8/9N on bumpy pastures?

[gardenpro]

I'm trying to decide if these tractors are what I am in need of- I have 9 acres that are overall flatland but have lots of bumps. I'm looking for a cheap/very reasonable tractor that can mow this, plus rototill among other things.
How do they compare to other tractors when used on bumpy ground?
One day I do plan to hire a farmer to come and grade the land, there is just no money for that for likely several years.
The land is soft in places (high water table), does the two wheel drive have trouble getting stuck? I wanted a 4wd but...
Thanks!

 

[Bully]

You are not going to be able to till with those tractors unless they have an after market under drive trans. the are great for mowing and do all right on the bumps. how about a plow, and harrow at first.to knock out the humps? Gary

 

[gardenpro]

Hi and thanks for the info. Is an aftermarket under drive trans an expensive addition? Tilling is quite important- definatley the second most important function for me.

 

[Pooh_Bear]

I have concieved a lot of interesting notions to use a tiller with my 8n.
None of those ideas are really feasible.
An N tractor is just not suited to a tiller.
Get a plow and a disk harrow and it will work great.
A disk harrow will take care of a lot of those bumps.
For more stubborn and bigger bumps get a box blade.

Pooh Bear

 

[gardenpro]

Jeez I was really thinking that the 8/9N were the tractors for me. Figured I'd just come across something about tilling for them as I couldn't find anyting as of yet.
Sets me back to square one. I'm in need of a tractor that is really cheap, can handle the mowing of over 8 acres of pasture and can rototill thoroughly. Just small areas, but within 2-3 years I expect to have 2-3 acres tilled and in cultivation. Any ideas? Thanks again for the help. If it wasn't for this forum I'd still be barking up the wrong tree.

 

[Soundguy]

Yep.. N's are geared too high for roto tilling unless you have one of about two post tranny add on units.. one is an everet trencher tranny.. and the other is the howard rotovator tranny. Either will slow the N ground speed considerably.. but not slow the pto speed.

The common underdrive trannies by sherman and Hupp are not suitable for this as they are installed as the input shaft of the tranny.. they slow ground speed AND pto speed.. as the pto is driven on the tranny countershaft.. etc.

Do you really need to roto till before you cultivate? Farmers for decades simply plowed/disced/cultivated.

An N is an awesome 2-bottom pullint machine.. 10-12-14" bottoms.. or a single 16" bottom.

Soundguy

 

[gardenpro]

Soundguy, can the N's cultivate alright then? My main thing is, with such a small 'farm' you really need to have a distinct product or you may as well not farm, in this area. Chemical free organic is what sells in this area at the farmers markets.
My thought was because I'm not using roundup or any other herbicide the pastures would need some serious tilling to irradicate the grass/weeds.
Can the N series take care of this, and if so what would I need? THANKS again.

 

[Egon]

The tractor will do fine for cultivating with the traditional equipment.

As you cultivate the ground will become less bummpy.

Think carefully about the rotatiller. You can prepare small plots without it. If you wish to till between crop rows the tractor tiller may not be the combination you are looking for.

Egon

 

[RickB]

8/9N 's come in two styles; pretty good and money pit. They are between 53 and 66 years old. 9N's are almost totally obsolete as they have a poor steering gear, 3 speed transmission and no position control on the hitch. 8N's have position control, improved steering and 4 speeds but still lack live hydraulics and live PTO. The lack of live PTO can be dealt with to a degree. Spending good money on a tractor without live hydraulics is just foolish. I spend wayyyyyyy too much time working on N's that folks think can be made to run and work in showroom fashion when in fact they are plain worn out. Last one I looked at had a non-functional cob-job 12V conversion, low compression, leaking PTO shaft seal with the obsolete seal style and 1 1/8" output shaft, and leaking axle seals. And was just purchased for $3000. Give me that 3K and a little time, I will find a tractor 10-15 years newer with live hyds and maybe live PTO. Thanks for reading the rant, Rick.

 

[RobertN]

What about a Farmall Super-A, C or H? Made for cultivating, and can easily run a mower. And, they have better gearing than a Ford N series. They are pretty affordable too. An Super-A would be just the trick for a 2-3 acre garden too.

 

[redlevel]

For specialty vegetable/produce farming there has never been a finer tractor than a 135 Massey Ferguson. That would apply as well to the 35, 235, 240, 245 etc. The 3000 Ford would probably be just as good, but I never had much experience with them. These tractors (the Fergies) have draft control, position control, live hydraulics, dual-stage clutch, and you can do any job that needs to be done on a small (large, for that matter) farm. You need a 14" or 16" two-bottom plow. If you are not going to use chemicals for weed control, turning the weed and grass seed under with a bottom plow is better than tilling. You need a two-row Pittsburgh type cultivator for plowing (cultivating) between the rows. A disc harrow and a mower, and of course some kind of planter, would get you ready to put a crop in.

The N tractors, especially the 8N, will handle all the above. However, as someone pointed out, many, if not most, of these tractors are just worn out. The 600 Ford my wife inherited from her father and turned over to me was in pretty good shape, especially the engine. I have spent about $2000 on it just getting it in shape to do some serious gardening and food plot work, and it still needs four tires. If it hadn't had sentimental value, I would have sold it and got another 135.

In my area you can buy a good (hopefully) 8N or 600 for around $3500. I say hopefully, because unless you are pretty knowledgeable mechanically, there can be hidden problems that will cost you money. The tractor won't be worth any more when you spend the money. You can buy a pretty good 135 for $4500 to $6000, depending on hours, power steering, etc. The tractors are 15 to 20 years newer than the 8N's. A late 60's or early 70's 135 that appears to be in pretty good shape, cranks and runs good, and has few obvious warts, is probably really in pretty good condition. The same would apply to Fords of the same size.

My family grew high-value, labor intensive, small-acreage crops for 60 years. I still do a little of it on the side. We didn't grow organic, but many of the crops we grew had no effective herbicides cleared. My last bit of advice would be to get ready to rub some blisters pulling weeds. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Pooh_Bear]

How much area are you wanting to till.
I plowed my parents garden this year and they went over it with their Troybuilt tiller.
I plowed all the weeds under with a 16inch bottom plow.
Their garden is about 40x40 feet. Almost too small to plow.

You could get an N tractor for mowing the pasture.
Then get a pull behind powered tiller that pulls behind a lawn tractor.
Pull Behind Tiller at Northern Tool

So far I love my 1949 8N tractor.
I thought I would miss having live lift and live PTO.
But so far it hasn't been a problem.
I could add live lift to it with a Live Thang from Zane Sherman.

And these tractors are easy to get parts for
and easy to work on. A big plus for me.
I just put a new clutch in mine. Wasn't too hard to do.

I couldn't afford the newer tractors. I wanted a Ford 3000.
But now that I have my 8N I am very happy with it.

Pooh Bear

 

[Soundguy]

A plow, disc, and a cultivator.

As was mentioned.. 9n doesn't have position control ( not needed for plowing.. discing.. or cultivatiing ).. the 8n has pc.. and neither have live hyds. Step up to a NAA and you get live hyds.. step up to a 66X or 86X and get live hyds, and live pto.. perhaps even power steering.

All the N's.. NAA and ealry hundred series are usually priced very similar. For instance.. N's go in the 1800-3000$ range.. Naa and hundred series go in the 2000-3500$ range... Earlt thousand series start at about 3000$ etc.

Also as stated.. you can buy a money pit.. or a minty machine. I paid 2800$ for my 8n.. it runs good.. I've had to rebuild the stering box and hyds, and replace a rear tire.. .but that's it. I'd call it average to goo. My 2n was almost as much money.. and way older. It needs a clutch when I find the time and money, and the engines on the worn side... 18psi oil pressure.. etc.. but does run. Id call it 'fair... pto and hyds work good.

I paid 2000 for my NAA.. it was rough.. rusty.. belts squealed. Clutch was grabby.. but that was from non-use.(cleared up with use.. quick ) Had to replace an expensive 16.9x24 tire 2weeks after I got it ( 450$ ) It really really needs a steering box rebuild...

I paid 3500$ for my ford 660 with front end loader.

Had an oil leak at the oil filter.. no breaks.. non operative charging system. In one day, i adjusted the breaks.. changed the oil and put a new gasket on the filter canister, and fiddled with the vr and got it charging. Works great now... has live hyds and pto... My best 'old' tractor for working.

Soundguy

Soundguy

 

[GabeTX]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( It needs a clutch when I find the time and money, and the engines on the worn side... 18psi oil pressure.. etc.. but does run. Id call it 'fair... pto and hyds work good.)</font>

When people give oil pressure figures like that, what oil pressure reading are they usually quoting? 18 psi while hot at a slow idle? 18 psi at PTO speed? etc.

 

[Soundguy]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( It needs a clutch when I find the time and money, and the engines on the worn side... 18psi oil pressure.. etc.. but does run. Id call it 'fair... pto and hyds work good.)

When people give oil pressure figures like that, what oil pressure reading are they usually quoting? 18 psi while hot at a slow idle? 18 psi at PTO speed? etc. )</font>

I'm not sure about others.. but I usually give average oil pressure number if i don't specify a temp/rpm.

For instance.. cold hi- idle is 22 psi.. warm idle is 18 psi.. worked at pto rpm for a few hours is about 12psi... Doesn't seem to go lower than 12 psi on 30w oil yet... might in a few more years... Then I'll switch to 40w oil.. for a couple years probably then to 50w oil.. for a couple more..then to rebuild.. etc.

Soundguy

 

[gardenpro]

Thanks again for all of this info! The info offerred here has been really helpful to me. I am again looking for an N series, only now I have a better understanding and idea of what to look for. If I find a good one I'll send in a photo!

 

[frank_f15]

I had a 2n that i used for mowing fields and plowing snow, it had a pretty nice FEL on it but the Fel and frame were so heavy that if you got your front end down it just took all the weight off the rear end. i like it but it was a bear to steer.

 

[Soundguy]

Rear wieght helps imensly with front end loaders.

Soundguy

 

[RobertN]

I will mention Farmall's again; The "A" and "C" series were made for stuff like you talk of doing. You would want something along the lines of a Super-A or Super-C, with hydraulics and everything.

You have been given lots of good info here. I would offer that you go spend some time at Yesterdays Tractors and look around thier site. I would point out the "Articles" section. They have a lot of good info on selecting, inspecting, and buying old tractors. They also have good classified ad's... Look at the menu on the left of the page; there is TONS of good info there.

 

[frank_f15]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Rear wieght helps imensly with front end loaders.
)</font>

YEP I know, i had filled tires and chains and still added weight to the back, i loved that old tractor, always sounded like the battery was dead(6volt) but always fired right up NO MATTER THE TEMP. but my old arms and legs could not take the clutch, shift, clutch , shift etc. hated to sell it !