I Call it "The Little Blue 2"

lastcowboy32

Well-known Member
Some pictures from its first day back at work on the farm. While I and our son-in-law did an in-frame rebuild, a friend of ours repainted the hood and fenders. I'll get to painting the chassis, but right now there's hay to be made. My wife line's "Blue Ford's" , and she likes the simplicity, low-stable stance and now the color of The Little Blue 2. (2N).

Awful handy for raking, tedding and hauling wagons.

For comparison, I just threw in a picture of all of the deposits found in the engine. It also got all new valve hardware. It's amazing how quickly it starts and how smoothly it runs now. It was a very gratifying rebuild. If you must know, I paid about 700 bucks for parts and gave my friend 225 for sandblasting and putting automotive paint and clear coat on the hood and fenders.

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Can you provide n overview of the work you did and the order you did them in? I am considering doing an in frame also. I understand there are drawbacks to this. One of them you cannot change the clutch.
 
(quoted from post at 07:49:29 08/21/16) Can you provide n overview of the work you did and the order you did them in? I am considering doing an in frame also. I understand there are drawbacks to this. One of them you cannot change the clutch.

My clutch is fine, so I wasn't worried about that. It was running a little rough, and then it got very rough. As far as order, I just drained the gas and took off the hood. I knew that I wanted to get the head and valve covers off.

When I got to that point, I saw so much depositing on the tops of the pistons and I noticed that one valve had tossed its keepers completely. The exhaust valves were still "old style" with split guides. I figured that I may as well do all new valve hardware with new style guides and adjustable tappets.

I could have left it like that, but I really wanted to Gert the pistons out to get the deposits off. (Easy Off oven cleaner, time and some putty knives did a good job of this, once I did get them out.)

To get the pistons, I had to drop the oil pan, which means that the front end had to come off.

Once that was off, we dropped the pan, reamed the ridges off of the sleeves and removed the pistons.

I then took the connecting rod bearings to a local shop. He could tell that they were still original size...so...here is where some would chastise me for not measuring the crank journals and such...but I wasn't going to drop the crank anyway...I just ordered new original sized connecting rod bearings, rings and all new valve hardware.

The front seal was leaking, so I took off the crankshaft pulley (I couldn't pull it,so I torched it in half). I think this turned out to be a smart move, as the pulley had a groove worn in it by the rope seal. Probably original and would probably never seal even with new rope seals...which are a pain to replace without removing the pulley.

So that's as far as I disassembled.

I ordered a new crank pulley, new coil, cap, points and condenser, new spark plug wires, a new wiring harness, a new cutout switch(mine was sketchy) and a complete gasket set.

I took out the valves while I waited for parts...no small task...the guides had to be driven out with a socket.

I cleaned the entire block with Easy Off...plastic putty knives...then strong soap and hot water....dried with shop air...one of those black quickcrete mixing tubs from Lowes is just the right size to catch wastewater.

We honed the cylinders at this point.

We also "honed" the deposits out of the valve guide bores with some rolled up 220 grit sandpaper...until the new guides would slide in with reasonable force.

Then washed the engine again with soapy water to get rid of the filings.

At this point, reassembly started.

We lapped each valve in its bore with its new guide. Then took them back out to wipe out the bores.

Then valves went in.

Then the pistons went back in with new rings and connecting rod bearings.

Then the rope seal (after soaking in oil for two hours) in the block above the crank pulley.

Then the new crank pulley (baked at 250 in the oven for an hour) was tapped on with a wooden block.

Then the nut for the crank pulley was torqued on (easier to do before putting the pan on) by stopping the engine rotation with a block of wood wedged between a connecting rod journal and the sidewall of the engine.

At this point, I probably turned the engine over fifty cranks, watching the valves work, watching the pistons...wiping even more assembly lube on the cylinder walls here and there

I adjusted the valve tappet clearance at this point...when I still had access.

Then the pan with both rope seals...note that I RTV'd all of my new gaskets...maybe overkill...but I haven't seen so much as a drip. When the time came I also used copper spray-on adhesive on both sides of the head gasket and the intake/exhaust manifold gasket.

Whoops!....timing cover went back on BEFORE the crank pulley...forgot to mention that.

After the pan was the head.

I turned everything over by hand again to here compression pops from all cylinders now.

I put oil in at this point.

Then I routed all of the new wiring through the tube and put on the cutout switch, before other things got in the way.

Then all of the side stuff...governor, manifold, carb, generator, oil filter.

Then new battery cables to put it back to positive ground...a previous owner had switched it.

Then the distributor...with spark plugs and all connections made. This is when I polarized my generator by touching the battery's ungrounded (negative in this case) terminal.

At this point I tested for spark. GOOD THING! I had to fiddle with putting an extra washer under the copper screw that the coil pigtail hits and I had to bend the tab on the coil a little to make contact with the distributor cap...with all new aftermarket parts, I had that distributor on and off about four times before I could crank the starter and see proper spark...imagine having to do that with the hood in place...

Then new radiator hoses and a new thermostat.

Then put the hood back on.

I needed my wife for this, I couldn't "rotate" it into place. I had her stand at the operator platform. I lifted the whole shebang from the front and put it high over the engine to her. She held the back, I held the front, and we dropped it straight down.

We filled the coolant system back up, put on the fuel connections and tried to start...whoops...added fuel before that.

My battery was a little weak from spark testing and all of those new parts are tight, so the battery wouldn't do the trick.

We connected a six volt lawnmower battery in parallel for a little extra boost...BAM...it came to life, and it's running like a top ever since.

In hindsight, I would have done the oil pump too. My pressure is good, but I've recently read that rebuilding even "good" pumps improves their ability to hold oil and lubricate the engine immediately after startup...I didn't know that. Now you do.

Good luck!
 

I left out a couple of obvious things...like draining oil and flushing coolant initially.

Also...after the oil pan goes on...the front end is next. Make sure that the radius arms are in position over the front axle before you bolt the front onto the pan. Otherwise you'll have to unbolt the radius arms at the rear to get them in place. I had four people on hand to put the front back in place...so we just unbolted the front and repositioned the radius arms before bolting the front back on...

Nice to have grown daughters, a wife and a son-in-law :)
 
Thanks for posting. I have been around N tractors all my life,and can not imagine ever being without
one.
 
(quoted from post at 06:10:27 08/22/16) Personally,
I do like the 9/2s all gray.
But...
Given the choice between vermilion and
cerulean, I'll pick the latter every time.

I've created a monster. Apparently, my wife LOVES the little bugger. Her vision has gone downhill to the point over the last ten years to where she had to give up her driver's license. So, driving the tractor in the field is her only "wheel time" now.

The Little Blue 2 was called into action last night, as it's a little muddy around here this year, and I got the 3000 stuck with the baler.

She was at the field, so I had her bring over the Little Blue 2, and I chained it up to the back end of the baler. It has a Sherman, so I had her put it in 1st gear, stepped up and instructed her to go when I said go and to pull me to the edge of the field, unless I yelled stop.

I had her take up the slack in the chain and wait.

I get on the 3000, put it in high reverse (it's the 8 speed), turn around and yell "GO!"

She pegged the throttle and dumped the clutch on that little 2N. I started backwards a little with my tires spinning and then the chain tightened up and the baler jerked. She was now fully engaged with the 2N yanking the old 276 baler and the 3000, churning towards the edge of the field with me trying my darnedest to keep the baler and tractor going backwards in a straight line behind her.

I yelled..."YUP!"

No stopping....

I yelled even louder..."WHOA!!!!!!"

After a short delay, she stopped. I stopped, and she started backing up to loosen the chain. I get off and walk over. I unhook the chain from the baler and start reeling it in toward her on The Little Blue 2.

"I yelled a couple of times." I said.

She turns around with a big grin...

"Sorry, couldn't hear ya over all of this POWER!"

:)

For her and I, that's a fun night "out"
 
(quoted from post at 17:35:13 08/24/16)
(quoted from post at 06:10:27 08/22/16) Personally,
I do like the 9/2s all gray.
But...
Given the choice between vermilion and
cerulean, I'll pick the latter every time.

I've created a monster. Apparently, my wife LOVES the little bugger. Her vision has gone downhill to the point over the last ten years to where she had to give up her driver's license. So, driving the tractor in the field is her only "wheel time" now.

The Little Blue 2 was called into action last night, as it's a little muddy around here this year, and I got the 3000 stuck with the baler.

She was at the field, so I had her bring over the Little Blue 2, and I chained it up to the back end of the baler. It has a Sherman, so I had her put it in 1st gear, stepped up and instructed her to go when I said go and to pull me to the edge of the field, unless I yelled stop.

I had her take up the slack in the chain and wait.

I get on the 3000, put it in high reverse (it's the 8 speed), turn around and yell "GO!"

She pegged the throttle and dumped the clutch on that little 2N. I started backwards a little with my tires spinning and then the chain tightened up and the baler jerked. She was now fully engaged with the 2N yanking the old 276 baler and the 3000, churning towards the edge of the field with me trying my darnedest to keep the baler and tractor going backwards in a straight line behind her.

I yelled..."YUP!"

No stopping....

I yelled even louder..."WHOA!!!!!!"

After a short delay, she stopped. I stopped, and she started backing up to loosen the chain. I get off and walk over. I unhook the chain from the baler and start reeling it in toward her on The Little Blue 2.

"I yelled a couple of times." I said.

She turns around with a big grin...

"Sorry, couldn't hear ya over all of this POWER!"

:)

For her and I, that's a fun night "out"

Now would be a good time to buy another tractor! :D
 

You know, Royse, it IS a little addictive. Plus, I've now made, I don't know, four or five little specialized homemade tools to help rebuild the engine.

Every once in a while, around here, I see old 9N, 2N...not so much 8N....tractors sitting around or being sold for a few hundred bucks because they're not running.

It might be worth it to just keep my eyes and ears open for another one to get working again, maybe as a winter project sometime.
 

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