Massey 204 Transmission - How To Drive This Thing?!?

Evening everyone!


Actual question - anyone know how to drive a WORKBULL tractor like this one? I'm told its a hydraulic transmission - and I'm guessing from looking at it that one should put the gear shift in whatever "gear" they want, select high or low range, and the use the "gas" pedal on the right side of the bellhousing to get the wheels turning. It appears that the brakes are on the left side. Anyone know how to operate one of these, or any information about the transmission?



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Now, cool story time:

So, I have some news for you all! Probably roughly a month ago, I posted about a Massey Ferguson 204 Tractor I found for sale, with a 200 model loader and model 212 backhoe attachment. Its an industrial tractor with a hydro transmission (so I'm told), and I wanted a cheap backhoe for building a machinery shed where I live now, and later doing some digging on some land that I want to buy in a few years.

Anyway, the price of this machine was $3500 and everyone here (just about) responded with an overwhelming "NO!" for various reasons. So, I went to tell the seller that I wasnt interested, and ended up getting the machine, including delivery (from almost an hour away) for $2000!

I was fairly thrilled. A mechanic friend said anything on the backhoe would be easy and cheap to fix if needed except for the "hydro swing coupler", but if that was bad, we could just weld on an off the shelf hydraulic cylinder to accomplish the same thing.

So the machine got delivered and I got to work on it. I rebuilt the carb, installed a new distributor (old one was stripped out), and pertronix coil and pointsless ignition. At which point it wouldn't start, or exhibit any signs of life. I will say that the spark produced by the petronix parts was blue, but disappointingly small.

After some encouragement and help from you guys, I realized that I had seen something in the "points" kit that I thought was useless - some type of black plastic spacer or something. Well, it turns out that we actually need this, its a magnet thing of some sort that the "points" wont work without. My mistake!

So, I put it on, and then my mechanic friend stopped by to help me get it going.

We used a little starting fluid (I know, I know) and got a couple pops out of the engine, at which point he declared that it was firing off the starting fluid before reaching TDC, so I turned the distributor about 1/6 of a turn, and the engine roared to life!

It sounds great! No strange noises, minimal smoke (mostly just as the start), and runs smooth!!! I was so happy to see it come back to life.

So, this is the big update! Thank you all for helping me with this!!! Time to wire this thing up so the battery is on the tractor, not on the ground beside it, then I'll hopefully try and drive it lol. Thanks again.

https://imgur.com/a/xPzt3

Here's a picture... I truly love this site, but its the only place on the whole internet where I absolutely could not post a picture if my life depended on it

Here ya go.

The MF forklift I had used the same four speed transmission, both brakes on the left, forward and reverse pedals on the right. If it's working right, slowly push either forward or reverse pedal until you feel that clutch engage, then push the pedal further for more engine speed/power as needed. Best use the lower gears, and for "inching" ride the brakes, releasing them as needed while the forward or reverse clutch is pulling. Engine has a torque convertor instead of a dry clutch. Make sure all the linkage for both the shift valve and throttle are free, lube as needed. Don't set the idle speed too high, or it will jerk badly when either clutch is engaged. Works like an automatic transmission.

Nice to hear you got it running, for 2k delivered that's a steal!!

Lanse,

People that give you a hard time about "starting fluid" are mistaking it for the old ether spray.

Fact of the matter is the only place you could get real ether spray anymore was John Deere dealers, and I'm not so sure about that these days.

The stuff you can commonly get now has absolutely no ether in it whatsoever, and is no worse for your engine than gasoline. It generally has a lubricant in it as well to prevent the dreaded "cylinder wash down."

Still bad to use it with a glow plug engine, and still bad to use too much, but it is a lot harder to put too much in because it is not as volatile as the old ether.

Looking forward to the next episode of "Super Sketchy Mechanicing with Stretch."