FORD 9N Governor issues?

This message is a reply to an archived post by JMOR on May 14, 2013 at 10:41:52.
The original subject was "Re: FORD 9N Governor issues?".

Hello, I have a 1941 9n. I have replaced the carb with a new one, complete new distributor assembly, and govenor. My issue is that I can not get my engine to rev up. I can manually do this by moving the arms on the governor, but the governor will not do this on it's own. Although I do not have a tach, I am assuming I do not get much over 1000 - 1200 rpm. The connecting rods to the arm on the governor and the butterfly on the carb are not binding up, so this can not be the issue.
Does anyone have any suggestions? My old governor would at least allow me to run at a higher rev level: but needed replaced as one of the balls inside came out of the housing.

You do know that a new governor needs to be adjusted, right?

See tip # 39; the best advice is in the I&T FO4 manual.
75 Tips

These instructions worked for me, given to me from a fellow on this Board who bent over backwards to help me, his name is BYRON and if it works it's his very good instruction:

First adjust the governor spring so it is not to loose and not to tight. The idea is for the two governor arms to work as one . There is a stop at the bottom of one of the arms, try to get the spring to hold the two arms together there. Adjust the stop screw for the throttle plate on the carb , the plate on the carb should line up between the two holes inside the carb bowl with the carb almost completely closed. (Look in there and you will see two dimple marks, you might have to take it back off. )With the throttle lever linkage off the carb open the throttle lever all the way so that it stretches the governor spring and leave it there. Now adjust the long governor rod until you can slip the short carburetor rod in it's place on the carb. As you know these have no adjustment otherwise. The long rod has adjustment on both sides , take it off and clean it up so you can move those thumb adjusters easily. The hand throttle to the governor linkage is then adjusted so the governor arm reaches it's maximum speed stop as the hand throttle reaches the last notch in the throttle quadrant. The max speed stop is adjusted to 2200 rpm. When the hand throttle is in the first and lowest notch the governor arms are at rest. These great instructions by Byron got me to about 600 rpm on low idle and about 2600 on high. Not perfect but as good as I could get it. Putting a new governor spring on really helped me. It's a bear to get one on and I found it easier to do it with the governor removed. Adjusting an old spring is next to impossible. One thing I learned is that the least adjustment anywhere in the linkage changes everything, it really is that finely adjusted and dependent on the spring, adjustment rod, location of the carburetor, bend in the rods etc. I can empathize but you will get it close. Another thing I found useful was a cheap rpm laser device from Amazon. These things really work, you put a piece of reflective tape on the fan and can measure rpms by pointing a laser. All the best!

Bruce(VA) I can only speak from my experience on "NEW" governors. They are junk! I purchased one for my 8N, and after a week of me trying to adjust it every way that manual said adding and removing shims, adjusting the spring. Then doing ever unorthodox adjustment I could find on here. I even took it to a local shop. He worked on it gave charged 10 bucks. I put it back on and still had the exact same problem.

I took it back off and inspected it very closely, comparing it with the old one. What I found was that the machine work on the case was so poor that the one screw that held it all in place would not tighten down enough to keep the inner works from shifting, putting the fork in a bind. I am sure that I could have corrected it, but by that time I was angry and didn't want to mess with it anymore. I returned it and purchased a rebuilt from another vendor. It worked perfect with almost no adjustment.

Bruce while your information is correct, I think that it also just as important that people inspect these new governors make sure that the arms and the fork is moving freely. I would hate to see someone else waste a week on a governor like I did, and many others have that I have read on here.