8N restored with pics

[wolc123]

I do like the N models. The only downside for me is the flat head. I know a lot of people like them but the problem with a flathead is the valves are in the engine block so if you need to do a valve job it's in the block, not the head, so you cant throw the head on the table and do a valve job. And if you have a serious valve problem you may need to replace the block rather then the head.
I bought an N model once that seemed to turn over way too easy. When I pulled it down it had 5 valves that were stuck open. So 3 were still working. Some of the seats were questionable. In the end they cleaned up ok but for a while I wasn't sure if it could be saved or not. I wouldn't have taken the block in to have seats replaced but I might have if they were in the head.

I had a little trouble with a valve on my 8n when I first bought it, back around 1989. I bought it from the widow of the original owner. It only had 1200 hours on it, but it didn’t have any compression on one cylinder, due to that broken valve.

After replacing just that one, it was ok for a couple years of relatively light usage. A couple years later, I wore out a few more valves, while digging a pond with a 3-point scoop.

The trouble was, those original valves didn’t hold up very well on unleaded gas. A very good mechanic buddy of mine did a complete valve job, with with all new parts, and that that tractor has ran great ever since. With 2200 hours on it now, it still has enough compression to start good on just 5 volts. That’s all I can get the 18 year old 6 volt battery, that’s in it now, charged up to.

The original proof meter cable snapped on it at about 1800 hours, and I put a few hours on it before I got it replaced.

The hanging needle nose vise grip holds the choke slightly closed. It’s needed that, ever since I replaced the original carb with an aftermarket one.

I replaced a few other parts on it over the years including the gas tank (original had a slow leak), the radiator (I put a branch thru that while snow plowing), the distributor (I didn’t oil that every 10 hours like it calls for on the manual), and a rear rim (calcium rusted that thru 2 years ago). The tires and paint are original.

 

[Paystar]

I was looking at more old Ford's for sale. Found two Funk 6 cylinder conversions.
I can just imagine what a little tractor like that would be like with 96 horsepower!

 

[somanytractors]

I had a little trouble with a valve on my 8n when I first bought it, back around 1989. I bought it from the widow of the original owner. It only had 1200 hours on it, but it didn’t have any compression on one cylinder, due to that broken valve.

After replacing just that one, it was ok for a couple years of relatively light usage. A couple years later, I wore out a few more valves, while digging a pond with a 3-point scoop.

The trouble was, those original valves didn’t hold up very well on unleaded gas. A very good mechanic buddy of mine did a complete valve job, with with all new parts, and that that tractor has ran great ever since. With 2200 hours on it now, it still has enough compression to start good on just 5 volts. That’s all I can get the 18 year old 6 volt battery, that’s in it now, charged up to.

View attachment 803569
The original proof meter cable snapped on it at about 1800 hours, and I put a few hours on it before I got it replaced.

The hanging needle nose vise grip holds the choke slightly closed. It’s needed that, ever since I replaced the original carb with an aftermarket one.

I replaced a few other parts on it over the years including the gas tank (original had a slow leak), the radiator (I put a branch thru that while snow plowing), the distributor (I didn’t oil that every 10 hours like it calls for on the manual), and a rear rim (calcium rusted that thru 2 years ago). The tires and paint are original.

I've never actually seen one with the original 6 volt system still in it. But it really doesn't take much to turn these old tractors over.
Those aftermarket carbs ain't great but they work and they're usually cheaper then the kit to rebuild the original. I use them all the time. Every now and then you get a bad one but they usually still kind of work.

Here's the 2 I actually consider my tractors. The rest are just passing through.
The red one is my go to. It's a to30. It's knocked and smoked for years but bit just doesn't quit. The battery in it is a tiny old battery that came out of my wifes wheel chair the last time I replaced the batteries in it. It's been in there 3 years and still starts it. It only has enough charge to turn it about 5 times but it never turns over more then once or twice, It's got no hood and theres a hole in the top of the radiator, but as long as I put water in it before using it, it does just fine. I need to fix the radiator. It's brand new. I put it in and a week later I poked a hole in it while pushing brush. I really need to put something in front of it to protect it because I'm not going to quit misusing it. The backhoe rides sideways because a tree fell on it and bent the bers that come out from the 3pt but it works fine. When the outriggers are down it sits level.
This one is weird with gas. It will run perfect till its out and when it's out it is completely out. It wont even try till you put more gas in it.
It's old and delapidated but its a really tough tractor that just keeps going

 

[EddieWalker]

One day I'd love to have an older tractor, or several, but there always seems to be so many things that have to get done that I wonder if I'll ever have time to do something like that.

It's really nice seeing the before, during and after pictures!!!!

 

[somanytractors]

One day I'd love to have an older tractor, or several, but there always seems to be so many things that have to get done that I wonder if I'll ever have time to do something like that.

It's really nice seeing the before, during and after pictures!!!

My dad was 75 when he got his tractor. He always wanted one but with 4 kids and then all his grandkids he could never afford it. Finally my nephew gave him one that was half dead.
I'm rebuilding it for him now.
He doesn't even have a use for it. It sat in his back yard till it didn't run anymore, and then a few more years.
Now he's over 90 and he still want his tractor fixed. I imagine once its done, he'll drive it up and down the driveway a few times and then start it every couple weeks, but he wants his tractor running.
Don't give up hope. At some point you can probably get one of your kids or grand kids to do the work for you!

 

[somanytractors]

Found a few more pics
Jubilee before and after

4500 before and after. This one needed a starter, riiiggghhht. Every time someone says it needs a starter this one comes to mind, and often needs a starter means the motors froze up

Another 8n, but just an after pic

And that's all the pics I could find

 

[Paystar]

Don't know about you guys, but I love my old tractors better than the new ones. If any had to go for some reason.....it would be the new ones.

The sound, the feel, the simplicity........they can't be beat.

Like the conversation I heard on a show on RFD TV.......will any modern tractors ever be around in 80 years as collectors? You will need lap tops and electronics to restore all this current junk.

 

[Paystar]

That Jubilee is some rare! To see one with not only an era correct loader, but also a backhoe! WOW!!! That is sweet.

That loader looks more like a crane boom than a loader, LOL

 

[wolc123]

Don't know about you guys, but I love my old tractors better than the new ones. If any had to go for some reason.....it would be the new ones.

The sound, the feel, the simplicity........they can't be beat.

Like the conversation I heard on a show on RFD TV.......will any modern tractors ever be around in 80 years as collectors? You will need lap tops and electronics to restore all this current junk.

I’m with you there for sure. Also, now that gasoline is so much cheaper than diesel, the economy advantage once had by that fuel, is largely eliminated. I’m doing and planning to do a lot more work with my (2) antiques this year for that reason.

My favorite thing about that Cub, is that at fits in the 8 ft box of my 3/4 ton pickup. Soon, I will be hauling it over to my parents place, 20 miles away, so that it can take some of the load off of my dads little modern diesel CUT.

My Ford 8n can handle most of the work at our place. Maybe I’ll pick up an over running coupler for it so that I can use it on my 5 ft Bush hog. That way, I’d be free to unload my modern diesel if I wanted to.

The 8n couldn’t quite lift the light duty 6 ft Rhino rotary cutter that I had prior, but it has no trouble lifting the 5 ft medium duty Bush hog that I replaced that with after it wore out.

 

[somanytractors]

That Jubilee is some rare! To see one with not only an era correct loader, but also a backhoe! WOW!!! That is sweet.

That loader looks more like a crane boom than a loader, LOL

I tried using that backhoe once. It was a disaster and I gave up and used my to30.
That backhoe is different from most and I think it was intentional. It's actually called a power shovel.
The design is screwy. The cylinder that moves the top of the boom in and out is mounted to the frame where it mounts to the tractor. normally that cylinder is connected to the lower half of the boom. Because it's attached like that, when you lift the boom the bucket moves towards the tractor, and when you lower it the bucket moves away.
It might work ok for digging a ditch or maybe a pond in soft dirt but it's probably useless for construction.
I needed to put a pipe across my driveway which is pretty hard. The bucket moving away while I was trying to push it down into the driveway made it not work, and then trying to lift it straight up was another fiasco.
If I never used a normal backhoe it might have been learnable but when you're used to them doing one thing and this one is doing it's own thing, it makes it really difficult to operate. If I was going to keep it I probably would have moved the mount for that cylinder up onto the lower boom, but then it wouldn't be original anymore.
That tractor was mostly original except for gauges and stuff that normally has to be replaced.

 

[somanytractors]

I’m with you there for sure. Also, now that gasoline is so much cheaper than diesel, the economy advantage once had by that fuel, is largely eliminated. I’m doing and planning to do a lot more work with my (2) antiques this year for that reason.
View attachment 804044

My favorite thing about that Cub, is that at fits in the 8 ft box of my 3/4 ton pickup. Soon, I will be hauling it over to my parents place, 20 miles away, so that it can take some of the load off of my dads little modern diesel CUT.

My Ford 8n can handle most of the work at our place. Maybe I’ll pick up an over running coupler for it so that I can use it on my 5 ft Bush hog. That way, I’d be free to unload my modern diesel if I wanted to.

The 8n couldn’t quite lift the light duty 6 ft Rhino rotary cutter that I had prior, but it has no trouble lifting the 5 ft medium duty Bush hog that I replaced that with after it wore out.
View attachment 804045

Love the farmall.
I would never use one, but I love how they look. I've been trying to find a dead one to use for decoration along my driveway but every time I see one it runs. My son just sold one with the mower deck under it. It is something to see. The mower is even more offset then the tractor. Yours is a lot nicer then his was lol

 

[wolc123]

Love the farmall.
I would never use one, but I love how they look. I've been trying to find a dead one to use for decoration along my driveway but every time I see one it runs. My son just sold one with the mower deck under it. It is something to see. The mower is even more offset then the tractor. Yours is a lot nicer then his was lol

View attachment 804066

That’s the second Farmall Cub I have had. I swore I’d never buy another red tractor after all of the trouble I had with the first one. The main problem with the first one, was that it was well beyond completely worn out, when I got it.

The first one came with cultivators. I always thought the offset “cultivation” concept was neat, but I hated it after I had it. I had previously cultivated corn, with the single row unit mounted on my grandads John Deere model M.

That was the first tractor on our farm, which he bought new to replace a team of horses back in 1950. My dad moved to a larger farm, about 20 miles away, around 1990, and he took it with him.

I got a stiff neck, bending over while cultivating with the Cub, and I had to go much slower. With the JD, I could keep my head up, sight down the row, and open up the throttle.

I sold that first Cub about (5) years ago, and replaced it with a Dearborn 3-point 2-row cultivator that I use behind my Ford 8n. I traded a guy a Cub snowplow for that, that was given to me by my father in law.

I did miss snow plowing light snowfalls with the Cub. The offset engine “cultivision” was great for that. The one I have now sat in the back of the factory where I work, unused, for about 20 years. It had a snowplow with it. They had a silent auction for it last fall. I bid $ 783.17 for it and was high bid.

I dropped it off at my favorite Farmall mechanic’s shop on my way home (borrowed his trailer). He changed all the fluids, got it running like a watch, and charged me $ 450. I spent another $ 200 on a drawbar for it. It probably has less than 500 hours on it. Not bad for under $ 1500.

 

[Paystar]

I’m with you there for sure. Also, now that gasoline is so much cheaper than diesel, the economy advantage once had by that fuel, is largely eliminated. I’m doing and planning to do a lot more work with my (2) antiques this year for that reason.
View attachment 804044

My favorite thing about that Cub, is that at fits in the 8 ft box of my 3/4 ton pickup. Soon, I will be hauling it over to my parents place, 20 miles away, so that it can take some of the load off of my dads little modern diesel CUT.

My Ford 8n can handle most of the work at our place. Maybe I’ll pick up an over running coupler for it so that I can use it on my 5 ft Bush hog. That way, I’d be free to unload my modern diesel if I wanted to.

The 8n couldn’t quite lift the light duty 6 ft Rhino rotary cutter that I had prior, but it has no trouble lifting the 5 ft medium duty Bush hog that I replaced that with after it wore out.
View attachment 804045

If you ever have it in your pickup, post a pic! What do you use for ramps? That must feel sketchy loading and unloading, LOL

 

[Paystar]

I tried using that backhoe once. It was a disaster and I gave up and used my to30.
That backhoe is different from most and I think it was intentional. It's actually called a power shovel.
The design is screwy. The cylinder that moves the top of the boom in and out is mounted to the frame where it mounts to the tractor. normally that cylinder is connected to the lower half of the boom. Because it's attached like that, when you lift the boom the bucket moves towards the tractor, and when you lower it the bucket moves away.
It might work ok for digging a ditch or maybe a pond in soft dirt but it's probably useless for construction.
I needed to put a pipe across my driveway which is pretty hard. The bucket moving away while I was trying to push it down into the driveway made it not work, and then trying to lift it straight up was another fiasco.
If I never used a normal backhoe it might have been learnable but when you're used to them doing one thing and this one is doing it's own thing, it makes it really difficult to operate. If I was going to keep it I probably would have moved the mount for that cylinder up onto the lower boom, but then it wouldn't be original anymore.
That tractor was mostly original except for gauges and stuff that normally has to be replaced.

I have said before, I do prefer modern loaders and backhoes to the old ones for sure. Those are two things that have improved.

I bet that Jubilee would get big money at auction all set up like that.

 

[rScotty]

What I love about the old gassers is how quiet they are when running. A heavy cast iron 4 cylinder engine that only makes 15 to 30 hp doesn't make much noise doing it. Even the two cylinders are quiet.

Not only quiet at idle, but they return to idle until they need to rev to meet a load. All done automatically using springs and manifold pressure instead of chips. Simple technology. Inexpensive & relaxing to run.

rScotty

 

[somanytractors]

What I love about the old gassers is how quiet they are when running. A heavy cast iron 4 cylinder engine that only makes 15 to 30 hp doesn't make much noise doing it. Even the two cylinders are quiet.

Not only quiet at idle, but they return to idle until they need to rev to meet a load. All done automatically using springs and manifold pressure instead of chips. Simple technology. Inexpensive & relaxing to run.

rScotty

The old gassers are definitely quiet. The N models with the correct exhaust are crazy quiet.
For heavy jobs the diesels are great, but for around the house I think the old gassers are the way to go. They have a little more maintenance but they are far more enjoyable to operate.

 

[wolc123]

If you ever have it in your pickup, post a pic! What do you use for ramps? That must feel sketchy loading and unloading, LOL

It will probably be a month or so before I load it up but I’ll be sure to post a picture. You are the second person to ask for that.

I had my first Cub in my prior pickup (2000, 3/4 ton 4wd Silverado with 8 ft box and regular cab) multiple times. It broke down a lot. The bed on that truck sat about 6” higher than my current pickup (2000, 3/4 ton 2wd Silverado with 8 ft box and extended cab).

The rear tires on my “new” Cub are set a little wider, but I still have an inch or two of clearance to the back edge of the box. The front wheel width is set plenty narrow to fit between the wheel wells.

There is a great spot to unload over at my parents place. They have a built up sand filter septic system in the front yard. If I back my truck towards that on the driveway, the elevation change down to the ground will only be about a foot.

To load up at home, I’ll drive out back to a nice smooth and dry furrow. I will back the rear truck tires into that. I could get away with a wet furrow, when I had the 4wd truck. For ramps, I use a couple old white oak barn floor planks, 12” wide x 10 ft long. I take the tailgate off and rest them on the truck back bumper. With the tractor front tires against the front of the box, I can put the tailgate back on and close it. I suspect that they designed a Cub tractor specifically to fit into a standard 8 ft pickup box. Those little 6-1/2 and shorter pickup truck boxes, that are so popular these days, never entered into the equations back in the 50’s.

 

[wolc123]

What I love about the old gassers is how quiet they are when running. A heavy cast iron 4 cylinder engine that only makes 15 to 30 hp doesn't make much noise doing it. Even the two cylinders are quiet.

Not only quiet at idle, but they return to idle until they need to rev to meet a load. All done automatically using springs and manifold pressure instead of chips. Simple technology. Inexpensive & relaxing to run.

rScotty

That is a very big part of the reason, why there is no modern tractor that I would rather have on my 2-row corn planter, than my 1951 Ford 8n.

That old planter is a little temperamental, and prone to throwing a chain now and then. I can easily hear that happen, over the quiet purr of the little flat head 4 cylinder gas engine.

It’s a different story, when it’s hooked on the back of my modern, turbo-charged 4wd diesel tractor. I use hearing protection, whenever I run that one above low idle, and I can’t recognize any equipment noise over the sound of that engine even when it’s at low idle.

Another huge advantage of the N, is the low operator platform and ease of getting on or off, from either side. I plant several varieties of sweetcorn, and am usually dealing with small quantities of rather expensive seed. It’s great not to have one side of the platform blocked by a loader joystick. With the N, it’s real easy to hop on or off and add seed to the hoppers. Not so with any other tractor I’ve had that planter on.

I’m my humble opinion, every step taken since 1952, when it comes to the 3 point hitch ease of use, has been a step backwards. Harry Ferguson and Henry Ford teamed up to make it profitable back in 1939. They had it perfected in 1948. “Others” have been screwing it up ever since.

 

[somanytractors]

So. It happened. I went and got another one. Surprisingly it runs, but then it is an n model.
Hood's in the back of the truck. Had to clean the carb and replace the starter gear.
And now it purrs like a kitten.
Although the clutch is stuck to the flywheel so I'm gonna have to split it to break it loose. I always hear about ways to break them loose but I've never had much luck other then go ahead and take it apart.
Not sure what they got going on with the way the 3 pt is rigged up but it does still work.

 

[dieselscout80]

So. It happened. I went and got another one. Surprisingly it runs, but then it is an n model.
Hood's in the back of the truck. Had to clean the carb and replace the starter gear.
And now it purrs like a kitten.
Although the clutch is stuck to the flywheel so I'm gonna have to split it to break it loose. I always hear about ways to break them loose but I've never had much luck other then go ahead and take it apart.
Not sure what they got going on with the way the 3 pt is rigged up but it does still work.

View attachment 805456

Those are just bars to keep the three point lower arm’s from moving up or down to keep the draw bar in a fixed position.

We always used them to pull our hay rake.

Getting a center draw bar that mounts below the PTO / rear axle eliminates the need for those bars.