1949 8n oil pressure problems

[borntohunt]

hey guys, what a great website and tool for eveyone to use. i'm new to this so please help if you can, direction, advise, whatever you can offer would help me out.
i guess i am suppose to introduce myself since this is my first time here. 55 years old, feel like i'm still 20; love the outdoors, love hunting whitetails; have several deer in the world record books all with bow and arrow.
bought a peice of heaven the other day, bout 3 miles from a refugee; the place is covered up with elk and deer and hogs.
trying my best to pull the deer in so bought a 1949 8n and disc so i could make a food plot by the house.

here's my problem: tractor starts and runs pretty good, does seem to have a miss every once in the while; oil pressure is about 27 lbs when first started; after about 20-30 minutes of running the disc, the pressure has dropped to about 10 lbs and the tractor has lost most of its pulling power.
i'm running 5w-40 oil. have replaced it twice, have replaced the filter; have cleaned the carb, new plugs and wires; new coil; cleaned air cleaner; cleaned breather; etc. there's really not much that i havnt done; i'm figuring on rebuilding the oil pump soon but in my mind, i really dont think that is my problem, i just dont know what it could be. a guy at work suggested there might be some kind of relief vale on the oil pump itself and after a while of running the vale is opening and i'm losing the pressure. also i replace the oil pressure gage to make sure it was not the gage.

give me some ideas guys; i've fallen and i cant get up!

 

[Muhammad]

Welcome to TBN.

 

[moored4]

:welcome: to TBN! :thumbsup:

Happy :tractor: ing!

 

[LD1]

hey guys, what a great website and tool for eveyone to use. i'm new to this so please help if you can, direction, advise, whatever you can offer would help me out.
i guess i am suppose to introduce myself since this is my first time here. 55 years old, feel like i'm still 20; love the outdoors, love hunting whitetails; have several deer in the world record books all with bow and arrow.
bought a peice of heaven the other day, bout 3 miles from a refugee; the place is covered up with elk and deer and hogs.
trying my best to pull the deer in so bought a 1949 8n and disc so i could make a food plot by the house.

here's my problem: tractor starts and runs pretty good, does seem to have a miss every once in the while; oil pressure is about 27 lbs when first started; after about 20-30 minutes of running the disc, the pressure has dropped to about 10 lbs and the tractor has lost most of its pulling power.
i'm running 5w-40 oil. have replaced it twice, have replaced the filter; have cleaned the carb, new plugs and wires; new coil; cleaned air cleaner; cleaned breather; etc. there's really not much that i havnt done; i'm figuring on rebuilding the oil pump soon but in my mind, i really dont think that is my problem, i just dont know what it could be. a guy at work suggested there might be some kind of relief vale on the oil pump itself and after a while of running the vale is opening and i'm losing the pressure. also i replace the oil pressure gage to make sure it was not the gage.

give me some ideas guys; i've fallen and i cant get up!

Unfortunatally, it sounds like your time for a rebuild. Oil needs resistance to create pressure. If the engine is sloppy and wore out, you will have little to no pressure. As the oil thins and the engine warms up........low oil pressure.

IF the tractor continued to run fine with low pressure, I'd say that it could just be a pump. But you say that it is "loosing its pulling power". Tells me its a tired engine.

Do you have a compression tester? If so, check compression.

 

[mguitas]

:welcome:

 

[kensnelling]

Welcome to the forums from Oklahoma.

Ken

 

[Briana03]

Welcome to TBN

I moved your thread to the Ford Vintage Tractors Forum.

 

[trac]

I have one in the shop right now with the same conditions. Pulled the engine out of her yesterday. Removed the pan, pulled the oil pump- main bearing combo. Pump had a lot of play between the shaft and the bushing in the housing. Plastic gauged the rest of the bearings, all were well past wear limits. Now, been up this road before. If you rebuild the lower end and not replace the pistons, rings, sleeves,and valves; good chance of oil burner. I'm replacing the works.Also, this one had the oil pump with the 3/4 inch wide gears. Make sure yours does ( high volume oil pump). Everything else on this tractor is excellent. Will have a couple grand in it when I get done, but, it will be reliable. They are good tractors.

 

[Dollar Bill]

"here's my problem: tractor starts and runs pretty good, does seem to have a miss every once in the while; oil pressure is about 27 lbs when first started; after about 20-30 minutes of running the disc, the pressure has dropped to about 10 lbs and the tractor has lost most of its pulling power"

Oil pressure symptoms you describe are normal for a Ford N and the engine will probably outlast you with those numbers. A straight 30 weight oil may give you marginally higher reading when warm but not enough to crow about. I do recommend a diesel spec oil such as Rotella 15W40 for its anti scuff properties.

Loss of power has nothing to do with oil pressure. Give us a few more symptoms to help us diagnose your loss of power problem. How are you loading the tractor? Does the engine miss etc....

 

[Soundguy]

i agree.. loss of power is a seperat eissue.

i would not run 5wanything on an old N.

I'd run 15w40.. if that was a lil low.. I'd run 20w50.

the oil plunger is a big 15/16 plug on the fornt of hte engine.. sometimes you can get a few psi stretching the spring.

if you can keep 10psi hot oil pressure.. she is fine for a while. rule of thumb is minimum of 6 psi per 1000 rpm..

lots oil is lost thru rod and mains when they wear.

do a wet / dry compression test to determin compression and if valve work is needed.

a poor mans rebuild can cost under 100$ and get you a decade down the road.

buy new head gasket, oil pan gasket and valve cover gaskets, if dong valve work.

pull mains and rods and buy smae size shells that are in it. no need to mic or plastigauge. you KNOW whatever it had will go back in.. renewing the shells will up the psi some.

if comp was low and indicated rings, rering, hone the cyls and ream the ridge. if comp test indicated valves too.. hand lap them then clean the compound out well.. clean again.. do oil change.. etc..

that poor mans uppwer and lower can be done for 100$ including oil change and gaskets and rings and shells. oil pressure comes up.. compression comes up.. etc.. etc.


soundguy