Making bell housing protection for Fordson Major tractor puller.

In this video I make a box around the bell housing of a Fordson major tractor puller to help project against a catastrophic flywheel or clutch failure.
The tractor is an independent tractor and therefore not built to any specific rules.
I start by taking measurements of the plates needed. The plates are drawn up in my Cad software, processed in sheetcam and transferred to the cnc plasma via usb stick. After cutting out the plates they are cleaned up, drilled and test fitted on the tractor. The extra fill plates are measured/drawn, cut out and tacked into place. The box is then removed and welded up.
The box is then refitted to make the final bottom plate and to mark out the battery box bolt holes, also fuel filter and fuel pump mounted.
Hope you enjoyed the video.
Thanks for watching!

[@FredMiller]

Absolutely beautiful work Oliver! You are an artist in steel!

[@curtisricks9043]

You are one talented dude. Hope your channel explodes!

[@alangraham4526]

Really appreciate your honesty when mistakes are made "schoolboy errors" it does encourage those of us not so adept to check everything!!! Great stuff.

[@MattysWorkshop]

Gday, definitely a good variety of work through your workshop, that was a lot of work involved making that shield and it works bloody good, your filming and editing is spot on and no bullshit in there, you do a bloody good job mate, cheers

[@snowballengineering]

Thanks very much!

[@TheGrimReaper1]

Yes i second that.

[@petegraham1458]

You get some odd but interesting bits of engineering to undertake! I do appreciate how you just figure it out and find a way to make both functional and good looking! Well done.

[@nevillesmith9795]

I'm glad I came across your channel. It's really worth watching. Your quality of work is top notch. I wish more people will discover your channel. 👌👏👏

[@snowballengineering]

Thank you!

[@whathasxgottodowithit3919.]

Quality work, you always have something different in your workshop thank you for posting

[@snowballengineering]

That’s the good thing about my job, No 2 days are the same. Thank you for watching.

[@billdoodson4232]

Watching this video and reading the comments, particularly of bolting dimensions and tractors pulling themselves in half, I hadn't realised that tractor pulling was such a big thing in this country. As I dig deeper into your channel I learn more and more.

[@ruaraidhmcdonald-walker9524]

That's one angry sounding tractor when you blip it! Great stuff!

[@davetaylor4741]

Blast from the past. Good old tractors those. Back in the late 60's we had one sitting permanently attached to a massive saw bench. Cutting up firewood. You made a nice job of fitting that around there. Reminds me of the same problem the drag boys have. The funny cars blow up and take more than the smile off your face. Hence the rear engine top fuelers. At least those old tractors are not too bad to split and do a clutch job. Not too many wires. No computers. Just a lot of bolts to undo. It would take you longer to get all the tech off a modern tractor. Loving the variety.

[@theoldbigmoose]

Very nice fabrication! Your bend precision is phenominal

[@brucecliffe6213]

Nice bit of work there Oliver. I like the problem solving techniques you go through. Always interesting, and as Matty says down below this post, "Bloody Good Job Mate". I agree with Matty 100%. Well done Mate. Looking forward to your next one. Cheers

[@snowballengineering]

Thanks Bruce. I think the problem solving is the best part of the different jobs I get.

[@michaellynskey7124]

I was in my element when I was asked to fabricate and weld something completely different to usual, The same when watching snowball engineering tackle a job which needs a thought like the flywheel protection cover, 🇮🇪

[@CurtisGurley]

From one fabricator to another, you do excellent work.

[@snowballengineering]

Thank you very much!

[@gerryboard6615]

A good engineer who allows his plans and theory to develop as he moves forwards., and not afraid to show his mistakes or how to correct them. I just hope the cover is never tested for its intended purpose, could get costly !!

[@snowballengineering]

I also hope to never see it get tested!

[@bertjetolberg103]

If the clutch is as good as the drivetrain it can handle 2000 horses (Yes tested)

[@daftDAFdriver]

The fordson major was a brilliant tractor We have a supermajor 1956 love driving it for leisure

[@800Viffer]

Oliver v. Exploding clutch\flywheel Pools Panel result = Home win Top job sir 👏👏👏👏👏

[@theziggx]

Wow what an awesome project ….. can’t wait to see you split it and do the clutch 😊

[@johnwhite6899]

Brilliant you are a welder/fitter/motor mechanic and design engineer all rolled into one. Really multi talented.

[@snowballengineering]

Can’t beat a bit of variation 😁

[@ghilreese3413]

Nice job on the shield. I also like the Snowball building. It looked like a pretty good span across it. Thanks for the videos.

[@thepagan5432]

I enjoy going through the back catalogue as I can see more of the things you created. This is a serious piece of engineering, not something you could easily buy off the shelf. To be fair it is not an easy thing to make. Good job 👍

[@trevormitson6026]

Spotted, a very tidy Whitlock digger in the opening shots, nice one 👌👌

[@stevechambers34]

Very good video that showcases your engineering skills 👌 👍

[@gbentley8176]

Super job. My old Major starts on the button and earns her keep. Well worth looking after the puller. Thanks for posting.

[@paulstanton1813]

Awesome engineering. Thank you for brings us along on this project 👍🏼

[@chrismononen663]

Very good bit of engineering, great job.

[@robertcrossley9803]

Great job, another good video, looking forward to next instalment

[@trevormansfield6740]

Really enjoyed that. Loads of detail. I’m looking forward to the clutch renewal.

[@jimsvideos7201]

Good on you for the job and the video, and good on the owner for taking care of his shins and the crowd.

[@WhatTheTarnation.]

Thank you for allowing us to spy over your shoulder. I very much enjoy your commentary, your approach, and your thoughtfulness. Some of us are allowed to imagine doing these jobs through your tutorials. I learned something with every video. Pray all are well with you and yours'. Merry Christmas and pray for prosperity in 2024.

[@jimlong527]

Excellent on point , today you showed your fabrication skills. Thanks 😊

[@richardcawthorpe]

That takes some doing to get nice even gaps like that , top job! keep the vids coming

[@csnelling4]

Good work mate 👍☺️

[@panchasnyk8895]

tough job done , awesome skills and patience master

[@petecross9470]

Awesome tractor and awesome skills! Love this channel!

[@kenreeve6549]

great idea we have had these standard in Drag racing (scatter shields)from the 70s Great vid thanks

[@magloman]

Must be nice to work on something clean and fresh for a change. Nice work as always! 🙂

[@LifetimeinWelding]

Could have run a small weld bead on the corners and built up the corner profile with body filler. Would be strong enough an reduce risk of distortion. Press break. Use a reduced length of the top press blade so you can see the bend forming around the back less change of over bending. Also bend a length of wire / bar thinner than the metal being bent to the angle of the bend required and use it as a bend gauge at the end of the plate while it’s still in the press Correct an over bend turn the plate over so the back of the bend is up and press the back to reduce the bend. For repeat bends less than 90* place a metal bar at the bottom of the v of bottom beam to limit the bend .A bottom stop. Excellent video. Thanks for letting us watch

[@snowballengineering]

Some good tips there again. Thanks!

[@LifetimeinWelding]

@@snowballengineering you’re welcome.

[@marctunney3743]

Amazing job done there sir 👌👌👌👌

[@stephenmeeks684]

For a farm shop, you have some really cool tools.

[@kirkpowell6161]

Great video, they just keep getting better, awesome job!

[@snowballengineering]

Thanks!

[@waynedunne4507]

Great work. Keep it up. Cheers n beers

[@McNeillWelding]

Looks good Snowy

[@cstew8355]

Wow amazing skills bro. I can’t praise your workmanship enough I would be proud of myself 👍… I struggle to drill holes straight putting on a bracket for a camera 🙈.. after watching your videos you have inspired me to be more accurate as standard

[@jameskirby2604]

Great to watch you work it

[@rgthomson1]

Your welding is pretty spot on bud, and there was no schoolboy error, at your age you expect tolerances to be good but when the tractor was made they didnt care so much about that, on a new tractor they would have likely been the same, just part of the fun of fabrication

[@hornetboy3694]

Awesome video, thank you . Oliver

[@AdelinoGambiarras]

That looks pretty awesome well done mate 👏 👍 👌

[@torstenbrunke4026]

Nice work.

[@paramsundram1945]

Great job Keep up

[@aserta]

32:30 a tapping block would've been useful for that. Basically a thick piece of metal with holes in common sizes for the tap to pass through square.

[@derekcomer4858]

The quality of your fabrication here is fantastic, it looks like a factory upgrade, better even. Wonder if the customer will paint the new bits 🤔

[@mickbatchelor5366]

Hi just found your channel great vids of great things

[@snowballengineering]

Thanks. Glad you like them.

[@mickbatchelor5366]

Have thought about buying a 6 cylinder fordson for road runs

[@ciaranconeely8579]

Comment for the algorithm to help the channel 👍.

[@snowballengineering]

Thanks!

[@ianbrooks6816]

Great work. Your delivery is spot on. Would be good to know how long each job takes.

[@andyhutchison9828]

nice welds

[@jamesriordan3494]

Nice job - hate to have a bit of bell housing sail into the willy at 3,500 rpm (well, at any speed for that matter) 👍🏻

[@walterrobbins4470]

If it hits the Willy thoroughly enough you come out looking like a Wanda.

[@Farm_fab]

If you need to, you can lay copper plate under gaps like you had here, and weld directly to the copper for better penetration, and when you are done, pull the copper away and leave a nice finish as weld won't stick to the copper. Also, if you are welding near a bolt hole you wish to preserve, a piece of carbon arc rod in the hole will block debris from entry, if it's a good fit. If, after putting carbon in the hole, and you still get debris, simply drill out the carbon from the hole.

[@neiljackson9907]

thought you would have got the shed done by now i delivered them sheets last year lol

[@snowballengineering]

Getting there slowly, just keep doing bits at it in between jobs.

[@Ivc406]

Hope you've took out a copyright on that😊 that was a masterpiece you have a great work ethic and no corners cut,take care and regards to channel 🗜️⚙️

[@waynep343]

Before you split the tractor. You might take the bolts that screw into the engine block one at a time. Run a bottoming tap in. Then use a stud with 2 nuts and a 3 or 4mm thick washer to allow you to get an accurate depth of threaded holes and bell housing flange thickness to get the most thread engagement. Also pictures of each new bellhousing panel with the length of each bolt used if you don't use a letter punch to mark the bolt head and next to the hole so future reassembly can use the assemble by numbers(paint by numbers) method. Bolts that are not within 3 or 4mm of the full depth can cause issue pulling out under high stress operations like tractor pulling where the front end might come up and slam down. One tractor puller i talked to decades ago in passing liked my idea of replacing the front axle beam with a center and ends that use a custom leaf spring . So coming down hard on the front wheel does not split the front axle beam or rip the bolts out of the back of the engine. Hopefully you will have the chance to check the length of the frame rail to side mount bolts too. I always thought that the split axle cones should be used on the side rail bolts. So the bolt is in tension. Less than in shear holding the siderails on. Just ideas that have passed thru my brain to my thumb to make it fractionally better.

[@snowballengineering]

With these engines, only the top half of the bell housing matches the gearbox and the sumps only made of aluminium anyway so it’s even more important to make sure the bolts are right. That’s why they usually have extra chassis reinforcements joining the back of that tractor to the front. I’ve seen majors snap in half before due to lack of extra chassis.

[@super6954]

Thats a nice looking tractor compared to some of the scrap guys call 6 cylinder major conversions, I've built a few over the years it's a lot of time and can be hard to get them looking right without an upright sump. The worst thing I built for a conversion was a Belarus with a perkins V8 fire engine motor when I lived in west wales and the local boys started independent pulling back in the late 90's. There wasn't anything to look at for ideas to copy building that, but it worked out good in the end, i still have the tractor here in Canada but it's yard art now pulls won't let it run here. Your works real nice on that bell housing plate to. I kinda wonder with the price of steel and your time, whats a propper blanket worth comparing prices these days, I know years ago guys used to buy expired BTPA Major blankets and use them . Thanks for sharing the video, Take care

[@snowballengineering]

There’s a lot of monstrosities out there. My major has the older type Ford Dorset engine out of a combine so has an upright sump which makes it easier. That’s a shame they won’t let it run. You could be right about the blanket, but I was asked to make a steel one so that’s what I’ve done. Thanks for watching and sharing your story.

[@normansandds757]

sounds right sweet

[@glennmoreland6457]

You're a good lad.. ☹🇬🇧

[@snowballengineering]

Thanks!

[@Rigoknow]

👍

[@billforrest4205]

Wish i'd a tenner for ever time i've "assumed" that something would align the same on the other side. Then spent twice as much time re-doing what i'd already considered done! 🙄😉

[@johnnyholland8765]

If anything gets out of that cage you will have some major carnage.. I ran a press brake many years working in aerospace. Press work is a science and a skill. Mine was manual but we had some CNC machines as well. What is the width of your machine and tonnage? Your a very good fabricator to be able to design that cage "off the cuff". That Major is wicked...

[@snowballengineering]

It’s 10ft wide and I think it’s 110ton but there’s no plate on it.

[@Brad-lt6mr]

A lot of work there. I hope you charge decent money for that quality.

[@WhiskeyGulf71]

I aways thought that skimming the cylinder head raised the compression ratio ?

[@snowballengineering]

It does. These engines want less compression though, that’s why material is removed from the pistons.

[@WhiskeyGulf71]

@@snowballengineering okay, that makes sense. Why do they want lower compression, i know that when you charge air a NA petrol engine you need to lower the compression to avoid pre ignition knock, why is lower compression needed on a diesel ?

[@snowballengineering]

To keep cylinder pressures in check. The engine doesn’t have to work as hard to compress all the extra fuel and boost, which means you can give it even more fuel and boost 😁

[@TheGrimReaper1]

I’ll bet that thing would pull five or six chip harrows instead of the usual four.

[@eulerizeit]

Is 10 mil the regulation? When you said that kevlar was required if the steel wasn't enough I was assuming thin sheet.

[@snowballengineering]

10mm is regulation for under 3200rpm I think. Or 2800, I can’t remember. Anything over that has to be a proper shatter blanket.

[@eulerizeit]

@@snowballengineering I can't believe a fly wheel would go through 10mm plate. Shows how little I know.

[@davidregister7405]

What year tractor is that I have a super dexta British tractor that I believe was before that one has been a tough tractor but parts are so hard here

[@snowballengineering]

I think it’ll be between 1951 and 1958

[@AW-Services]

Can you not also add blow straps like monster trucks use to contain a block explosion

[@snowballengineering]

Yes, that’s another rule for the proper competition tractors. Independent pullers aren’t usually running enough power to have to worry too much about that.

[@nickbriels2359]

what has been done to the fuel system?

[@snowballengineering]

Standard injector pump replaced with a Bosch 12mm p pump, bigger injectors and injector pipes.

[@nickbriels2359]

@@snowballengineering where did you buy that

[@edmcelhone4501]

he shaved top of pistons

[@sjv6598]

That looks beefy! Clutch sounds like a pain, just got to split the tractor? 😲

[@snowballengineering]

Clutch shouldn’t be a bad job, few pipes wires and bolts and it’s in half.

[@bertjetolberg103]

The bonus was very good Its always Nice to see someone else think hard I dont mean to be rude but i heard its from a cliënt who makes you build it En then puts a sign on it what says built! Not bought! 🤔🤔

[@snowballengineering]

Built not bought stickers only ever go on something I’ve built for myself.

[@greggroome2791]

👍👍🇮🇪🇮🇪👌👌🙏🙏

[@walterrobbins4470]

Little laughing gas and it roars to life

[@jamest.5001]

So no C15 Cummings swap, or 8v92TA Detroit swap? 450+ stock would make that tractor Rock! Or even a OM 606 swap? I guess they have classes and just a swap isn't competitive. Rich ppl screw everything up. A unlimited class where any engine is legal. But must be visibly stock, would be cool, only hand built, shop made parts , heck the owner must build the tractor would be a cool class,

[@Teredifa]

I dunno mate it seems to start as bad as anything ford i have owned 😁

[@snowballengineering]

🤣

[@giggitygiggitygoofg6069]

Is that an MG metro/mestro seat in that there puller. Been using youtube for years and years and always looking for engineering/ fabrication channels but have only just come across your channel & am now looking foreword to a bit of binge watching as so far your work looks excellent. .

[@miniripper]

How you get on with the myconsumables flappies and cutting disks. I’ve been real happy. Decent wear for the cost

[@snowballengineering]

Yeah they’re good, flap discs have plenty of meat on them. Slitting discs and grinding discs are also good.

[@cheechU38K]

😂 you look tiny on the fordson 😅 Sounds meaty 👌🏼oh that look 👀 at the end….customer job addition 🫨

[@snowballengineering]

I’m not the biggest of people 🤣

[@cheechU38K]

@@snowballengineering yeah and being big is not easy for an engineer 😝 I never worked with any large ones 😉