#7 Ferguson TED20 - Restoring Distributor Part 2

This is the second part of the restoration of the distributor on the Ferguson TED20 Tractor.
In this video, Oscar and I reassemble the distributor pointing out important aspects and explaining some important things to watch out for.
Waterhouse Forde is our channel sharing the various projects we get up to as a family. The current project is the restoration of this Ferguson tractor. We invite you to subscribe to the channel so you can follow our progress. Feel free to comment as well, we love to hear what you think and of course we are eager to learn from your experience and know-how. Don't forget to click the bell icon when you subscribe so you get notified when a new video is published. You can also join us on our Facebook page / waterhouse.forde.5
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Music: Feelin' Good www.purple-planet.com

[@charlescase1026]

I know this comment is three years late, but what the heck. You can bench set the points gap without installing distributor. Makes it much easier when sufficient elbow room is a problem. Having your son help is a great thing to see. He will appreciate that later in life. Bundy Bears Shed is both entertaining and very informative.

[@WaterhouseForde]

Hi Charles. Yes of course you can, at the time however I knew I would be replacing the points so there was little point in my setting them. 👍😉

[@MalcOfLincoln]

Very nicely done Gordon. Great to see your young son helping. Many years from now he will appreciate these lessons, because he will become the teacher 😊Those offset dogs have been a pain to many people. I remember times where someone has put them in the wrong way, and broke them off. I bet that so far you are really pleased to have this opportunity of finishing restoring this tractor.

[@WaterhouseForde]

Thanks Malcolm, we are having a lot of fun. Oscar is eager to learn which is great, it’s how I learnt as well, working alongside my stepfather.

[@BundyBearsShed]

G Day Perrys, Great video. The D3A4 is the model of the distributor and the other numbers from what I understand will be for when it is repaired or manufactured it shows weight springs, advance etc for that particular model as used on a tractor. The same distributor as used on a car would be set up differently and the settings could be looked up from those numbers in a master repair manual.. Workshops had a machine to spin them up after a repair and check centrifugal advance etc. It would be great to find an old one to check out and have a fiddle.

[@eddiejones3068]

Hi just a question. I have a Ferguson ted20. I have been able to get it going but I have given my Dynamo to someone I know that can recondition them and he asked if it was positive or negative earth. How would I know as when I had it it never had no battery on and had new battery terminals on the leads so I just put it on with the negative terminal to the lead that was earth out on the chassis of the tractor. It all works but not sure if it was a positive earth but how else would I know which way round the earth is? Thanks Ed

[@WaterhouseForde]

Hi Ed, your question is a little bit difficult to answer. Normally I’d check which terminal on the battery is going to ground. However as you don’t have a battery installed ... there are a few clues you can try looking for. Firstly the positive terminal on some batteries is sometimes larger, so the coupler on the end of the cable will be larger too. If this cable goes to ground you have positive earth. Also the positive lead is normally fatter even if it’s going to ground. The only other thing I can think of may not work if you don’t have an ammeter on the dash, that works. You’d need the style where the needle is in the middle of the gauge when no battery is connected. These then have a “discharge” (to the left) and a “charging” ( to the right) indication. If you have one of these, then connect your battery whichever way you think is right. DO NOT start the engine, just put the ignition on. If the ammeter shows “discharge” then you have the battery connected correctly and you can go ahead and start it. If it shows “charging” then you need to swap the battery connections. That’s all I can think of for now. I hope it helps in some way. Let me know how you get on.

[@eddiejones3068]

Hi thanks for getting back. I have spoken to some other people about it and they had said that if I have had the tractor going with it on negative earth as I have replaced the ignition coil and I have rebuilt the distributor and wired them up for negative earth and it all starts fine. I hadn’t yet been able to get back to the tractor yet since I have had the Dynamo done and what people have said is to just polarise the Dynamo for negative earth then that should all be fine. Is that correct or would you say to buy an ameter for the tractor to test the battery like you said. Thanks Ed

[@WaterhouseForde]

Hi Ed - yea that would work. I've never done that myself but I've read about enough times. Take a look at the excellent articles written by Andrew Chapman, published on Anglo Agripart's website - www.anglo-agriparts.com/tractor-restoration-hints-tips He has a few there where he discusses the Dynamo and Regulator etc.

[@eddiejones3068]

Thanks will take a look