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.

 

[BossofBBQ]

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.

That does sound interesting, it would be cool to see photos of these swaps. Over on YouTube I saw a video of an 8n that was swapped with a 7.3L Powerstroke. That was pretty neat.
I'm curious, how did the transmissions/clutches hold up with the extra power from the Funk 6 and 8 cylinder conversions?

 

[EdGooding]

That does sound interesting, it would be cool to see photos of these swaps. Over on YouTube I saw a video of an 8n that was swapped with a 7.3L Powerstroke. That was pretty neat.
I'm curious, how did the transmissions/clutches hold up with the extra power from the Funk 6 and 8 cylinder conversions?

I have never seen any data on transmission/rear-end issues, but I have to believe that, if you quadruple the horsepower (or better) and get a little squirrely, bad things can happen. Using the power to plow and cultivate, I would think they would hold up. But, that is strictly my opinion. Others' mileage may vary.

 

[John0829]

It was a well documented fact the rear ends did NOT hold up to the increase power, a little to much jerking on loads or popping clutches would eventually take out the pinion rear support and bearing. As long as it was not abused to much they would do reasonably well.

 

[square1]

Ford's original brochures and manuals highlighted the tractor’s ability to do “a man’s work” with “great speed and efficiency,” sometimes quantifying this as being able to “plow two acres in an hour” in 2nd gear at full throttle (approximately 2,000 RPM).

 

[sixdogs]

In the '50's and '60's a diversified family farm that had some cows, chickens and pigs, made hay and grew feed grain was commonly 60 acres. Coming off the depression and war, the 8N did most of what was required and was priced right. It was a great tractor for that use. That same farm might later add an Int'l H or M or Deere.

The need for HP grew fast but Ford was slow on that so IH and Deere elbowed in and the Ford 8N was pushed aside to became a great utility tractor for raking hay and pulling wagons. They didn't get much use and that's why so many survived with fairly low use. Anyway, that's what I saw.

 

[EdGooding]

In the '50's and '60's a diversified family farm that had some cows, chickens and pigs, made hay and grew feed grain was commonly 60 acres. Coming off the depression and war, the 8N did most of what was required and was priced right. It was a great tractor for that use. That same farm might later add an Int'l H or M or Deere.

The need for HP grew fast but Ford was slow on that so IH and Deere elbowed in and the Ford 8N was pushed aside to became a great utility tractor for raking hay and pulling wagons. They didn't get much use and that's why so many survived with fairly low use. Anyway, that's what I saw.

Deere was also helped by Harold Brock, who left Ford Tractor in 1959 and took his engineering genius to Deere, where some of his innovations helped move Deere to the top of the heap.

 

[Little Red Tractor]

In the '50's and '60's a diversified family farm that had some cows, chickens and pigs, made hay and grew feed grain was commonly 60 acres. Coming off the depression and war, the 8N did most of what was required and was priced right. It was a great tractor for that use. That same farm might later add an Int'l H or M or Deere.

The need for HP grew fast but Ford was slow on that so IH and Deere elbowed in and the Ford 8N was pushed aside to became a great utility tractor for raking hay and pulling wagons. They didn't get much use and that's why so many survived with fairly low use. Anyway, that's what I saw.

That sounds about like a farm near where I grew up in upstate New York. Pigs, chickens, a few cows and probably 60-ish acres. They had two N-series tractors that lasted them for many years. I no longer live in the area, but wouldn't be surprised to discover that one of both of those tractors still inhabit that little farm.

 

[CoyPatton]

As one commenter stated, these N snd other tractors of those days typically replaced a team of horses or mules. Also the farmers of these days typically were fairly self sufficient in their farming—did some row crops often a cash crop and livestock.
This would include both sets of my grand parents! They had cattle, beef and dairy (mostly dairy) chickens (also collected eggs), occasionally had pigs as well, then did row crops. They also had a vegetable garden. They bought very little while we now buy almost everything.
One set of grand parents had 100 acres and seven children, 2 fairly close (from the edge of 1 field to the edge of the second less than 1/4 mile separation) together 50 acre fields. One 50 acre held the home, the barn, the pasture for horse, the cattle yard, chicken cope and area for chickens (some overlap with horses and cattle) a 10-15 acre area of trees where cattle were allowed to roam (this was still woods during my childhood, currently 64 yo). Rough guess they row crop farmed some 60-70 acres mostly cotton which is still a crop grown on this same land with rotation with other crops currently.
So compared to today my cousin that farms that land and much more roughly 100 times more) is a non comparable operation.

 

[Gord Baker]

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....

50 at most.

 

[Todd727]

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....

All of them that you had. It's just time.