That's the reason for the strange gear speed list essexpete posted; it's sorted by total gear ratio. The result of it all is that in low range your will have access to the lowest, the second lowest and the second highest (5th, in essexpetes list) speeds, plus reverse. In high range you have access to third lowest (3rd), third highest (4th), and highest (6th), plus reverse.

I hope I haven't muddied the waters even further with this

Best regards, Kári.

[FordsonMajor]

Kari, thanks very much i definately understand it but i will read everyones posts again at some point just to drum it into this thick skull haha.

Lindsay