I am now the proud owner of......

[Pooh_Bear]

I am now the proud owner of......

A 1949 8n Ford tractor.
This thing purrs like kitten.
Starts right up instantly. No smoke. Good oil pressure.
Takes off in every gear, governer response is real good.
Brakes work great. Clutch seemed to slip a little taking off in 4th gear.
Put it on a steep hill and took off up the hill from a dead stop.
Just took off up the hill no problem.
Hydrolics work good. I think. They go up and down. and hold when the tractor is off.
Drives really well at slow speeds. In high gear at fast idle on the road the front wheels shake and wobble too bad. not a problem for me in the yard, won't be on the road.
I didn't like the way the bush hog sounded. It made a lot of noise when I engaged the PTO. I took it thru some high thick grass and it was real quiet then. It needs sharpened real bad.
Seemed like a good deal to me. Paid the guy $2400 for it.

Now I gotta look into care and feeding of this beast.
Housing would be a good place to start. Got it all covered with a big tarp for now.
Gonna clean it up and see where any leaks are.
See what needs to be done to it.

Ya'll mite be gonna see a lot of me now.

Thanks so much for all the advice for deciding.

Pooh Bear

 

[beenthere]

Sounds like a good buy, and hope you get lots of enjoyment out of it.

Those front wheels shaking reminds me of having the same experience. I remember driving with one foot on each of the steering joints just above the clutch on the left and the brakes on the right. Putting pressure on them with your feet will keep them from moving so much. But some R&R on the steering box will also help, as will aligning the front wheels per the manual. Have fun. I still have a 'yen' for the 8N's.

 

[frank_f15]

congrats that is a nice tractor. up till a fews years back i had a 2N and it ran fine, mine had a FEL on it that weighed a ton, took all the weight offf the rear end, and was a bear to stear. do u have Fel for it? and some pictures would be nice.

 

[Pooh_Bear]

I had pictures in one of my other posts.
This is the pictures I took before I bought it.
Tractor Pictures

Here is the yard it will be used in for mowing.
My house is to the extreme right side of the picture.
The Sequatchie River is about 200 feet to the left.
It used to be a cow field. We bought it and built two houses on it.
Most of it gets flooded 2-3 times each year for a couple of days.
My Yard

It was just too much to mow on the riding mower.
Had to get something to mow this much.

Pooh Bear

 

[Soundguy]

Awesome. I'd suggest you first get an I&T fo-4 manual.. great service book.

The early model steering box isn't too adjustable.. but does have SOME adjustment available. If the play is in the steering box, and not hte tie rods and spindles, or wheel bearings, you can remove the bolts from the round sector covers and rotate them a bolt hole or two. Preferably they will get a bit tighter when you rotate. If they don't.. there is no adjustment left. Do both sides.

Steering box takes 85/140 gear lube.

Engine takes about 5 qts oil. Use weight depending on oil pressure, and temp range. Her ein florida I use 40w for hard / hot work on my worn machines. 30w seems fine ont he rest of the stuff. if you get real cold weather.. perhaps a 10w30, if the idle pressure stays up fine.

Rear diffy, tranny, and hyds share a common sump. it should hold 5 gal.. but most of us only fill it up till a bit of oil dribble sout the bottom hole in the round instection cover ( pull a bolt out ). This makes it about 4.5 gallons or so... keeps the tranny input shaft seal and axle seals from leaking so bad.

Use either 134d or equivalent universal trans oil, or 90wt gl-1 mineral oil. Penzoil has a 80w90 that is yellow metral safe, and is a gl-4.

Oil filter corsses to a fram c3 or c3p.. or a napa 1010 gold.
assuming it still has the canister filter. If it has a genny.. ad a drop of oil or two to the oil cup. Grease the fittings till all old grease comes out if yuo don't know what base the old grease was... TSC makes some decent cheap grease good for this. spark plugs oem we champion h10.. but use a h12 or al 437 for better performance.

Change the oil inthe air filter cup.. use whatever you used for the crankcase.

Don't fill the radiator all the way up.. just fill to get water over the core.. the rest is expanding space. Just ask if ya need some help.

I just finished my 8n's steering rebuild a few hours ago.. and just got in from servicing my ford 660.

Soundguy

 

[sherpa]

You will really enjoy that tractor. The front wheels shake and wobble is standard on them 8Ns. A fellow once told me they did that when they were brand new. I love my old 8N. Yours looks real good, good tires and it looks to have a 12 volt system which I like. Just be careful, they wont stop! They like to slide the tires and sometimes turn sideways, takes awhile to learn to handle them.
Sherpa

 

[cj7]

nice looking tractor.. seems like a nice deal too! I used to own one too.. but then I got a bigger tractor then back to a smaller one..lol I have an L2500 with a loader now..

What is that heavy bar thing under the right footboard. I have never seen that before. Even in the history books I still have for the Fords..

Enjoy it they are hardy machines... just be careful

 

[frank_f15]

just got a chance to check out your pictures, looks like one very nice 8N , Tires look very new and tin works seems very good condition from what i can see. one thing i did when i had mine was to Replace the seat with a nice air cushion one (keep the original) but that old steel seat is a bear especially in the winter. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Soundguy]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( What is that heavy bar thing under the right footboard. I have never seen that before )</font>

Mower sub-frame.

Soundguy

 

[Pooh_Bear]

I went out today and untarped it and started it up.
Checked all the fluids first. hadn't leaked out overnite.
Started rite up and purrs like kitten.
Don't think I have ever owned anything that runs this good.

Now I gotta figure out where to park it.
Looking for a site to build a pole barn.

Pooh Bear