Some days, ya just can't win!

GunnyIa

Member
A couple inches of snow gave me a chance for some seat time. Great! Plowed a little bit out then back home. Was doing my driveway when my 1947 8N started making loud noise, metal on metal. I stop her quick, & saw fan blade was cutting into the radiator! I was quick enough, cuts were mostly on the left side casing of radiator, no water or fluid leaks.

Guess I now pull the tank & hood, to see exactly what happened! Some days, ya just can't win!

Gunny, in Iowa
 
Yep very good chance the water pump has gone south on you. Bet if you loosen up the fan belt you can wiggle the fan a bit side to side
 
Maybe you did Win. You said no leaks. Friend of mine once had a
blade come loose in a pickup truck and stuck in the battery. If it
didn't get to the point of making a leak your doing good. Hopefully?
 

On the forum here I've noticed several mentions and photos of radiators getting eaten up by the fan blade when the water pump goes bad. When I recently needed a new radiator for my 8N, i bought the radiator kit from Yesterday's Tractor which includes the water pump. I didn't think there was anything wrong with my water pump (yet) so i put the new one on the shelf for later. Now that i'm hearing what happens when the water pump fails, i'm having second thoughts. Should i go ahead and replace that water pump as a preventive measure?

Thanks,
Dan in Kuna, ID
 

I'd say just make a routine out of grabbing the fan and checking your pump shaft for side play -- you don't have to loosen the belt to determine excessive side play.
You could use a stethoscope and long probe for a periodic listening to the water pump bearing as well -- these things I do. :)

Do that and I think you'll have your early warning system.

The more you familiarize yourself with the steth sound of components you know to be new, concentrating on memorizing their sounds (like the crank sound through the pan wall) the better you get at hearing when something is a little off.
 
Even though I'm using my 8N for road work, I'm still learning new (to me) things about my tractor. Prior to this incident, for the last several days, I've been hearing a ting, ting, ting sound coming from the front of the tractor. I kept looking, but couldn't see what was happening. I was sure it was metal against metal.

The fan blades were hitting the casing that surrounds the radiator, between the casing & radiator fins. It was NOT visible from either side of the tractor! The fan blade is now wedged in that spot.

Another lesson learned. Strange noise, unseen damage, LOOK DEEPER !!!!!!!

Gunny, in Iowa
 
(quoted from post at 11:05:25 01/26/15) Even though I'm using my 8N for road work, I'm still learning new (to me) things about my tractor. Prior to this incident, for the last several days, I've been hearing a ting, ting, ting sound coming from the front of the tractor. I kept looking, but couldn't see what was happening. I was sure it was metal against metal.

The fan blades were hitting the casing that surrounds the radiator, between the casing & radiator fins. It was NOT visible from either side of the tractor! The fan blade is now wedged in that spot.

Another lesson learned. Strange noise, unseen damage, LOOK DEEPER !!!!!!!

Gunny, in Iowa

Good thing you learned that lesson. When something is making a strange noise you HAVE to find it or it can get real expensive!

Rick
 

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