jcb2

[martyn williams]

Engine number on the right hand side of the engine by the cylinder head, its number stamped on a milled surface. A quick way to tell a super Major from the Power Major are the fuel pumps, the later Super Majors were fitted with a Minimec pump, the earlier Majors had a Simms diaphram operated govenor.cylinder on the pump with two pipes coming off it to the air manifold. Power majors were late 1950's with the Super major early 1960s.
Hope this helps
Martyn

[martyn williams]

Format Info - Show the numbers per month in a table

The serial number on the Fordson Major tractors consists of either seven digits (the earlier format) or six digits. The later format beginning with November 1961 can also contain a model/year code and a month code.
•Before November 1961 the serial number consists of seven digits (e.g. 1496804).
•From November 1961 the serial number consists of six digits and a model- and year code of three characters (possibly with the letter Z in front) as a prefix, and a letter for the month as a suffix, separated by a dash, e.g. 08B-765902-H. Note that all three parts are not necessarily found on the tractor, see below. The six digits are however sufficient for determining the year and the month.

There are also engines with the letter S before the number. They are exchange engines, and unfortunately we do not have knowledge of how these numbers should be interpreted.

Milestones


New Fordson Major Mark I

1217101

January 1952



New Fordson Major Mark II

1425097

April 1957



Power Major Mark III

1481091

August 1958



Super Major

1575886

October 1960



New serial number format

08A-300001-M

November 1961



New Performance Super Major

08C-960337-F

June 1963




When shifting to the later format only the number part was first punched on the engine without the year and month codes. There was also a short period when the letter Z was put before the year prefix.

From January 1952 until October 1961 the serial number should always consist of seven digits.

From November 1961 the serial number can be either
1.a number consisting of six digits
2.a code beginning with 08A, 08B, 08C eller 08D for model (08 = Major) and year and a number consisting of six digits
3.according to alternative 2 above with an additional month letter as a suffix
4.according to alternative 2 or 3 above with an additional letter Z before the year code

[rogerallum]

Hi Martyn,
Thanks for the reply.
I have now located the number ,hiding under loads of oil after pressure washing the engine. it is 08D954781. The head also has FL stamped on it above the serial number.
Roger

[martyn williams]

Looks to be 1963/64 unit.On the larger castings the letters and numbers on them indicate casting dates down to the day and month on Fordson tractors skid units. I have lists somewhere that shows you how to decode casting numbers.Will try to find it and post it in the tech section. Its always interesting to get an exact build date, you can't always go on reg. plates.
My theory is

08C-960337-F = June 1963 O8A is 1960 O8C , O8B 1961 O8C 1962 and yours O8D 1963.as this is the Forco code system used on castings
08D 954781.may be 1964
Martyn

[essexpete]

The FL mark is consistent with the New Performance skid unit.

I see from the photos that the slew rams were at the bottom of the kingpost when the larger model still had them at the top??