[jpswift1]

The 1655 May not Have the governor setup right. Check it against the service manual.

Here.

Thanks for the help and the link! The guy had someone rebuild the carburetor and now that you mention it, they may not have set the governor up properly.

 

[olcowhand]

I prefer the sundstrand myself but both are good units. I'm betting on governor too.

 

[jpswift1]

I prefer the sundstrand myself but both are good units. I'm betting on governor too.

Are there rebuild kits still available for both the Eaton and the Sunstrand if I decide to rebuild them in the future?

 

[olcowhand]

Are there rebuild kits still available for both the Eaton and the Sunstrand if I decide to rebuild them in the future?

I really don't know myself, as I've sourced used units for parts for Sundstrands, and I machine surfaces myself when needed.

 

[jpswift1]

I really don't know myself, as I've sourced used units for parts for Sundstrands, and I machine surfaces myself when needed.

OK that sounds good. I really don't know much about hydrostatic drive units or what wears on them, but I want to keep this tractor up and running great for a long time since I'm putting all this effort into restoring it.

 

[jpswift1]

Here's some shots of the MF 1655 that I recently picked up. The more I see these big tractors, the more I fall in love with them.

 

[ENafziger]

Here's some shots of the MF 1655 that I recently picked up. The more I see these big tractors, the more I fall in love with them.

Very nice looking unit!! These are definitely little work horses. You are doing it right by going through them from the start and giving them some attention...that will make for years of happy tractoring!

I'll warn you though...you are headed down a slippery path. If you get bit by the bug, there's no known cure!

 

[jpswift1]

I'll warn you though...you are headed down a slippery path. If you get bit by the bug, there's no known cure!

Oh yes, I know what you mean! It happened to me with motorcycles and 6 wheel amphibious ATVs too.......badly! And I just got another one! A MF1855 parts tractor. Out of the Snapper 1855, the MF1655 and MF1855 I'm going to make one very nice unit and keep it and the Bolens Groundskeeper that I have. All of the other tractors are going to new homes, the Allis Chalmers 314, the Minneapolis Moline 108, and the Sears Suburbans.

 

[jpswift1]

Thanks to a good friend of mine who was passing through the central, NY area for an amphibious ATV event, I now have another MF1655. It doesn't have an engine, the rear fender pan is bent up, the seat is shot, the tires are all shot, but it's actually in pretty good shape other than that. 1100 hours and some change on the original hour meter, 3 point hitch, rear PTO, and VERY nice plastic dash/console pieces. So now, I'm going to merge all 3 tractors into one very nice one and sell the remaining parts.

 

[ENafziger]

Nah...you're starting a good enough collection now that I think you can make TWO nice tractors...and if you're missing something, I'll sell you another parts tractor

 

[jpswift1]

More updates. They're coming slow, but I'm getting there. The front wheels I had were a bit pitted and someone's bullet from a .22 put a big ding on the inside face of one of the wheels.......how in the world that happened, I have no clue. With that being said I had the wheels on this 1655 sandblasted and primed by my friends at the sandblasting shop and they turned out like brand new! I'm going to be letting the silver paint dry for the next 4 or 5 days and then I'll be mounting the Vredstein V61's on them. The Carlile Tru Powers will also be getting mounted and then I'll officially have the new shoes on the tractor. The 18HP Onan B48 from the 1855 Snapper will be getting swapped in place of the 16HP Onan and then it will be time for the tractor to go to work. I picked up a Woods LRC60 5 foot landscape rake with the leveling wheels that I'll be using along with the MF4250 tiller. I'll be finishing the rest of this rebuild when the bad weather hits, but until then she'll be doing dirt work for me on a large 1200 square foot flagstone terrace with 3 different tiers.

 

[Alc]

Its nice having all those parts tractors to pick the best parts from .

 

[jpswift1]

Its nice having all those parts tractors to pick the best parts from .

It sure is! I'm building the best of all three and then the other parts that are being sold off will pay for the tractor.....it'll be a very low cost project.

 

[jpswift1]

Here's the new tires and freshly painted wheels. I'm going to wait a few more days for the paint to be nice and dry and then get the tires mounted up.

 

[Enginerod]

Very nice 1655 you picked up, hopefully I'll get to work on mine over the winter.

 

[jpswift1]

Very nice 1655 you picked up, hopefully I'll get to work on mine over the winter.

Thanks! I've been putting it to use quite a bit lately with this big flagstone patio that I'm building.

 

[jpswift1]

It's been a long time since I updated this thread, so I'll post a teaser pic to show some of the progress. I took a job as an Automotive Technology teacher this past school year and got to get a lot of work on my project done during my lunch breaks. It's a Rustoleum paint job and in my opinion it turned out quite well (after a good amount of prep and paint work and wet sanding and buffing). There's a lot more details that I'll add about what I've accomplished in upcoming posts. It's been A LOT of work, but it's paying off. Now that I'm off for the Summer I'll be posting a lot more.

Basically to sum everything up, I took the best parts out of the 2 Massey Ferguson 1655 tractors and the 1 Snapper 1855 and made one really nice tractor. I ended up using the Sunstrand drive unit and 18HP Onan and did it up as a Massey Ferguson 1855.

 

[Dugmf12]

JP,

Good to hear from you again. Been wondering what you've been up to. That Massey does look nice. It looks like you are doing a different paint scheme on the tractor!! Anxious to see how it looks. Great job, and enjoy the summer.

Doug

 

[limebuzz]

Welcome back. Nice work.

 

[jpswift1]

Thanks for the warm welcomes, everyone! I ended up going with a black frame/undercarriage components. I thought that the red frame was a bit too much red, and when I saw this picture of another member's 1655 MF with a black frame, I really liked it and decided to go this route.