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| I farmed at least ten years with that as my sole power. My MNF-135 is north American made with a Continental gas engine. 1968. The diesel option was a Perkins 3 cylinder and a year or two later the gas engine became a 3 cylinder Perkins. On mine the power steering uses a valve on the steering column and a piston and cylinder on the front side of the gear box hooked to a rack that runs on the top of the spur gears that connect the two steering arms. I have had that all apart and rebuilt it because the piston rod broke.
Mine came with a MF236 loader that was too big for the tractor rated for 135 to 474. And a repaired front axle. That loader is on my 4020 and is a good match for the 4020.
My biggest complaint was lack of ground clearance made much worse by the loader mounts that got ground clearance down to about 6 inches, really bad for cultivating row crops or spraying. Even without the loader brackets working snow with a rear blade I've stuck it high centered.
Its not running at the moment, acted like a gummed up carburetor and I've not fixed it yet.
I have a book on MF100 family tractors. Actually the MF-135 was made all around the world, in Canada for North American sales, in England, France, Germany, middle east, Africa, Far East, South America, and maybe Australia. The only thing common between the various plants was the MF symbol, the paint colors, and maybe the tires. Each used local engine makers, and built their own designs. The English 135 is very similar to the English 148 to the point that they share the same shop manual. But nothing in that manual fits my US MF-135. That power steering uses a control valve on the steering column like mine but connects a cylinder between the side frame and the drag link. I have seen MF-135 in tractor shows with that power steering, so imported from England.
The multipower is handy but in low it freewheels so there's no engine braking going down hill. On the other hand it gives hill holding with the nose up hill and the clutch pushed in. When spraying I started in HP high and when I saw patches of noxious weeds I dropped it down and the multipower shifts on the go, no clutching required. The vertical strokes on the clutch and brakes can be hard on leg muscles not used to that position.
As a small farm and utility tractor it makes the Ford 8N look like a toy though the size isn't all that different the 135 is heavy enough and powerful enough to do real work, like pull 2x 16 plow, or a baler and rack with 160 small squares on the rack.
Gerald J. | |
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