Fixing up Granddad s old Ford 8n

Been making posts here and there about advice on this old machine and figured I might as well put this thread together. Grand dad owned this tractor and when he died in the early 80 s and Grandma went to live an apartment this old tractor went down to my parents farm.

Learned to drive on this old machine. Spent a lot of time running wagons, raking hay, tedding hay, cleaning barn and even skidding logs out of the woods with this old machine. Engine had a major overhaul done in the early 90 s. In the early 2000 s the oil pump pickup cracked and the oil pressure plummeted and my dad quit using it. At the time I was stationed (former Army) within driving distance of my parents place. Brought the machine back with me. It needed a crank (original had already been turned .030) and bearings but everything else seemed serviceable.

Dad retired farming heavily about 5-6 years ago but still does odd odd jobs with it. Still had a handful of horses still and widdled it down to having one left.

Anyways, this past fall my parents barn caught fire and burned down. Lost two Farmalls (450 and M) plus a host of implements tools etc. The little Ford was not thankfully in the barn but due to just how hot the fire was it burned most of the right side tires off the tractor. Collapsed/warped the air filter casing, damaged the hood, damaged both the front and rear rims on the right side, melted all the particulars with the distributor, and other such damage including all the wiring.

Stupid stuff I broke so far:

I remember back in the 90 s when we were overhauling the engine I broke the coil mounting bolts off in the head. We just rigged up a way to mount the coil off the timing cover bolts. Worked but wasn t OE. Well stupid me decided to try to weld a nut on one of the broken bolts while I have the hood and everything off. I cracked the head. Great... $250 later we are back in business with a used head from EBay, new head bolts, head gasket, and having the local machine shop check it out, and planing .013 off to true it up.

Items we ve fixed so far:
Put all new rubber on the front.
Replaced the rims on the right side
Replaced the right rear tire.
Replaced the distributor.
Replaced all the plug wires and coil.

Items to get fixed:
Carb leaks fuel like crazy needs rebuilt.
Find a new hood and dog legs.
Steering has a nasty grind in it. Probably all the lube is gone.
Hydraulics haven t worked right for the last couple of years. Once I get it running sort that out.

I ll post updates as I get things done.

Pictures of the old girl heading back to Maryland with me. [im



[/img]

A good winter project.

Its great you can work on the same
tractor as your Dad, and Grandfather.
Sorry about the barn fire. I bought a
parts 8n for the sherman combo it had.It
also was burned alongside a barn. Side
distributor and timing cover melted it
got so hot. Found the float in the carb
had the solder melt so the floats were
not attatched anymore. Have not tried to
re-solder.Also found the heat melted the
solder joint on the oil pick-tube.The
solder solidified on the main bearing
shell.
Good luck on your tractor, and thank you
for your service.
John

Email me I might have all the parts you need to fix it back up. email's open I'm in S.E. Ohio

Check your email. I think I got it sent to you.

She s a runner. Granted the hydraulics don t work at all and the sheet metal is no good but at least we Have something to work with. The front main seal is leaking pretty good though. Gonna have to split the tractor to fix it but oh well. Might as well put a rear main in it while I m at it but splitting it isn t that big of a deal.

https://youtu.be/d9x6on5YLXs

https://youtu.be/d9x6on5YLXs

By the time you're done, you will have spent more than it would have cost to get a running tractor -- but yours will be in far better shape, clean, adjusted, etc.

And Granddad's....

(quoted from post at 09:10:20 12/14/19) And Granddad's....

Click to expand...

This.

There are other factors than cost and capability in the choice of a tractor. I have over $5K in mine and won't recover a third of that when I sell it. But it's what I wanted, having spent many an hour in the seat of my Dad's '52:



and getting to see Dad drive mine around a few years ago:



and planting a 'seed' in the next generation, too:



es

Yep, you nailed it Ed. There are many people here that will say
an N series isn't worth much, but memories are priceless.

Kossuth, don't buy parts like that head off eBay if they're that
much. There is a guy near me selling used heads for $10 each.
I don't have the sheetmetal you mentioned, but I have quite a
few other parts if needed here in central Michigan.