How many acres was an 8N designed to farm, when new?

[BossofBBQ]

Imagine it's 1948, and a farmer has just bought a brand spanking new 8N as his primary tractor. How many acres would he likely farm? The large scale of agriculture industry today makes it hard to imagine a time when a feller could successfully farm with just an 8N, especially for us young guys...

In my area there were a lot of small ranches, seems like almost every one of them had an N Ford at one point or another, mainly for augering post-holes, backblading dirt roads, and brushhogging. I knew of one that was used solely for snow removal, with a Dearborn 19-1 snow blade. That was a pretty slick setup. In my memory, the N's have always been regarded as faithful little "chore" tractors, while bigger machines handled the heavy lifting. Was this always the case?

Thanks for entertaining my rambling, folks- Fell down a rabbit hole looking at old Dearborn equipment brochures I've recently acquired....

 

[EdGooding]

I bought my '52 8N from the original purchaser. He still had his owner's manual, sales receipt and customer survey (attached here). With the 8N, I got his Dearborn 2-14 Economy plow, Dearborn cultivator, and Love Tractor disc harrow. You will see from the survey that he farmed 70-99 acres with it. It replaced his mules. Can you imagine how hard that was? Mr. Bangs worked this 8N hard, but loved it and took great care of it. He started getting emotional as I loaded it on my trailer and I offered to back out of the deal, but he would not hear of it as long as I promised to take good care of her. I've had her for about 30 years now. I've also attached the sales invoice that shows the original price of the 8N and implements.

 

[John0829]

Since Ford designed the tractor to replace a team of horses I think the N series was considered good for 20 to 60 acres, I personally know of two that farmed about 40 acres. IMHO the biggest factor being how many hours one would be willing to spend in the seat.

 

[KennyG]

I think it depends a lot on the type of farm and area. I grew up in the 50s in a midwest row crop area where most farms were in the 80 to 160 acre range. The Fords were rare and considered too small. Most people had Farmall H or M or Allis Chalmers WD or WD45.

 

[lman]

I grew up in the 60's and very few serious farmers used a Ford 8n. Row crop farmers were using International Harvesters, John Deeres, Cases or Olivers. We farmed about 500 acres of corn, soybeans and wheat using Oliver tractors.

 

[CalG]

Those little N model Fords were considered "chore tractors" by my family in S,Dak.

160 acre dry farm

 

[KCTractors]

I bought my '52 8N from the original purchaser. He still had his owner's manual, sales receipt and customer survey (attached here). With the 8N, I got his Dearborn 2-14 Economy plow, Dearborn cultivator, and Love Tractor disc harrow. You will see from the survey that he farmed 70-99 acres with it. It replaced his mules. Can you imagine how hard that was? Mr. Bangs worked this 8N hard, but loved it and took great care of it. He started getting emotional as I loaded it on my trailer and I offered to back out of the deal, but he would not hear of it as long as I promised to take good care of her. I've had her for about 30 years now. I've also attached the sales invoice that shows the original price of the 8N and implements.

My Dad's dairy farm was 279 acres with about 110 - 120 acres under cultivation. He farmed it with two 8 N Fords. They were worked hard and every other year they had to be over-hauled. Then he bought a Allis Chalmer WD. He hated that thing. He traded the Allis for a Ford 960 with a three bottom plow and still used the 8N with a two bottom plow. When the new Ford 4000's came out, he bought a new 4000. A year later found a good used 4000, so then it was two 4000's, 960 and the 8N that he bought new. Younger brother has the farm now, just leases the land. He still has the two 4000's, another brother has the 960 and another brother has the original new 1950, 8N.

 

[anomad]

I used to do trash run with one and an old hay wagon on my school campus (boarding school). Don't know exactly what model it was, but I slung many dumpsters of trash. I was assigned to maintenance immediately upon enrollment and after them hearing I could back a trailer and drive tractor. I was 13. Learned more from doing that than whatever was going on the the classrooms.

 

[BossofBBQ]

Thanks for the replies y'all! Coming from a young guy born in the early 2000s, It's interesting to hear how these little Fords were used back in the day. Ed-the original invoice and registration are a window into the past, it's neat to see how much a 8N with some basic implements cost when new.

I am the 4th owner of my 8N. It's been repainted in factory colors and seems to be relatively low-hour. I believe the total hours on it are less than 3500, according to the proof meter and judging by the wear on the pedals. I bought it from a feller in the suburbs, who bought it from the Son-In-Law of the original owner. It's been a really good little tractor, I like how common parts are for 'em.

My grandpa grew up on a ~100 acre farm in southern Indiana. His family had an Allis Chalmers Model C, and later two WD 45s. The neighbor had an 8N, and Grandpa described racing the 8N home after a day in the fields. The 8N always won, thanks to it's overly fast 4th gear. Fast forward 20 years- after moving to Colorado, he bought an 8N with a Wagner loader to handle chores around his 20 acre property. Never saw that tractor; it was traded for a Kubota L3130 long before I was born.

Tractor brand prevalence seems largely dependent on location. Here in Central/Eastern CO we don't really see any row crop tractors. Every now and again a Farmall H or JD B will turn up, but the vast majority of antique tractors around here are Fords, either 9N,2N,8N, Jubilee, or Hundred series. I guess it has something to do with the hills; narrow front row crop tractors don't seem super practical on steep side slopes.

 

[EdGooding]

I think it depends a lot on the type of farm and area. I grew up in the 50s in a midwest row crop area where most farms were in the 80 to 160 acre range. The Fords were rare and considered too small. Most people had Farmall H or M or Allis Chalmers WD or WD45.

Yep! The Funk Aircraft Company in Kansas reacted to this with their conversion kit to allow 8N owners to swap in a 95hp 6-cylinder engine so the 8N could pull a 3-bottom plow.

I think the Ford 8N has had more engine swaps than any other model I have seen. I have seen them with virtually every major auto 8-cylinder engine in them, a Honda Valkyrie engine, and a huge turbine. Also, another one with FOUR transmissions in it that made it the slowest tractor known. I could start a new thread and share photos of all if there is interest.