Thanks Rowland,
Yes the FE35/MF35 with the 23C Standard engine was a real %&@@#% to start - in fact it's the fact that everyone who knows a smidgen about tractors will tell you - indeed my father-in-law had one on the farm in South Africa and it's the first thing both he and his two brothers said.
In fairness getting it to start as well as it does now was long and protracted - made sure it's loosing absolutely no compression (new liners, pistons, rings, some valve seats, some valves etc) - uprate the electrics - fit a DB starter motor (which has higher rate of turn) - put glow pugs into each cylinder (instead of keeping the pre-heater on the inlet manifold). This engine was used on the Vanguard which by then had glow plugs fitted as standard.
Oh dear, I've turned into a tractor nerd, and if a tidy DB came along at the rights price...
So nice to hear about your T20 story, thanks for sharing
>we use both tractors on our allotments both for cultivation and transporting equipment and plants and manure
Yes, main reason for the link box - the neighbouring smallholder keeps horses and I can reverse the link box into the rotted end of the pile and get as much free manure as I want (a bit seedy/weedy, but light excluding membrane works wonders). Win-win situation as otherwise he pays to get rid of it.