When I bought this tractor, from the widow of the original owner back in 1988, it only had 1200 hours on it. I have about doubled that number of hours over the last 30 years. These days, I mainly just use it for firewood and on my two-row corn planter and cultivator. The year I brought it home, I replaced the distributor cap, rotor, points, condenser and plugs, with parts from "Central Tractor" in Lockport NY. This year the tractor started acting up a little bit, starting tough and running a little rough after startup when it was cold and damp. Today, for the first time, I was not able to get it started and I drained the 6 volt battery so much trying that it would just barely turn over. I tried a squirt of either, which did not help.
I put a 6 volt trickle charger on it and drove back to that same store (now "Tractor Supply"). They no longer carried Ford 8N parts, not even the spark plugs. I crossed the parking lot and picked up (4) Champion H-12 plugs at NAPA for $10.20. After I installed those, that old flat-head started as good as it ever did, and is running just like a song now. I guess I don't need any of that other stuff. I will have to see how it does when it gets real cold out. I suppose it likes those new plugs. The gaps on 30 year old ones were opened up to about .050 and they were carboned up pretty bad.
I put a 6 volt trickle charger on it and drove back to that same store (now "Tractor Supply"). They no longer carried Ford 8N parts, not even the spark plugs. I crossed the parking lot and picked up (4) Champion H-12 plugs at NAPA for $10.20. After I installed those, that old flat-head started as good as it ever did, and is running just like a song now. I guess I don't need any of that other stuff. I will have to see how it does when it gets real cold out. I suppose it likes those new plugs. The gaps on 30 year old ones were opened up to about .050 and they were carboned up pretty bad.
