8N Ford does work

Today was a work day at the home and the 1952 8N Ford was pressed into service. We were cutting cedar trees, well actually one tree, and found some limbs were hard to pull away from the tree due to grape vines. Some of the vines were easily 1 ½ inches or more in diameter. A solution was to bring out the tractor. A strap was hooked onto the limb and then onto the bar across the 3 point hitch. I found first gear was needed to get enough slow traction to pull the encumbered limbs free of the tree. Pic 1195 shows the tree behind the tractor. Pic 1197 shows a side view. I need to lose weight. The temperature was probably ninety degrees at the time.

Tractor Boy
http://www.tractorstories.blogspot.com/

8N Ford Nears Completion II

Continuing with the nearing completion, Pic 016 shows the Ford decal on the front end of the hood. Another is on the other side. Pic 017 shows the vent covering the screen and air funnel of the air cleaner assembly.

Pic 018 is one of the decals under the hood door. Later I removed it and put it back straight. The lower part of the air cleaner (pic 019) has its own decal. So does the oil filter (pic 020) which gets two of them.

As I wrote earlier, I thought all was well, but soon found on Saturday evening before the 8N was to be driven across town… it would not start. After removing the cover from the distributor it was obvious why. The rotor (pic 021) was split in half. Of course it destroyed the distributor cap during its death revolutions. Fortunately Tractor Supply had more parts; however, I had a spare anyway and put it on. First I removed the old distributor and points (pic 022) and put in new ones (pic 023). Since I had not put the bumper on the Tractor yet, it was easy to use the hand crank to turn the engine enough to get the cam in the distributor to its proper position to set the gap. Now here was a challenge! The Ford 8N manual showed two different specifications for the gap. The point and condenser kit contained yet another specification. It had a .020 feeler gauge. One place in the manual called for about .024 inch gap. I compromised and used .022. It took a while. When I was done, I put on the new distributor and turned on the key, pushed the starter button and heard the starter turn over the engine. No start again. I stopped for the night.

On Sunday morning I tried again and still no starting although it was trying. After going to church, I brought home one the elders (Bob B) who decided the distributor post needed to be cleaned with emery cloth then lightly greased to get the rotor on far enough. Together we did this bit of work. I used fine emery cloth and white lithium grease. The 56 year old 8N started! I drove it to church, a distance of 4 ½ miles through town. Bob drove my truck behind me with flashers going although I had a Slow Moving Vehicle sign on the tractor. To do that I made a wooden fixture to fit in the upper link which is centered behind the seat.

The 8N Ford went to church willingly. It was a prop for the start of VBS. Several adults and children had their picture taken on or beside the good looking machine. In the afternoon the tractor started with no choking at all. I drove it home with Nancy driving the truck behind me. Later, toward evening, my granddaughter and I enjoyed a ride around the yard while Nancy made a short movie of this memorable event. Once again it did not require any choking to start. It purrs like a big kitten.

Tractor Boy
http://www.tractorstories.blogspot.com/

8N Ford Nears Completion

The past two weeks I have been working furiously on the 1952 * N to get it ready to be a show piece (another name for Parade Queen) for the opening of Vacation Bible School. Painting is pretty complete. I bought a OEM tool box and realized it goes in the location where the solenoid has been on this old 8N since I bought it dead in a field about three years ago. Pics 004-007 show the solenoid on the brace under the hood. The hood is off the body at this time. That was a three person job both to remove it and to replace it again. I still had a quarter tank of fuel which added about 24 pounds to the weight of the hood. Pic 011 and 012 show the solenoid atop the starter where it is supposed to be. I lengthened one wire by soldering a piece in the line, and replaced another, being careful to work one at a time after studying what was supposed to happen electrically. Once the battery was in place I turned the key and pressed the starter (gear shift in neutral) and the starter turned as it should. So, all was well. I thought this, but later found this a premature conclusion.

 

Pic 009 shows a new hood pad in place. A lot of these items were purchased almost three years ago when I started this renovation and have been waiting patiently to be used. Pic 008 shows the right front wheel on the tractor again. I replaced five of the nuts with new ones and painted all of them, but the air wrench removed some of the paint when I tightened the nuts.

 

 The thermostat goes on top of the engine inside the upper radiator hose (pic 013) after the fluid is drained into a large plastic container beneath the drain petcock at the bottom left side of the radiator. A separate adjustable clamp keeps it in place. There was no thermostat to replace. Pic 014 and 015 show the air funnel which inserts into the opening on the air filter. A screen is over the air funnel. While I was doing this I removed the special screw which holds the cover in place and shortened it on the side which had been touching and scratching the air cleaner. I am continually amazed that this tractor ran with so many things missing, bent, or broken. It did run from the field to my yard back in 2005.

 

More later.

 

Tractor Boy

www.tractorstories.blogspot.com

Wednesday madness

Previously I discovered the Position Control lever was bent. This 8N must have had a hard life. Picture 62 shows the bent lever. After removing it from the tractor, I pounded it straight against a piece of "I beam" left over from construction of the over head lift. Pic 66 shows the straightened and painted lever back on the 8N. It is pinned in place by a 3/16 X 1 inch flat rivet.

I got out early this morning and washed off as much grease and dirt as I intended to, then went back later and painted red paint on the red portions of the 8N. It looks good, and even better from a distance. Pic 68 and 70 are the before pictures and pic 71 and 72 show after painting.

Later I decided to clean up the front wheel nuts and paint them. Five of them had to be replaced because they were broken around the leading edge of the nut. I cleaned off the old paint and rust with a steel brush, then used a ½ X 20 tap to refresh the threads. Still later I used a similar sized die to refresh threads part way on the wheel lugs. It must have been close to a hundred degrees or more in the Tractor Building so I did not stay at it all the way on any of the lugs. My air hammer can make up the difference, I am sure.

I had not yet collapsed from the heat so decided to add the tail light brace to the rear bracket and then the tail light to the brace. Well… the special nut and bolt would not go together and once that was corrected, one of the ¼ X 28 bolts would not screw into its location on the tail light. I am glad I have tools. I fixed it and it is on. Pic 73 shows the tail light on the 8N.

The wheel nuts got a few squirts of red paint and I am in the house. At 1930 it is still 95 degrees outside.

Tractor Boy

8N reassembly

Last night and very early this morning I put on my paint-proof breathing mask and had a go at the 8N Ford rear half with Ford Red paint. This evening I began the two hour process of reassembling the fenders to the tractor. It took so long because there are two attachments for anti-sway bars that fasten beneath the axle and are held by the two fender bolts. Also, one of the bolts, which appear to be 9/16 inch size was reluctant to accept the nut. Even though I dabbed good grease in the nut, that one resisted. So, like any good home mechanic, I reached for my tap and die set. The largest size I had was ½ inch. The next step was to hold the carriage bolt (that is what it is) in my brass jawed vice and use a wrench to screw the nut onto the bolt. That did it.

Picture 55 shows the tractor painted with the plastic still draped over the rear wheels. Picture 57 shows the left fender with the light bracket attached. About that light bracket. The upper part takes a 7/16 carriage bolt and I could not find one at Tractor Supply, Lowe's, or Home Depot. I ordered an OEM bolt, nut and washer from Phil's Tractor Supply, then found the same thing for one fifth the cost at the local mom and pop hardware store in town. Hardware always comes in handy. J

I bought ten feet of ¼ inch ID copper tubing from Home Depot. I plan to run three wires through it from the dash area to the tail light bracket. That way I can have a wire each for the tail light and future work light, plus a genuine ground wire if I have issues with the return flow of the current. The N series ground to the body of the tractor and I think paint makes a pretty good insulator. I am surprised my head lights work as well as they do!

Next… to get one anti-sway bar straightened a bit. Then tail light, and remove the hood to paint it more and paint eh front end of the 8N. Did I say it runs like a pony? I plan to drive it to church for the Vacation Bible School party in about two weeks. Two years of part time effort is coming to a close. Of course I have two more old Ford tractors to rebuild so I have plenty to do.

Tractor Boy

8N new pix

Pix 42-45 show parts of the steering gear box. The access to add 90 weight gear oil is behind a strong steel brace which must be removed or a hole bored through it to get to that plug (pic 46) The adjustment screws on each side of the steering gear box are used to take slack from the steering. The nut through which the screw passes is first loosened, then the screw is tightened. I used a big car jack to raise the front end of the tractor off the floor so I could feel whether the adjustment was right and not too tight.

Picture 49-50 show before and after painting. The old tractor is not really that bad. I want it to look better so am working on it. Pic 54 shows the rear of the tractor where I started to paint and am now cleaning and priming before painting. This is before priming.

Pic 53 shows the tail light bracket installed and painted to match the left fender. Because I own a milling machine, I was able to elongate two bottom holes on the bracket and thus get the top hole to align with the fender hole. I could have used a round file, but the mill was available, easy to use, better to control the hole size and shape.

I will have this tractor back together this week so it can participate in a kick off for Vacation Bible School this next Sunday. I am not sure whether to drive it to the church or borrow a trailer and haul it there. I think driving may be more fun, just slower. By the way, the 8N gets better gas mileage than my Nissan Titan truck. I guess it weighs less too.

8N tractor work was not all I did today, of course. I fished three chairs from the swimming pool. They were blown into the pool by those 50 MPH winds we had.

I hired two men to work in my yard, removing brush and mowing. Maybe we will cut trees this coming week end. I helped a little and made sure they had plenty of cool water while they were working.

Tractor Girl bought some images for her embroidery machine. I got to down load them, convert to a format for her machine, and move them to her thumb drive.

Finally, I prepared the sermon for tomorrow since I am subbing for our preacher. Oh, yes, really last… I wrote this piece.

Tractor Boy

Saturday

This has been a busy, busy day.

I hired a guy to cut brush around my place and he showed up with his son. It took more of my attention than I wanted to get them doing what I wanted.

Between the yard guys, I had a few chores for Tractor Girl. I got those done.

I fished three chairs from the bottom of the swimming pool. We had very brisk winds and they were blown into the pool.

I also removed the fenders from the 8N so I could clean, prime, and paint red. While I was at that, I decided to mount the tail light bracket on the fender since the fender was now off the tractor. It looked like and easy job until the holes did not line up. Grrr so I did what any self respecting Gentleman Farmer would do. I used my milling machine to elongate two of the holes so I could shift the bracket enough to align the third hole. It is now on the fender and grey paint is drying.

I was going to clean, scrape, and maybe even paint some more on the rear of the tractor, but must stop and make sure my sermon is ready for tomorrow. Or maybe I can do that later after I work on the 8N some more.

Pictures, later, perhaps. The yard is looking good and I did not bake like a raisin to do it.