New to Texas and Farming

ICM · Apr 23, 2016

Hello everybody! This is my obligatory introduction post. My wife and I finally escaped the communist state of Ca for the friendlier confines of East Texas. We weren't expecting to jump in this deep, but found a beautiful piece of land by Lake Tawakini!! It has a 2000sq ft house and what will become a 1600 sq ft shop sitting on 9.5 acres with a 1 acre pond backed up by woods. Now having this much land I needed a tractor to keep it up so I found me a Massey Ferguson 150 tractor with an aftermarket FEL. Tractor has the Perkins diesel and seems like a solid tractor but needs some TLC as it has been parked for a few years out in the weather. Previous owner got it in trade and didn't know much about it, so I'm sorting through what I have, which is what brings me here.....

I'm a mechanic by trade and I have a fair amount of experience working on heavy equipment, but not on farm equipment so the learning curve is in full swing! I've started compiling my list of questions, but I will do my best using the search function before posting my questions so as to not annoy the veteran members with a bunch of newbie questions. My first issue is figuring out the hydraulics on the loader. It only works when the tractor is in neutral??

Anyhow, that's all I have for now. Looking forward to being a member on this forum, Greg.

TBN Support · Apr 23, 2016

Welcome to the forum. Congrats on your new place.

I'm going to move your thread over to the Massey section. :cowboy:

BobG_in_VA · Apr 23, 2016

Welcome! Your hyd should work all the time....except when you put your foot ALL THE WAY DOWN on the clutch...you have a 2 stage clutch...you can feel the difference about 1/3 to 1/2 way down on the clutch..your PTO and hyd should work when you put your foot down to the "harder" part of the clutch. Now...is your FEL run off a lever just to the right and under your seat, or is there a separate hyd pump run off the front of the engine,,, a pic of the right hand side of the seat/trans area would help, as well if the FEL pump is at the front of the tractor. Also have your wife watch the PTO shaft...engage it, put your foot all the way down on the clutch, (it will stop)...next let your foot up half way, just as the trans engages (this is your 2nd stage on the clutch), the pto should start before the trans hooks up... I hope you can figure out what I'm saying here...by the way, no question is out of the question...ask away. BobG in VA

ICM · Apr 23, 2016

Thanks for the reply BobG. My loader works off the tractor hydraulics with the lever by the seat as you described. It doesn't have an auxiliary pump. Kind of wish it did, that's a system I'm more familiar with. Figuring out how this works with "either/or" hydraulic is where I'm at. I don't know how it's supposed to work so don't know if it's right. Another problem is one of the lift cylinders leaks pretty bad, and, EVERYTHING is slow! So I'm sorting through what's normal and what's not. I'll have to check the PTO operation as you described. I did find out about the 2 stage clutch by reading other threads. Honestly I haven't had a bunch of time to mess with it. One of the things that made this place a deal was the house was in need of a serious update. Currently all my time has been put into remodeling the kitchen, which is almost done. Then I'm going to get real friendly with this tractor. I did order some manuals so I have something for reference. Appreciate the help.

Wagtail · Apr 23, 2016

G'day Mate and welcome to TBN from Downunder.

Enjoy the site and best of luck figuring out your rig.

flusher · Apr 24, 2016

Welcome to TBN. Join the fun.

Your setup is pretty much like I had at my former ranch: 10 acres (square parcel, 660 ft per side), 1800 sf house (3BR, 2BA), 1100 sf metal shop with 6" thick floor (4000 psi concrete).

That MF150 is a sweet machine. I had a 1964 MF135 diesel with Multipower (no FEL). My only gripe was that even with the "power assisted" steering, the 135 was a beast to maneuver. But you do get a good upper body workout mowing and discing.

The previous owner had an FEL on my 135 that was run via a hydraulic pump attached to the front of the engine. He said that he thinks that pump probably caused the crankshaft to crack under the front main bearing. Which led to an engine rebuild at 3500 hours. I bought the tractor in 2006 with 4600 hours showing on the tractor meter. The 135 is not a good FEL tractor (weak front axle). The 150 is much better.

Good luck

mddorange · Apr 24, 2016

:welcome:
To the TBN forum ICM. Glad you were able to escape. I even hated having to go there for work much less having to live there.
Just like you, I escaped the rat race and retired to a 11.5 acre horse farm with a 1879 sq. ft. house and a 3600 sq. ft. barn, I know what is important.
Congrats on your new place and toy, I mean tractor.

BobG_in_VA · Apr 25, 2016

You know, after giving the whole question some additional thought....if I were you, I'd take that FEL off...period. First, your steering will be better, and less wear on the front end. Second and probably most important, your hyd system will thank you...one: it will actually now work as originally intended....two: the leak you have in one of your cyls. will ultimately empty your hyd/trans system----you don't want that to happen. Your best bet is to use the 150 for its intended purpose, and maybe look for a small FEL tractor, ie. a 4wd CUT thats in decent shape... just my $.02... regards, BobG in VA

ICM · Apr 26, 2016

BobG_in_VA said:
You know, after giving the whole question some additional thought....if I were you, I'd take that FEL off...period. First, your steering will be better, and less wear on the front end. Second and probably most important, your hyd system will thank you...one: it will actually now work as originally intended....two: the leak you have in one of your cyls. will ultimately empty your hyd/trans system----you don't want that to happen. Your best bet is to use the 150 for its intended purpose, and maybe look for a small FEL tractor, ie. a 4wd CUT thats in decent shape... just my $.02... regards, BobG in VA

I think that's the way to go for now. I can sort through the rest of the tractor first. The loader was what attracted me to this unit, but I get your point on the tractor wasn't designed for a loader. I have some clean up work around here that's going to make that loader worth its weight in gold when I get to it. It has the quick disconnect set up so I'll probably leave it off unless needed. Thanks for the responses.