Finding the right pipe for a Massey Ferguson or Ford tractor by part number

On a Massey Ferguson or Ford tractor the right pipe is found by part number, not by model name. The number comes from the maker’s parts book, entered with the tractor and engine serial numbers. Under one model name the engine, the injection pump and the production period change, and the injector pipes can change with them.

What do you need from the tractor before the number?

You need the tractor and engine serial numbers. Massey Ferguson’s MF 65 service manual gives the reason:

“The tractor serial number is the only positive, external method of identifying what is built into the tractor.”

Massey-Ferguson, MF 65 service manual, internal hydraulic system section

In the MF 65 parts book, three letters in front of the serial number give the chassis, fuel and clutch type; among the fuel letters N is diesel and D is direct injection. The service manual puts the AD4.203 engine’s serial number at the rear left-hand side of the cylinder block, near the cylinder head.

Ford’s service manual for the 2000 to 7000 series says the serial numbers and production codes “are located on the individual components”; the production code gives the year, month, day and shift. Its September 1968 supplement has the model code stamped on the right-hand implement mounting pad of the transmission and repeated on a decal under the right-hand hood panel.

Where do you find the part number?

The part number comes from the tractor’s parts book, either the printed book or the maker’s online catalogue. AGCO’s own parts site, parts.agcocorp.com, has a “Search Parts Books” section with product details and diagrams. New Holland’s customer magazine calls MyCNHiStore “the official spare parts portal for New Holland”; parts are searched there by tractor brand, serial number, model or product type.

On a tractor forum, a Massey Ferguson 135 owner is pointed to AGCO’s online parts book and told to open “Diesel fuel lines”. The number on the old part itself, and superseded numbers, are covered in our article on OEM numbers.

What do Massey Ferguson and Ford numbers look like?

Massey Ferguson’s MF 65 parts book of March 1966 has two number columns on its pipe pages, “MF Numbers” and “Perkins No.”: the tractor maker’s number and the engine maker’s number for the same pipe, side by side. The book prints the MF number in groups of three digits with the suffix set apart; lists write it closed up: 734194M91. It does not explain the suffix.

Three formats appear in our product list. These are observations, not rules:

• Massey Ferguson numbers ending in M91: 3638623M91, 735308M91.
• Eight-digit numbers: 35342004, 35343026. The pipe numbers in the book’s Perkins column are eight digits long.
• Ford numbers with a letter prefix: C5NE9A555D, D2NN9A555A. The middle group runs from 9A555 to 9A559; on the lines that name a cylinder, 9A556 is cylinder 2 and 9A557 is cylinder 3.

We could not confirm from a Ford document what the prefix and final letter mean, so we leave that out. The table was selected from the numbers in RSS Kumru’s product list that are verified against two independent sources.

Brand names and OEM reference numbers are used for identification and compatibility information only.

Why does the pipe change under one model name?

The maker changes the engine, the pump or the pipe during production, and the parts book marks each change with a serial number. The MF 65 book has separate pipe pages for its two diesel engines, regular and direct injection.

On the direct injection page (page 87) cylinder 1 has two pipes: 734194M91 was “Used Engine Serial No. 292 1733 and up”, the other before that. On the pump page (page 93) the two injection pumps are split at the same number, so this pipe changed when the pump did. The book does not spell that out; it follows from the notes on the two pages.

On a Ford the dividing line is the production period. The September 1968 supplement covers the differences between “new and previous type” Ford 2000, 3000, 4000 and 5000 tractors: the new model 4000 diesel received a new fuel injection pump and injectors, and for a time both types were built side by side. On the new models the model code starts with a letter: C for the 3000, E for the 5000.

The model name can mislead its owner. On a forum, a man who had run a Massey Ferguson 35 for nearly 27 years as a Perkins diesel was told it was a four-cylinder Standard Motors diesel; the three-cylinder Perkins, the reply adds, came in later 35 tractors. In our list the Massey Ferguson 135 appears on two different cylinder 1 lines, 35342004 and 3638623M91.

How do you follow a number that has changed?

The note in the parts book points to the new number. On the pump page of the MF 65 book, the line for the earlier pump carries an ordering note: the new pump and pipe 734194M91 are to be ordered together. Notes on other pages begin “For Repairs order” and give the new number. Give the supplier both numbers.

A set or a single pipe?

On the MF 65 parts book page each cylinder’s injector pipe has its own line and its own number: 734194M91 for cylinder 1, 732899M91 for cylinder 2, 732898M91 for cylinder 3 and 735308M91 for cylinder 4.

Lists can show the same number in two forms: in our product list C5NE9A555E and D2NN9A555A each have two lines, one as a single pipe and one as a set, and one three-cylinder set is written with three numbers: C0NN9A555E,556E,557E. Put the cylinder number on the order, and say whether you want one pipe or the set.

What order should you work in before ordering?

1. Write down the plates. Tractor and engine serial numbers; on a Ford, the model code and production code too.
2. Open the pipe page in the parts book. Compare the serial number breaks in the notes with your own numbers.
3. Take the number in full. Prefix and suffix included; add the cylinder and whether it is one pipe or a set.
4. If the number cannot be read, measure the pipe. What to measure is in our article on pipes with no number.
5. If the part is out of production, keep the old pipe. Having one made from the sample is covered in a separate article.