Founder(s) | J.J.Thomas |
---|---|
Headquarters | Banbury, Oxon, United Kingdom |
Products | agriculture machinery tractor |
J.J.Thomas was a tractor dealer from near Banbury, England. He started building conversions after being asked for higher powered 2-wd tractors by American customers, as Ford was not building 6-cylinder version in the early 1970s. Older Fordson Majors had been converted and fitted with 6-cylinder Perkins engines previously, but they were dated by this time.
History[]
The firm of JJ Thomas built high-horsepower conversions of Ford 5000 tractors mainly for export. They were mainly built from 'Select-O-Speed' versions of the Ford 5000, by replacing the 4-cylinder Ford 2703 engine with a 6-cylinder Ford 2713E engine from a truck, using a belly casting as the new engines were not designed to carry the load on the block and sump. The sump being a pressed tin version in place of the tractor engine models cast alloy version. The engine was stiffened with the use of a cast belly plate from EVA of Belgium, and using a kit of parts from Roadless to adapt the bell housing, side support rails, new bonnet (hood) pressing and axle adaptor brackets, (the standard tractor has an arm that is fixed to the sump). The gear box on the Ford 5000 was unpopular and prone to breakage so the tractors were cheap, but Ford was offering exchange 8-speed manual boxes and new pinion and crown wheels for the old Epycyclic select-O-speed boxes.
The firm also built other tractors built on 7600, 7700, and offered kits to farmers for DIY conversions as well.
To get more base tractors, Thomas also bought up some DOE 130 tractors which were built from 2 Ford 5000s with the front axles removed.
They built about 100 altogether, most exported to the states.
Models built[]
Model | Year(s) Produced | Horsepower | Engine Type | Misc Notes | Photo |
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JJ Thomas Ninety Five-100 | 1973- | 104 hp (78 kW) | Ford | Ford 5000 | |
JJ Thomas Ninety Five-100 Mk II | } | Ford 5000 | |||
JJ Thomas Ninety Five-100 Mk III | Ford | 4-wd with Schindler axle | |||
JJ Thomas Ninety Five-120 | 1980- | 120 hp (89 kW) | Ford | Ford 5000 with Lambourne cab |
Preservation[]
Very few remained in the UK when built. A couple of examples are on the show circuit.
- The Example featured above was a prize winner at the National Tractor Show 2008 held at Peterborough.
See also[]
References[]
- Roadless (The story of Roadless traction) By Stuart Gibbard
Links[]
- Classic Tractor- featured a JJ Thomas in July 2005 issue (article not on line)