i bought a 8N

[Kirk-NJ]

Cat 1.

Kirk

 

[J F]

Can I still get in on that $20 bet?

 

[wolc123]

No deal, and I guess I can see where a mouse would have a tough time getting into that cylinder anyhow. My AC nests were in the rear end. Great (actually close to the best - would need to be a 51 or a 52 for that) tractor and great price. Congrats, and have fun. Note that I have absolutely no problem with the lack of live hydraulics and pto, and I doubt you will either, once you get used to it.

 

[Soundguy]

no way i'd re-use a head gasket. just asking for trouble.

 

[Soundguy]

Soundguy nailed the "9", for sure. Sorry I left that one out. He has always been way more up on old Ford stats than myself. We do differ however, in my preference for the old flatheads like yours, while he prefers the later, overhead valve models. I think Ford stumbled a bit, with their first few attempts, at the OHV engine, and that allowed others , like IH, and JD, to leave them in the dust as far as tractor sales numbers go. Just about as long as Ford tractor's packed the flatheads (up to the 1952, 8n), they held a commanding lead, over the competition.

As far as your sounds, one time I found mouse nests in a $500 Allis Chalmers "c" fence-row find, and I will bet that is what you had. Them darn things also plugged up an air filter box on my snowmobile one time. The best solution for that problem, that I use now, is to keep plenty of barn-cats around. Congrats. on not needing an engine rebuild. Anyone else want in on this bet? I will put $20 on the mouse nest(s)?

if you will notice.. the big difference when ford went to OHV engines, they also started to go into multiple model lines.

prior to that.. ford only made 1 tractor line at a time. all 9n, then all 2n, then all 8n, etc.. the naa was a quickie transition machine to get away from the lawsuit hyds, and get the ohv engine and livt hyds into production.

none of the red tigers had any special flaw that could be seen as a stumble. they are a solid design. thee fact they are still running today is proof.

for further proof.. how many auto's are being made today with flatheads? if it was a superior design.. it would still be used.

who wants to pull the BLOCK for a valve job!

 

[sixdogs]

no way i'd re-use a head gasket. just asking for trouble.

I'll second that. You can put a lot of work into an aggravating project only to have to do it a second time. The first time was bad enough.

 

[wolc123]

Well Soundguy, you nailed that one again. I have needed to pull my block for a valve job, and it was a pain. Thankfully, I only had to do that one time. That was around 24 years ago, and just a few years after purchasing it from the old widow across street. Right after I bought it, prior to doing any work, It had little compression due to a couple of broken valves, and I simply replaced these. I thought that the damage was done by unleaded gas, but I remember some arguments we had in the past, where you insisted that they came with hardened valves and unleaded gas was no problem. I ain't so sure of that based on my experience with that tractor. The next valve job was a full one, with the block pulled a re-worked, and all valves replaced with hardened ones. That tractor has been bullet-proof ever since, besides the manifolds, of which it has needed (2) including the one that is blown now.

 

[Soundguy]

all ford N left the factory with hardened exhaust seats.

all ford N left the factory with hardened intake seatsd EXCEPT the wartime 2n models.

( induction hardened? )

 

[TomSeller]

no way i'd re-use a head gasket. just asking for trouble.

Particularly when it looks like parts of it were left on the head in the first picture.

 

[sid79]

well that headgasket wasn't my first choice, but I needed to know it that was the only damage the engine has..
I need to take the hood of soon again to clean up the wiring, and then ill change that gasket.

it isn't like im using the tractor in the moment, I don't have any implements yet.

 

[TomSeller]

well that headgasket wasn't my first choice, but I needed to know it that was the only damage the engine has..
I need to take the hood of soon again to clean up the wiring, and then ill change that gasket.

it isn't like im using the tractor in the moment, I don't have any implements yet.

Good deal, I think that is the safe thing to do. You are doing a great job, thanks for posting. Those old Fords are handy to have around for misc light duty. Particularly for the small amount you have invested.

 

[wolc123]

8n implements, The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

Sid, some particularly handy implements for those little 8N.s are: #1, a 2 bottom, 12", 3 point plow. This is literally the implement, around which that line was first designed, around 1939, and very few if any modern tractors perform better on one of those. When pulling that plow, be sure to have the 3-point hydraulic control (little lever under the seat) in the down, or "draft" position. The plow is probably the only implement that you want to pull in the "draft " position. That position will allow spectacular performance on the plow, and constant depth plowing, over un-even ground contours. 4-wd, a handy feature on most modern tractors, don't help a lot on a 3 point plow, much less than on other implements like a disk. In fact, there is no implement that benefits more than a disk, from 4 WD. Your 8n will not be so hot on a disk, due to its low hp, and light weight. Loading the rear tires will help a lot there, as well as on the plow. For all other 3-point implements, your hydraulic control lever should be in the up, or "position" location. That will hold the lift arms in constant position.

#2, is a 3-point carry-all. The frames for these are available at low cost, and cheaper than you can build them yourself (thank you China), at Tractor Supply store. You can build your own wood box on these and have a very handy implement for moving things around. This is my most-used implement, mainly for hauling firewood.

#3 is a 3-pt scoop. This also is available, relatively cheap at TSC, or used, and also is a very handy implement. I have used mine, in the forward position, to dig several small ponds (up to 1/4 acre in size), and in the rear position for moving soil, stone, wood-chips, manure, shrubs, and trees. The rear position actually works better on a 9n, or 2n, due to their lower speed reverse gear. You will end up with some clutch riding, trying to use that scoop in reverse, on the higher geared 8n. I spent a little time looking for a good deal on a 9n or 2n, just to have a low-geared tractor around for use on the scoop. Eventually I ended up with a nice little Ford 2000 Diesel, and it's (2) reverse gears took care of that problem.

The 8n also has a low hydraulic-lift capacity (Soundguy will tell you all about that), and it was totally useless on the "rear loader" I made, by attaching the scoop top-link, to the #4 implement, which is a "lift-boom" and two lower link extensions made from heavy angle-iron. By itself, the lift-boom (also cheap at TSC), worked real good on that 8n. I dragged many a log out of the woods with a "Northern-Catalog" log tongue, hooked onto the end of that boom.

As for that Lift-boom/Scoop rear loader, It worked great on the 2WD, 2000 (probably had more than double the hydraulic lift capacity as the 8n). I think it actually worked better, on a 2wd tractor, than a front load, because as you loaded it, you actually gained traction on your drive wheels. Unlike the front loader, which I believe is near useless on a 2wd tractor, because you loose traction as you load it. I loaded a lot of horse-manure into a spreader, stone onto a flat-bed trailer, and top-soil into a dump-truck, with that "rear-loader", that I fabricated for less than $300 The only place I like a front loader is on a 4wd tractor, where they are great, and I have often used mine, to pull myself out of mud-holes.

Although quite popular, I would not recommend a bush-hog, or any pto-implement on an 8n. The lack of live hydraulics really hurts you here. The lack of live pto aint that big of deal, being easily compensated for thru the addition of a $75 TSC over-running coupler.

 

[Soundguy]

well that headgasket wasn't my first choice, but I needed to know it that was the only damage the engine has..
I need to take the hood of soon again to clean up the wiring, and then ill change that gasket.

it isn't like im using the tractor in the moment, I don't have any implements yet.

no need to take the hood off to do wireing or a head gasket...

 

[Soundguy]

DEFFINATELY get the orc if you are using inertial implements.

be mindfull of pto size. modern is 1 3/8 older is 1 1/8

 

[sid79]

Re: 8n implements, The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

Sid, some particularly handy implements for those little 8N.s are: #1, a 2 bottom, 12", 3 point plow. This is literally the implement, around which that line was first designed, around 1939, and very few if any modern tractors perform better on one of those. When pulling that plow, be sure to have the 3-point hydraulic control (little lever under the seat) in the down, or "draft" position. The plow is probably the only implement that you want to pull in the "draft " position. That position will allow spectacular performance on the plow, and constant depth plowing, over un-even ground contours. 4-wd, a handy feature on most modern tractors, don't help a lot on a 3 point plow, much less than on other implements like a disk. In fact, there is no implement that benefits more than a disk, from 4 WD. Your 8n will not be so hot on a disk, due to its low hp, and light weight. Loading the rear tires will help a lot there, as well as on the plow. For all other 3-point implements, your hydraulic control lever should be in the up, or "position" location. That will hold the lift arms in constant position.

#2, is a 3-point carry-all. The frames for these are available at low cost, and cheaper than you can build them yourself (thank you China), at Tractor Supply store. You can build your own wood box on these and have a very handy implement for moving things around. This is my most-used implement, mainly for hauling firewood.

#3 is a 3-pt scoop. This also is available, relatively cheap at TSC, or used, and also is a very handy implement. I have used mine, in the forward position, to dig several small ponds (up to 1/4 acre in size), and in the rear position for moving soil, stone, wood-chips, manure, shrubs, and trees. The rear position actually works better on a 9n, or 2n, due to their lower speed reverse gear. You will end up with some clutch riding, trying to use that scoop in reverse, on the higher geared 8n. I spent a little time looking for a good deal on a 9n or 2n, just to have a low-geared tractor around for use on the scoop. Eventually I ended up with a nice little Ford 2000 Diesel, and it's (2) reverse gears took care of that problem.

The 8n also has a low hydraulic-lift capacity (Soundguy will tell you all about that), and it was totally useless on the "rear loader" I made, by attaching the scoop top-link, to the #4 implement, which is a "lift-boom" and two lower link extensions made from heavy angle-iron. By itself, the lift-boom (also cheap at TSC), worked real good on that 8n. I dragged many a log out of the woods with a "Northern-Catalog" log tongue, hooked onto the end of that boom.

As for that Lift-boom/Scoop rear loader, It worked great on the 2WD, 2000 (probably had more than double the hydraulic lift capacity as the 8n). I think it actually worked better, on a 2wd tractor, than a front load, because as you loaded it, you actually gained traction on your drive wheels. Unlike the front loader, which I believe is near useless on a 2wd tractor, because you loose traction as you load it. I loaded a lot of horse-manure into a spreader, stone onto a flat-bed trailer, and top-soil into a dump-truck, with that "rear-loader", that I fabricated for less than $300 The only place I like a front loader is on a 4wd tractor, where they are great, and I have often used mine, to pull myself out of mud-holes.

Although quite popular, I would not recommend a bush-hog, or any pto-implement on an 8n. The lack of live hydraulics really hurts you here. The lack of live pto aint that big of deal, being easily compensated for thru the addition of a $75 TSC over-running coupler.

awesome information!! thank you!
at the moment my main plan to use the tractor is with a hay spear, I get delivered round haybales, sometimes im able to roll them into the shed with my truck, but sometimes I have no luck in moving them at all..
a hay spear would make things a lot easyer.

the pond scoop is also very high on my list, im digging a small pond by hand at the moment, its the lowest area of the land where MOST of the water drains to, but it floods the area next to the pond, that's why im building dam walls and making it a little deeper.
plus I want to dig some shallow draining ditches so I get even more drainage.

a plow I will get if I find one cheap, I want to reseed the pasture, im thinking of plowing the current pasture under, plant some beans, or whatever, and after harvest seed new pasture. ( this would be done by dividing the pasture in 3 parts so I don't loose the whole pasture while im growing something

 

[sid79]

no need to take the hood off to do wireing or a head gasket...

I probably could do that, but id rather have some room when working under the hood, plus its easier to see everything...
I just wished the tractor had a real flip open hood

 

[Soundguy]

get a fergy..

 

[wolc123]

It may work well on a hay spear, depending on the size of the bales. If they are under 600 pounds or so, you should have no problems. I think the rear lift capacity is around 800 pounds. Further out on the spear, and assuming some wear over the last 60 some years, you likely will not be able to lift that much. On our farm, we only dealt with loose hay, for the first 100 or so years, and the small, rectangular bales later. If I were lifting a heavy load out on a spear, or using a pond scoop in the reverse position, I would be sure to equip the tractor with a set of "stabilizer-links".

These are small links of flat steel that run from a chunk of angle, installed just inside each rear tire, below the axle, to the outboard end of each lower link. Once again, the whole kits are available, cheaper than you can build them, at your neighborhood TSC store. They will save your lower links from the destruction that would occur if you tried to move heavy round bales, or back into a pile of un-yielding material. Yes, I have wrecked a fair number of lower links over the years because I was either too cheap, too lazy, or too dumb, to use stabilizer links, when I should have. I never wrecked a lower link with stabilizer links installed. Even with that home-made, rear loader, which got a lot of use, and placed a lot of stress on the lower links.

I may have already mentioned, but you have there the make/model with the best, by a very wide margin, parts availability of any make/model ever produced by any manufacturer. I have actually walked into the TSC store, around the corner from my farm, and got a brand new carburetor off the shelf. Soundguy says I can likely do that with a manifold also, that I need bad right now. You cant say that about any other tractor.

The wife and I just got in from the barn and her second "tractor driving lesson". It was just a little below zero out there, and, after sitting for 2 months, that 6-volt, 1951, 8n started right up with just a little shot of either to help. Her first lesson was on the Farmall Cub with front plow, and she aced that one also, as she did on the 8n (firewood hauler).

 

[Soundguy]

i agree.. a healthy unmolested N lift will do 800 # if the front will stay down. the average ones will do less.. especially with leaks.. etc.

bump to the 55+ and you can get around 1200# lift out of the on board hyds

 

[sid79]

can anyone tell me how I remove the part with the blue dot in the picture:

do I just pound that pin out? it looks like the pin is hollow..