8N pops out of 4th

[gardenpro]

I'm looking at a 48 8N. Overall it is pretty good, there are a few problems. The main problem is that in 4th it goes about 10' and then pops out. What sorts of things could this be? When idling low you can push it in and hold it there and it'll stay, but when going fast is crunches/grinds itself enough to pop out.
Thanks for any responses.

 

[beenthere]

Transmission and worn gears, maybe a fork problem, or worn bushings. Fixable though. A good mediocre mechanic can getRdone.

 

[Soundguy]

As the other poster said. could be some bad gears already.. bad rails or detents.. worn forks.. worn bearings.. bad rails. .bad shifter pattern.. etc.

I you open up the trans and more than 25% of it looks like it needs repair.. consider dropping in a whole new trans.. casting and all. places like wengers sells them and other part-out houses. Probably cheaper to by a new trans than to replace half of one..

Soundguy

 

[gardenpro]

Thanks for the quick replies. Any idea what a new (rebuilt)tranny would cost including installation? The engine is supposed to be rebuilt with no hours on it. No receipt though.
The tractor is priced high at $3500, locally they range from 1500 for an oldy to $3500 for a good one. I don't necessarily need 4th as 3rd is real fast but there's no need paying 3500 and then having to replace the tranny.

 

[Soundguy]

I don't think I'd drop in a re-newed/rebuilt one. I'd drop in a working 'old' one. Places like: Wengers will quote you on price and freight.

Popping out is one thing.. grinding is another. If it is grinding.. there is considerable wear int hat tranny that probably started with a worn fork, or rail, or bad detent.. and the gearing being able to pop or ride out wore the gears.. now they don't mesh good. Could have been a bad bearing as well..

In any case.. a tractor with a bad tranny is not a 3500$ unit. Around here, an otherwise good runner.. painted, that has a gear missing a tooth is an 1800$ unit.. whereas it very well could be a 3000 to 3500$ unit with no tranny problems.

There were 3 minor changes ont he 8n tranny. First one had a cast shifter ball ont he shifter... second went to a thread on shifter ball... ( no other changes ) and late one went to a lower reverse gear .. thais change required a different tranny housing that had a bulge in it near your left foot to make up for the larger gear.

Make sure if you order parts.. that you get parts for the correct year.. for instance.. you could not drop 52 reverse parts into a 50 casting.. etc. however.. if you buy the whole tranny.. they bolt right up.. regardless of year..

Soundguy

 

[cj7]

an 8N with a fourspeed.. I thought they only came with 3 spd?

 

[Soundguy]

ALL 1947-1952 8N were 4+R ..

ALL 1939-1941 9N & 1942-1947 2N were 3+R..

Soundguy

 

[gardenpro]

Here's another question. Once hot the tractor won't restart. This reminds me of alternator/distributer problems I had with my truck. Are there many other things that this could be? And is this something, including the tranny issue, that'd happen with a rebuilt engine? Thanks again.

 

[Soundguy]

The tranny poping out of gear is a worn tranny issue.. should have nothing to do with the rebuilt engine.

Also.. the tranny won't have much effect on hard starts unless the tranny countershaft was binding somehow.. and you don't press the clutch before starting it. Pressing the clutch is a good idea. that way the starter doesn't have to turn over those extra shafts, gears, and that heavy tranny oil.

Early 8n's used a front mount distribuitor.. and a 4.5v coil disguised as a 6v coil To get away with this they used a ballast resistor with a variable heat coeficient. When the tractor is cold, the ohms are low on the resistor.. it lets more votlage thru to the coil.. once the resistor warms up ( minutes ) the resistance goes up, and drops the votlage slightly.

Average to good voltage ont he primary of the front mount coil is battery volts with points open, and a minimum of 2.5 to 3.5 volts ont he coil with points closed. more than 4v will cause coil and points damage.

Some well meaning shade tree mechanics bpass the resistor and then slowly cook the coil and points.

Hard warm starting is a sign of a bad coil, though could also be a bad ignition switch.. ford had very weak ignition switches.

Use a jumper wire and bypass the ignition switch next time it is hard to start. If that doesn't help.. replace the coil and the resistor and points.. or at leas the coil and clean up the other connections and wireing.. Points can sometimes be polished by taking a piece of brown paper bag and pulling it thru the contacts while holding them closed multiple times. Unless you have a real 'ignition-hone' don't try to file your points.. plain bastard files and emory paper are very bad for points. Besides contaminating them, they leave the surface too rough on the microscopic level. Ignition hones are much much finer files.

Soundguy

 

[RickB]

I am absolutely dumbfounded that you are considering paying anything approaching $3500 for this tractor. There are no simple transmission problems whose symptoms include grinding and jumping out of gear. If the engine overhaul was finished off with incomplete or incompetent tune up or electrical repairs, what does that say about the engine overhaul itself? You did say this purchase was for actual use, did you not? Sounds like you will get a good education in tractor repair and how to put more into a tractor than can be gotten out reasonably. Wengers lists the fourth gear, fourth speed countershaft gear and 2nd/4th shift fork used for a total of about $175. Didn't see listings for complete trannys, not to say they won't have them. That would be pricy to ship. Not hard at all to imagine a $4000 'N' here. Time to walk away.