New User: Questions about Loaders for MF 180

Vermin Achers · Oct 18, 2009

Hellow!!!! My first post, though I have read many for over a year.

I have recently stepped up from a Farmall A to a Massey Ferguson 180, 1970 Perkins Diesel, 5,800 + hours, and a wide front end. I got into this tractor for a song so I did not mind some of the small items wrong. The good: Starts and runs strong!!! No smoke, no abnormal noises, new electrical system, new battery, brakes seem to work nicely, nice brush guard, power steering works (but is slow in response).

Now for the big questions:

VERY IMPORTANT RIGHT NOW>>> I am working to locate a front end loader. I have found a Case 56L with International Brackets (26" wide, 21.5" at the brackets) and an ALO Quicke Q940, 9401A80000. I cannot tell for sure if these will or will not work on my unit. The Case has a joystick with two connections for the hydraulics. The ALO will need a joystick but is auto-levelling. Is there a better choice out there? I cannot find better items...

Sourcing books: Owners/shop manuals. Also, there used to be a person who had posted many topics on Massey's, does anyone have a copy of his work or is there a location I can go to retrieve copies?

Seat has rusted; I should replace it as a safety item. Any suggestions for an aftermarket? Don't need cushy, need one to work in!

Does not want to shift out of first when facing uphill. I have to turn the moteur off and shift out of gear with some trouble. I have a few (mostly) hills around here.

Is there a way to attach an auxillary (second set) of hydraulic connections?

I do not remember noticing this when I bought the unit but the PTO seems to want to run whenever the moteur is running. I have played with the PTO shifter but....

What is the pedal on the floor under the right hand side of the seat (more of a plunger)?

I did not make much of it before, but I can push down on the three point lift when the unit is running. Is this normal?

Only gauge that works is the tach. Any suggestions on sourcing replacements?

Thanks in advance!!

David

DJ54 · Oct 19, 2009

David,
Can't answer all of your questions, but will try and answer a few... I bought a 180 myself back in Feb., that sounds much like yours. Only I needed to replace the brakes and rear seals. After being around IH's all of my life, got to tell you, I would rather work on an IH anytime..!! Especially after having to pull the rear axle housings, to replace dry disc brakes... Makes you wonder what the engineer's were thinking..

As far as the manuals. A factory service manual is hard to beat. I&T's leave a lot of items out... I believe it is "Yesterday's Tractor" site has reprints of the original Massey Service manual. They are not cheap..!! I got both the service, and parts manual with mine. And they are the reprints I was talking about. Bad thing is, it is not in order, section wise... A good snowy day job, to put sections where they should be.

I bought an operator's manual on ebay. I used the "saved search" feature, to find mine. Most ask about $20.00 + for theirs. One was put on there "buy it now" for like 10 bucks. I jumped right on that one!!

Seat assembly's can be bought from aftermarket part companies. There are also some on ebay. Depends on how much you want to spend. But if you're going to spend hours on that tractor, I'd sugest getting one at least semi-comfy...

As far as not wanting to shift out of first gear. Is this the only gear it does that in..?? My first thought would be that the clutch is dragging. Maybe a simple adjustment. Or maybe a finger, or springs broken in the pressure plate. Warped clutch plate, or oil soaked, and somewhat swelled...

Mine does have dual remotes on it. You may be able to go to AGCO Parts Books, and find the part number for the extra remote. Here is the link to that site. AGCO Parts Books

Enter as a guest user, and click on "view books". When the next page opens, type in your model number (180) and brand. It will open to a page with parts listed by section. ie: engine, brakes, hydraulics, etc. Click on the section you care to look at. It will give an exploded view of that section of tractor. Below will be the part # and description.

If you know how to "copy and paste", it is pretty easy to search for aftermarket parts. Simply copy and paste the part number. I usually have Google up and ready in another window. I just paste the part number in the search window. Many results usually appear, and you can just shop for the best price. Many online dealers of aftermarket parts, list their part as a replacement for said part number...

I had the same problem with the PTO on mine, and still do, plus more problems. I assumed it was the brake on the Independent PTO was just well worn enough to not stop the shaft. I took a 2X4, and pried down trying to stop it.. Nope, couldn't do it. Finally had a chance to put it on the bush hog a couple weeks ago, and play a while. I shut it off, to hook the PTO up. And sure enough, the mower ran slowly. No problem, if that's all it does. Went in the pasture to clip some high places the horses left. Engaged the PTO. The bush hog sped up... A good sign.!! Went about 5', and it stopped turning... Big disappointment..!!

Either the valve in the aux. hyd. pump is stuck that engages the IPTO (according to the troubleshooting guide in the repair manual) or the clutches, and brake are shot... The bad thing is, the tractor will have to be split, to remedy that problem. Right now, don't have the time... I need to build a set of splitting stands, before even thinking of starting on that. So that project has moved to way back on one of the back burners...

The pedal you mentioned is the differential lock pedal.

And being able to push down on the lift arms when it is running can be done, if the control lever for the arms is pushed down. It should only allow you to push it down as far as the holding position you stopped it at. If it is still in the full lift position, and you can push them down, you definitely have a problem..!! That would either have to be in the control valve, or the rings on the lift piston.

I too am having problems with my power steering. Mine has the Saginaw Hydramotor. Yours may be new enough to have the Char-lynn orbital motor. You'll just have to check in the AGCO Parts Book for the serial number break. Or take a look underneath the dash, then check out the power steering types on the parts page. They are easy to tell apart, once you look at yours.

I have a thread started on my power steering problems on the second page of the Massey owning/operating. Pretty well goes into the detail of my problem. Pretty lengthy to type it all out again, if you care to look.

My problem is not the power steering pump, and I hope it isn't yours either. My nearest dealer told me over the phone, the pumps aren't the best candidate for a rebuild. The aluminum housing wears, and allows pressure to go around the gears, and blow the seal. And new repalcement PS pumps are over $500.00 from Massey. Aftermarket one's can be found for less money. I tore mine down, figuring I didn't have much to loose. Luckily, I found the large O-ring around the case had been mashed, and a small section missing. For $10.00 worth of O-rings, and seal, mine has plenty of pressure. Enough to open the by-pass valve when turned full left or right. I do believe my problem lies in the Hydramotor. I haven't had time to check and see if these units had an update kit, to replace it with a Char-lynn orbital motor as of yet. Or, checked with my local hydraulic rebuild shop to see if he could rebuild this unit. I do know they are like hens teeth...

Hope this helped you a little... I'll try and keep you updated on any progress I make.

Vermin Achers · Oct 20, 2009

Thank you Sir!! Great read on your issues with the power steering. I think I am on a different issue, but who knows...

Books will be here by thursday.

Aqualize · Nov 14, 2009

Vermin Achers said:
[...]
Does not want to shift out of first when facing uphill. I have to turn the moteur off and shift out of gear with some trouble. I have a few (mostly) hills around here.

[...]

What is the pedal on the floor under the right hand side of the seat (more of a plunger)?

[...]

I have a 175. The 180 was never marketed over here but I think it is a close sibling model. So I'm assuming most things are the same.
If you have the multipower gearbox, the one where you can switch speed on the run (should be a little lever to the left of the steering wheel) it is a "special feature" described in my operator's manual. The way this powershift is constructed makes them lock together so prevent the tractor from moving while the clutch is pressed down, when you are standing uphill the tractor wants to roll backwards and have these two gears lock together hard so it is not possible to change any gear in the normal gearbox.
BUT, this is only the case when you have the powershift in "HIGH". Try to "LOW", then it is possible to change. But remember that it is only engine braking when the powershift is in "HIGH".
Information about this is sourced from here: How Does Massey Ferguson Multi Power Work | Vintage Tractor Engineer

And as pointed out before that pedal is for the differential lock. As you are a new user (I guess to tractors in general) I just want to tell you that you should be careful while using it. Don't try to engage it while the tractor is moving and absolutely do not try to steer in any direction on hard ground with it engaged.
The differential lock is useful when you get stuck and need both wheels to actually spin together or work situations where you have one wheel always having a good grip compared to the other one, as typically when ploughing when one wheel is down in the mud and the other is on-land.
You know when the differential is engaged when the pedal is pressed to the floor without any increasing resistance. If it stops before that and the resistance increased it has not engaged. If you are stuck, cautiously let go of the clutch so one wheel spins a bit more and makes it possible for the lock to engage.

DJ54 said:
[...]
You may be able to go to AGCO Parts Books, and find the part number for the extra remote. Here is the link to that site. AGCO Parts Books

Enter as a guest user, and click on "view books".
[...]

Have they change the page since you wrote that? I can't find any link to enter as a guest and I also tried with 'guest' as user id and blank password and also tried with 'guest' as both user id and password.

WilliamBos · Nov 20, 2009

Aqualize said:
I have a 175. The 180 was never marketed over here but I think it is a close sibling model. So I'm assuming most things are the same.
If you have the multipower gearbox, the one where you can switch speed on the run (should be a little lever to the left of the steering wheel) it is a "special feature" described in my operator's manual. The way this powershift is constructed makes them lock together so prevent the tractor from moving while the clutch is pressed down, when you are standing uphill the tractor wants to roll backwards and have these two gears lock together hard so it is not possible to change any gear in the normal gearbox.
BUT, this is only the case when you have the powershift in "HIGH". Try to "LOW", then it is possible to change. But remember that it is only engine braking when the powershift is in "HIGH".
Information about this is sourced from here: How Does Massey Ferguson Multi Power Work | Vintage Tractor Engineer

And as pointed out before that pedal is for the differential lock. As you are a new user (I guess to tractors in general) I just want to tell you that you should be careful while using it. Don't try to engage it while the tractor is moving and absolutely do not try to steer in any direction on hard ground with it engaged.
The differential lock is useful when you get stuck and need both wheels to actually spin together or work situations where you have one wheel always having a good grip compared to the other one, as typically when ploughing when one wheel is down in the mud and the other is on-land.
You know when the differential is engaged when the pedal is pressed to the floor without any increasing resistance. If it stops before that and the resistance increased it has not engaged. If you are stuck, cautiously let go of the clutch so one wheel spins a bit more and makes it possible for the lock to engage.

Have they change the page since you wrote that? I can't find any link to enter as a guest and I also tried with 'guest' as user id and blank password and also tried with 'guest' as both user id and password.