[Donald A.]

Help!

I have found some more numbers on my used Ford 420. It just adds to the mystery. Can someone help me figure out what I have?

Here are the previous numbers I found on the flat portion behind the starter on the right side.

B886256
OE26
D1014C

The new information I have is numbers embossed on the flat engine rail under the oil dipstick. It reads like this....

*K418092* AA
6507 3J6

What does all of that mean??

Thank you and God bless

 

[Guest]

B886256
OE26
D1014C
The following info is extracted from http://www.springfieldbiz.com/oaktree/codes_short2.html
B Factory code "B" is Basildon, England
886256 actual serial number assigned as it rolled off the assembly line (these were assigned sequentially
to tractors as they rolled off the assembly line regardless of model) (this is a higher number than
would have been appropriate in 1970, more like 1980 unless the English built had a different
serial number sequence)
0 I think this is a zero vice a letter "O" If so, Built in 1970
E Built in May
26 Built on the 26th
* (should be a letter here. Either A, B, or C here to indicate shift built I understand this was sometimes omitted)
D Model 4000 (this series was built 1965 to 1974)
10 Style Agriculture all purpose (an industrial should be a 50)
14 "1" is fuel type diesel: "4" is Independent 540 rpm PTO
C is 8 speed transmission (this is 4 forward with a secondary hi/lo range shifter)
You might try contacting "[email protected]"
One of the members on the forum mentioned that the rearend section appers to be definately an industrial heavy
assembly (at least as far as the wheel/axle assembly goes). TractorData does not list a 420 as a ford model, but
If you do a search for "ford tractor 420" on www, you will find tractorData has the 420 as being built between
1975 and 1978 only. This of course does not jive with the data found on the top of the implement attachment
point behind the starter. So perhaps the English ID's use different codes OR someone could have changed out the
clutch housing at some point in the life of the tractor. You also mentioned at some point that one axle is yellow and
one is blue. Another changeout?
Now don't take offense, but I wonder if this tractor was put together by a dismantling yard or equivalent as a means
of making more profit from the tractors that came in broken down. I knew a man in the 60's that when business was
slow, would take VWs that had front end damage on 1 and rear end damage on another and cut them both in half,
weld the floor pan and body together, paint er up and sell it.
I don't know if any of this info is of use for you, but realizing the pickle you are in, I'm trying to help.

 

[Guest]

I found some information on www that the loader may be a 735.

 

[Guest]

The "K" prefix on your engine serial I believe is meaning Industrial. I am not able to find any additional information on that data plate, although I'm pretty sure the data sets all mean something.

 

[Donald A.]

Update....

I found more numbers/letters.

On the opposite side of the bell housing, on the tractors left side there is an identical flat surface as the one on the right side behind the starter. There are two lines......

OD24B
A670 8

My head is spinning from all of these numbers.

Help!

 

[Guest]

Donald: It's a pretty sure thing that this section of the tractor is not original. Having said that, I have no clue to what those additional numbers mean. Have you tried talking to Tractorhouse, All States Ag Equipment, Yesterdays Tractors, Steiners, Arthurs tractors? Any of those may have reference material that may help with those additional numbers, the engine serial numbers, the loader id. It would sure be nice to know what info the engine numbers can give as the 420 shows different ci engine than the 4000.
Question: is your transmission as described (4 fwd with a hi/lo stick)in the id info I and others have supplied you?

 

[Donald A.]

Donald: It's a pretty sure thing that this section of the tractor is not original. Having said that, I have no clue to what those additional numbers mean. Have you tried talking to Tractorhouse, All States Ag Equipment, Yesterdays Tractors, Steiners, Arthurs tractors? Any of those may have reference material that may help with those additional numbers, the engine serial numbers, the loader id. It would sure be nice to know what info the engine numbers can give as the 420 shows different ci engine than the 4000.
Question: is your transmission as described (4 fwd with a hi/lo stick)in the id info I and others have supplied you?

It does have 8 gears forward, 2 gears back.
Here is a diagram.

1. 2. 4. 1st multiplier
| | | |
| | | |
|--------Neutral--------| Neutral
| | |
| | |
3. Reverse. 2nd multiplier

.

 

[Guest]

This link is to tractor data.com http://www.tractordata.com/backhoe-loader/000/1/2/129-ford-420-transmission.html
It shows the 420 transmission as being 6 forward and 4 reverse. Seems that tells you the transmission as well as bell housing are from a 4000.

 

[Guest]

You said you had a leak at the right rear wheel and that 1 axle housing was yellow and one is blue. Question 1: are both wheels apparently the same? Question 2: Which axle housing has the leak, the yellow or the blue?

 

[Guest]

Question: What's the status of your rear pto: working or not? Question what's the status of your 3 point hitch hydraulics: working or not?

 

[Donald A.]

This link is to tractor data.com http://www.tractordata.com/backhoe-loader/000/1/2/129-ford-420-transmission.html
It shows the 420 transmission as being 6 forward and 4 reverse. Seems that tells you the transmission as well as bell housing are from a 4000.

I checked out the link you gave. It shows 3 different gear configurations for the Ford 420. 8 forward and 2 reverse is shown as an available configuration for the 420 which I have. So it can be a 420.

 

[Guest]

Yep, but someone changed out some stuff there.....what do you think the odds are that the 420 originally had the power shifting with torque converter and it wore out?

 

[Donald A.]

You said you had a leak at the right rear wheel and that 1 axle housing was yellow and one is blue. Question 1: are both wheels apparently the same? Question 2: Which axle housing has the leak, the yellow or the blue?

Both tires appear to be the same.
The right rear axle is yellow, but was painted blue and most of that blue is off. The left axle and differential appears to be painted red primer with blue covering most of it. It is the right rear axle that is leaking at the very end.

 

[Guest]

Ok, I was trying to correlate changed out parts to what's not leaking.....Do the pto and 3 point lift work?

 

[Donald A.]

Question: What's the status of your rear pto: working or not? Question what's the status of your 3 point hitch hydraulics: working or not?

The PTO works, but never stops.

The hydraulic 3 point lift does not work and is in the up position. This was known by me before I bought it. The man I bought it from said the piston in the hydraulic lift may be broken. That it may be a somewhat easy fix.

 

[Donald A.]

Ok, I was trying to correlate changed out parts to what's not leaking.....Do the pto and 3 point lift work?

Read my other reply

 

[Donald A.]

Yep, but someone changed out some stuff there.....what do you think the odds are that the 420 originally had the power shifting with torque converter and it wore out?

I wouldn't even know how to test for that.

 

[Guest]

Well Donald A. I wish you good luck at every turn. I walked into my share of grief when I bought my 1968 2000. The last owner had owned it for about 8 yrs and had bought it on consignment at a dealer. The dealer had painted it up, and I know for a fact that almost no routine maintenance had been done in the 8 yrs this guy owned it because everything was still painted shut. Worse, the previous owner(s) had a bad case of doing things half way. I've spent a year and a grunch of money to remove the signs of early abuse and lack of routine maintenance checks, but consider myself lucky. Here's why:
I saw an ad on Craig's list for a Dexta diesel here in town. That's what I really wanted. But at the same time, I knew they were fairly rare, so I needed to find one that was still serviceable and could still tractor while I fixed it up. When I went to look at it, it was a mess. Anything that could be was jury-rigged, everything that could rust, was. Tires totally at the end of their life. Owner could not start it that day even though he brought a spare battery, and it was a warm day.
Smartest thing I ever did was to walk away from it. But 40 or 50 years is a long time. I grew up with a 9N and I thought it was old at 25 years! Big difference though, Ford was still Ford and parts were not a problem.

 

[Donald A.]

I found some information on www that the loader may be a 735.

I believe you maybe correct. The 735 looks like the FEL I have on my tractor.

 

[Donald A.]

I just found out some info of Ford engines built in Basildon, UK. This is a copy of of a post on yesterday's tractors forums..

Sean in PA
Tractor Guru


Joined: 27 Feb 2008
Posts: 5991
Location: Southeast PA

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Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2017 2:24 pm Post subject: Re: 3000 Diesel Engine serial number and production code
John (Destroked),

Someone sent me a scanned set of the first 4 pages of a European Service manual that covered the identification information for "old" (pre-4/1/6

and "New" (4/1/68 & up) thousand series tractors, which included the engine serial number info.

Here are the "old" and "new" letter prefixes for the various series engine serial numbers:

2000 series:
old - L new - B

3000 series:
old - N new - C

4000 series:
old - P new - D

5000 series:
old - R new - E

There was starting tractor serial number info for the "new" models at the European assembly plants also. That is where I learned that the Basildon UK plant ran two parallel sets of serial numbers in different ranges, one range was for "export" and the other was for "domestic".

Approximate starting serial numbers for the "new" models on 4/1/68:

Antwerp:
2000 - A168001
3000 - A168007
4000 - A168003
5000 - A168005

Basildon Domestic:
2000 - B851199
3000 - B851094
4000 - B851097
5000 - B851100

Basildon Export:
2000 - B088752
3000 - B088762
4000 - B088828
5000 - B088773

I have also seen that since the '65-'74 thousand series they kept up with the first letter of the engine serial number matching the firs letter of the model number at least through the '80's and into the early '90's. So an engine serial number that starts with a D would be from a 4000, 4600, 4610 or 4630 series tractor depending on when it was made. An E would be 5000, 5600, 5610, 5630, etc. It was only the "old" (pre-4/1/6

tractors that had the letters in the engine serial numbers that didn't match the model series of the tractor.


Let me know what you think.