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

[Bentrim]

If you wanted mounted implements you had to dedicate them to the tractor. We had snap coupler plows for the ACs but we also had a pull type trip plow for the old F-20. Other than plows and cultivators there weren't many mounted implements.

Most implements back then were pull type so the was no problem with hitching it. And most used a mechanical lift or lever, hydraullics was not a popular option on the larger tractors back then or only was used for the cultivators or sickle bar mower.
The PTO may have been more of an issue as some were high others were low, some were 1 3/8 and some were 1 1/8. Some were too far or too close to the hitch point. I don't know when all that was standardized.
If you consider the hitch issue -- Ferguson and Ford used the three point hitch, JD used the Yakima hitch and then went to an odd three point for the 50,60, and70 withe the 40 using a three point after the Yakima hitch. Case had the eagle hitch, AC used snap coupler IH used the fast hitch.
Most row crop tractor usually had some type of mounted equipment that was brand specific. Some mounted equipment such as corn pickers only fit certain brands and then not all models.

 

[coast40]

Ford Flathead in a Ford tractor.

 

[Paystar]

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.

That's awesome! Not often you see old paperwork like that.

 

[California]

Ford Flathead in a Ford tractor.

A flathead seems to me is the only authentic re-power. Anything else is a Frankenstein-ord.

 

[EdGooding]

Ford Flathead in a Ford tractor.

Love it! Nicely done!

 

[NUTTERDW]

It was definitely a massive improvement over working with a team of horses or mules. If a farm used an N-series as the chore tractor and a Farmall M or JD G as the big tractor, did that mean they had to buy separate implements for each machine? A Farmall M is much larger than an 8N, but I can imagine it could be inconvenient having to purchase and maintain two different sets of implements.

I’m especially curious about the 3-point implements for the N-series Fords. Since other tractors at the time didn’t use a 3-point hitch, those implements wouldn’t fit anything else. How did farms handle that mismatch?

When my dad purchased the Farmall C he paid 1795 for the tractor and the plows, disc, sickle mower, and cultivators cost an additional 600 dollars, for a total cost of 2395. that was in 1950 and I think his income for the year was around 4000 dollars.

 

[careyo63]

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.

My Grand father owned one! It was Funk 6. Father was Dealer Rep. for ford back then. So they knew what it was. The owner was of a coal mine he worked at. He was the Foreman. Told to me it scared the !!!! out of him. Stuck on a hill a leaned up against a tree. WV.. Grand father used his Plow team to get it out. And he did sell it to him! True.

 

[lman]

I thought these 8N's were neat but I believe there were problems with the CVT.

 

[RayIN]

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.

I agree. The Harry Ferguson TO20 owners manual said it was designed to farm up to 80A. Those tractors were about the same size.

 

[masseyrider]

I thought these 8N's were neat but I believe there were problems with the CVT.
View attachment 4412865

I looked at one of these when they came out.
The most local dealers were gouging on the price and I did hear rumors about mechanical issues.
For the same money I got a lot more tractor with a solid 8x8 mechanical shuttle tranny and a loader.
Whenever I've tried to go New Holland the dealers have always shot themselves in the foot/tire.

 

[paulsharvey]

I looked at one of these when they came out.
The most local dealers were gouging on the price and I did hear rumors about mechanical issues.
For the same money I got a lot more tractor with a solid 8x8 mechanical shuttle tranny and a loader.
Whenever I've tried to go New Holland the dealers have always shot themselves in the foot/tire.

The retro New Holland, there is one at the auction today. It actually looks kinda funny with the red loader on it

 

[EdGooding]

I thought these 8N's were neat but I believe there were problems with the CVT.
View attachment 4412865

That is an 8N Boomer sold in 2010-11. We are talking here about the original 1948-52 8N with manual, non-synchronized 4-speed transmission.

 

[John0829]

When I first heard about the 8N Boomer I had high hope for it... they quickly fell flat. IMHO the 8N Boomer was an insult to the memory of the original 8N.

 

[sixdogs]

I thought these 8N's were neat but I believe there were problems with the CVT.
View attachment 4412865

The 8N re-do was a great idea but the CVT took all the wind out of the sails and it just idled into obscurity.

 

[tacticalturnip]

I can't help but love the Boomer 8N, not matter how odd it was.

 

[BossofBBQ]

It was a little bit of an oddball. I think if they had better transmissions, like HST instead of CVT, then they might’ve caught on a bit better. Regardless it was a nice idea to have a re-do, even if it wasn’t successful. I think the Boomer 8N is the only “re-do” of a classic 1940s-1950s tractor.

New Hollands dealerships are…lacking…to say the least, in my area anyways.

 

[D'oh]

Not an 8N, but dad had an old Ford NAA, Jubilee, that he drug many many loads of hardwood time out to the road for grapple trucks back when there were small independent sawmills with grapple straight trucks in WVa. We had 90 acres of mountain woods, and raised sheep, and about an acre of garden and another acre of fruit trees. He did replace the engine at one point. Ive kinda wondered a time or two what happened to the tractor after he died in a roll over. I think mom either gave it away or sold it for next to nothing. It did a Lot of work, but also had a lot of limitations. This would have been late 80s; so very obsolete at the time.

The Local Paper Mill, used an 8N to flood the Ice Road in winter to haul Logs to the Mill by Truck. Smaller trucks than today's 15+ Cords on 3 Axle + Tag trailers. I remember seeing them as a Kid.

It ran an Impellar in a 2'x2' hole in the Road, flowing a steady stream of 4" of water down the road 1/2 mile each way.

Basically what these Bombis are doing

Storeys of how Hole wouuld Blow Sow and Ice 10-15' into the air, 10' off to the side of the road when the Loaded trucks were passing by. By the end of the winter, the Road would be a foot higher than the Ice allowing the snow to blow right off rather than drift between the banks.

 

[masseyrider]

When I was a little fella there were a lot of small farms around here. Mostly mixed fruit and veg. Some were as small as a couple acres and by the time you got to 25 acres you were one of the bigger ones.
Most had the N Fords or Ferguson TO20s. Never really got to see what the max acreage they could take care of was. By the mid 60s farms started to grow and many had upgraded to MF135s and Ford 3000s.
That was like going from a Model A to a Boss Mustang. You had made it.
Now the farms are 100 acres + and even that is small. The local shippers aren't to pleased to see a pickup pull in with a small load. It used to be their bread and butter.
And the tractors have grown too. Hard to find anything under 85+hp.
The implements have gone from 5-6' discs, cultivators, mowers to 12'+ that do a fruit row in one pass or a grape row with a couple implements at one time..

 

[lman]

Yep, it's a different world now. The farmer that farms across the road from me, farms 4,600 acres and we have a 3,500 cow Dairy in this county.

 

[masseyrider]

Yep, it's a different world now. The farmer that farms across the road from me, farms 4,600 acres and we have a 3,500 cow Dairy in this county.

Around here many of the small farms were like a side hustle.
The husbands worked, usually in local factories and the wife and kids took care of much of the farm work.
They built new homes, kids went to University, set themselves up for retirement etc.
The factories are gone and it's a multi-million investment to get into farming.
My parents first place cost them $4000 and then they bought a 24 acre place for $8000.
The first year they didn't have a tractor and Pa pulled the disc with his pickup.
Try that now.