1951 Ford 8N restoration thread

[BossofBBQ]

I’m in the process of restoring a 1951 8N tractor, and thought I’d make a thread detailing the build-
I'll update this thread periodically as the restoration goes on.

I bought this tractor, non running, a few weeks ago. It had sat outside for an unknown number of years, and was missing a grill, and battery hatch. The tires are actually in really good shape, with only minor weather checking.
We arrived at the seller's residence and tried to get it fired up to drive onto the trailer. After about an hour of tinkering, the starter Bendix still wouldn’t engage, and we winched the tractor up.

With our tractor securely chained and strapped down, we headed home. Included in the deal was a 4’ rotary cutter and a 6’ backblade. The rotary cutter was in poor shape. I hammered out the dents, sharpened the blades, changed the gear oil, painted it, and put it up for sale.

 

[John0829]

Looking forward to seeing you bring back to life an old classic.

 

[BossofBBQ]

I got the tractor unloaded and moved into my workshop, and promptly tore into it:

I cleaned the fuel tank with electrolysis. It actually was relatively rust-free.
I also filed and re-adjusted the points, thoroughly cleaned the carb, removed and cleaned the internal starter contacts, and checked all the fluids.
The tractor fired right up and ran excellently. No smoke at all. The gauge was reading 80 LBS of oil pressure, which is a bit much for an N at idle.
Sometimes people will stretch the oil pressure relief spring on the front cover, so the gauge reads higher. Both of my 8N’s were like that when I bought them. I have a new spring on order for this particular tractor.
It’s still running a 6V positive ground electrical system. I cleaned all the grounds and got rid of some rats-nest wiring. Looks much nicer!

This tractor had a mid-mount sickle bar mower installed at one point. The mower was removed before my time, leaving only the mounts:

I have since removed the mounts and put them up for sale locally.

There is a lot of oil leaks in the transmission/rear diff area. I ordered some seals-the usual suspects. PTO seal, Axle seals, transmission input seal, rear main seal, and a bunch of other miscellaneous stuff.