Not planning on using it in heavy first cutting hay or anything. Maybe some thinner second or third cutting hay with light windrows to keep from choking it up. I'm running a new Holland 273 hayliner and while it's not a high capacity baler it does feed rather fast compared to some balers and will not have a problem keeping up in thin hay. In heavy windrow hay I'll stick with the David Brown 1200 for sure.
My New To Me 8n
- Thread starter DB1200
- Start date
EdGooding
Silver Member
- Joined
- Sep 12, 2016
- Messages
- 205
- Location
- Montpelier, VA
- Tractor
- 2006 Massey-Ferguson MF-1533, 1973 Ford 3000, 1952 Ford 8N
About the only way that you can bale with an 8N is with a baler that has a dedicated engine on it. But, the lack of live PTO really makes baling a chore no matter which baler you use. Here's a Dearborn baler from the 8N era that shows the Wisconsin engine that runs it:
Attachments
jwmorris
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Oct 3, 2007
- Messages
- 1,036
My David brown has a live pto. But I think there is many factors that go into if a 8n can bale hay or not. Which baler? How smooth it is. How worn out everything is. I was curious one time how my grandfather's international 274 would do hooked to a square baler. It is rated at 30 hp. Then I was using a John Deere 14 t. I was in medium hay. That tractor never had one single problem running that baler. In a big chunk of hay you would hear it open up a bit but that's it. With what I have bushhogged with my 8n I have no doubts that it will run my NH 273 no problem. My baler is slick as snot.
John0829
Platinum Member
I don't think anyone was saying it could not be done with an 8N, just making the point that without a live PTO it would be a royal PIA unless the wind rows were thin. A baler with a dedicated engine as mentioned would definitely be the better option IF the N was all you had to pull the baler. The N series tractors can do lots of things well, plow, disc, cultivate, mow, grade for example and even many things very well but balers and tillers not so much.
MROlson86
Member
- Joined
- Nov 2, 2019
- Messages
- 35
- Location
- Vernon County, Wisconsin
- Tractor
- Mitsubishi MT300D. 1949 Ford 8N
I guess that I’ve used my N for everything that I can think of except baling and tilling. No FEL work too. I have dug with a rear mounted bucket and my neck remembers. A wonderful machine for me.
I bought my 1951 8n from the widow of the original owner in 1989. It had 1200 hours on it then, had always been stored inside a barn, and still had the original tires and paint.
The first big job I did with it was digging a 1/4 acre pond with a pond scoop. It needed a valve job after that (the originals don’t do so well with the engine under load with unleaded gas).
It’s got about 2200 hours on it now and there’s still plenty of life left in those original 1951 Goodyear tires. I’ve kept it inside most of the time and haven’t painted it. I did have to replace one of the rear rims a couple years ago, after the calcium solution corroded thru it, around the valve stem.
I drove it to a antique motor vehicle show, down at the local fire hall, last fall. It was the only machine there that still had the original tires and paint:
It got quite a bit of attention compared to all those chromed and polished up wonders. I did get that fancy new seat cover for the iron pan this summer.
I just completed my spring plowing with it on Saturday. When I had to drain the calcium ballast out of a rusted out original rear rim a couple years ago, I was worried how that would affect its plowing ability.
Oddly enough, it made it much better, and saved me a considerable amount of gas, compared to what I used when both rears were loaded. The loaded side is the sod side, which typically has poorer traction, and sees less “down pressure” from the plow.
Eliminating the added weight on the furrow side rear, evens things out, allowing the plow to pull more evenly with significantly less tractor weight. Less tractor weight means less fuel usage, so long is there is no wheel slippage. I plowed an extra acre or so, with the money I saved on fuel.
While the 8n does plow better now than it did when it was delivered to my neighbor, from the dealer in 1951, the same can’t be said about the two row cultivator. It’s bad on that tractor now, with lots of wheel spin on the unloaded side.
Because of that, I now cultivate corn with my much newer, 4wd loader tractor. That has both rears loaded, so it pulls the cultivator very evenly. I also mount a sprayer boom on the loader arms, with nozzles lined up with the rows, so that I can spray the rows with gly, as I am cultivating.
Last edited: