Who builds Cabela's brand tractors?

[94BULLITT]

I was at a seminar in the 80's put on by a Ford dealer and that's where they said most Ford tractor engines don't use sleeves and it's cheaper to rebuild than a sleeved engine. What engines are you talking about?

9N, 2N, 8N, NAA to name a few.
Maybe in the 800's they did not have sleeves.

Ford 671 Sleeve and Piston Kit, 134 Gas, STD (PK14G1)

 

[buickanddeere]

9N, 2N, 8N, NAA to name a few.
Maybe in the 800's they did not have sleeves.

Ford 671 Sleeve and Piston Kit, 134 Gas, STD (PK14G1)

The N series were not really tractors, more like toys, garden tractor and home built go karts. Ford didn't build a real tractor until they started installing drawbars from the factory, live pto and live hydraulics.

 

[94BULLITT]

The N series were not really tractors, more like toys and home built go karts. Ford didn't build a real tractor until they started installing drawbars from the factory, live pto and live hydraulics.

The N series was better than anything Deere offered at the time. You don't have much use for a draw bar when you have a 3 point hitch.

 

[batwing]

The N series was better than anything Deere offered at the time. You don't have much use for a draw bar when you have a 3 point hitch.

I agree as far as a garden tractor.
Ron

 

[farmstart]

Sleeve or sleeveless isn't what makes or breaks whether an engine is good or not. Ford never had sleeves in their tractors and they claimed it was cheaper to rebuild than a sleeved engine. Considering most engines can be re-bored up to 4 times, that could equate to well over 40,000 hours. Regular maintenance and proper use is far more important to long engine life.

Right. The only point I was making is the possibility of an in Frame overhaul with a sleved engine. Also faster rebuild times. Labour being the most expensive part of repairs. Then there is the possibility of catastrophic failure of say maybe a wrist pin which could gouge a cylinder past the point where the cylinder could be machined. It is not very common these days but you would have the safety of the sleeve there as a disposable part pull the damages sleeve replace with new and save the possibility of having to replace a block. Provided that you haven't damaged your crank shaft from a failed wrist pin which could easily shove a rod through the side of a case and then your S.O.L. any ways.

 

[motownbrowne]

The N series were not really tractors, more like toys and home built go karts. Ford didn't build a real tractor until they started installing drawbars from the factory, live pto and live hydraulics.

Toys??!?? I have two 8n tractors. They're great at lots of tasks. I agree that live power and hydraulics are nice features, but the lack of them certainly doesn't make the tractor a toy. One could say that John Deere tractors were toys until they adopted the three point hitch, but they'd be just as wrong as you were. Imagine that the year is 1940. You've been farming with horses for years, and along comes the 9n. Look like a toy now? How about a go-kart? I'd say not. Also, the fact that you can still get parts for them anywhere, and there's still tons of perfectly functional Ns in service makes your statement look pretty silly.

My dad farmed vegetables from 1974-2013 with nothing but the 8ns and a troy-bilt tiller.

 

[buickanddeere]

Given the choice of looking at an N series or farming all day looking up a horse's behind. Yes a horse's *ss makes a N series look good.

 

[GManBart]

So we've gone from Cabela's tractors to arguing about 8Ns...lol. The fact that they made more 8Ns than any other tractor is a pretty good testament to their capability.

I had to look it up, but some of the Shibaura Ford models from the 80s also had sleeves. I just checked the model 1200 and 1910, and sure enough....sleeved.

 

[buickanddeere]

So we've gone from Cabela's tractors to arguing about 8Ns...lol. The fact that they made more 8Ns than any other tractor is a pretty good testament to their capability.

Sheer numbers of sales of the cheapest tractor on the market is no surprise when the Depression was still a strong recent memory. Having the most dealership via the road vehicle division gave Ford extra sales in circumstances where there was no other tractor to purchase.
1947-1952 was also an era of farm mechanization to replace sons that never came back to the farm. The ability alone via having high capacity production lines made for more N series sales when other dealers had empty lots.

 

[GManBart]

Sheer numbers of sales of the cheapest tractor on the market is no surprise when the Depression was still a strong recent memory. Having the most dealership via the road vehicle division gave Ford extra sales in circumstances where there was no other tractor to purchase.
1947-1952 was also an era of farm mechanization to replace sons that never came back to the farm. The ability alone via having high capacity production lines made for more N series sales when other dealers had empty lots.

Try again. The Deere M was created to directly compete with the 8N...heck, they made a whole new factory just for that purpose (on 1465 acres rather than Fords 102 at Highland Park).

A new M was $1075 in 1952. A new 8N was $1404 in 1952.

Similar size, weight, power, number of production years, and yet the Ford that was 40% more expensive sold 10 times as many.