How do you like your Ford 9N? 2N? or 8N?

[speedracing944]

I am looking at buying a ford 9N 2N or 8N in the near distant future for our little 4 acre farmette. It will be used to mow the pastures, remove snow, move manure, minor landscaping, post hole drilling and other small chores.

Is anybody using one of these tractors for thier small farm. What do you like about it?. What do you hate about it?

Speedy

[Joeaksa]

Believe that Tim Hancock has one down in Ohio. Heard that they are good units and last a long time.

[speedracing944]

The particular one I am looking at is a 1943. so 64 years young.

Speedy

[notfarnow]

A friend has a nice old 8n with a front-end loader. He uses it on his 10 acre lot and finds it is more than enough tractor for him. Parts are easy to get and not to expensive. Very easy and enjoyable to work on.

Lots of great info here:
http://www.yesterdaystractors.com/cgi-bin/boards.cgi

[berettafan]

IIRC the Jubilee is worth considering as well if you come across one.

[Seahawk]

I have an older MF...but I stopped using it except for backhoeing. I bought a new smaller tractor with Hydro Statics, bucket loader, spreader, mower deck,etc. and the ease of use is great.

I love the old tractor but it is a pain to drive for the type of work I do on my farm in and around the stable and mowing along fence lines.

[speedracing944]

I too was looking at newer diesel, hydrostatic compact tractors but at an entry price of $15,000 I was shocked. One can buy alot of Porsche for that coin. I have a problem spending that type of money on something which can only go 15 mph top speed

How many hours can I get out of a Ford before a rebuild? 1000 hours? 3000 hours?

Like Porsches, are there trouble areas I should pay particular attention to when looking at one?

The one I an looking at has a front end loader on it.

Speedy

[berettafan]

if you plan to do a lot of bucket work you will wish you spend the extra $12k on a hydro.

[Seahawk]

Originally posted by speedracing944
I too was looking at newer diesel, hydrostatic compact tractors but at an entry price of $15,000
How many hours can I get out of a Ford before a rebuild? 1000 hours? 3000 hours?

Like Porsches, are there trouble areas I should pay particular attention to when looking at one?

The one I an looking at has a front end loader on it.

Speedy

Speedy,

Not trying to talk you into anything, but I went with a sub-compact tractor and it does everything so well it is scary. After I owned it for two years I went out and bought another one used!

I mow over seven acres and move and spread a BUNCH of manure. The tractors run flawlessly.
MF

I don't know anything about Fords, but when I bought my farm there was an old MF 235 in the barn. I sought the advise of some local guys and they were very adamant about maintenance records, condition of the fuel system and injectors (high dollar area: air filters are key here) and condition of hydraulic lines.

[steve185]

I have got a 1952 8N, starts and runs great, all kinds of new parts available for them. Blowing snow can be a problem as when the clutch is disengaged the PTO stops. There are lots of good web sites, just do a google search.
You should be able to pick up a really nice 8N for $3500.
Good luck
Steve

[Tim Hancock]

I have a '41 9N that I bought about 8 yrs ago or so in awful shape. I bought it cheap (about $1000 IIRC) and had to split it to fix a badly leaking rear main seal that was soaking the clutch in oil. The steering sector box (the early ones were aluminum) was all cracked to hell so I had to get a used newer cast iron one. I also bought a new radiator, a new grill, points/plugs/wires, a carb rebuild kit, battery and a new muffler.

Since the initial repairs, I have had to have the starter rebuilt and I replaced the 6 volt battery once or twice. Other than that, I just change the oil/filter each spring and abuse the hell out of it.

I use it to mow approximately 5-6 acres (my grass runway) using a three point PTO driven 6' finish mower and staggered behind that is a self engined Swisher 5' finish mower (about 10 1/2' total). I have a back blade that I use to plow snow with, but after the first snow, with ensuing drifting, it does not do very well once the plowed edges freeze (I now mainly use a 4 X 4 ATV with a plow on it). I have an old three point disk for it that I use to work the garden in the spring and I borrowed a small plow once to rip the side yard up to put in a motocross track (it worked OK, but in our clay ground with established sod on it, the little FOrd got a work out).

I always intended to put a front bucket on it, but others told me it was not the best tractor to use a bucket on due to the lack of power steering which makes it VERY difficult to steer when the bucket has a load on it. If you end up getting one and using a bucket, you really need to add a separate front driven hydraulic pump so that you have hydraulic power while the clutch is depressed, without the full time hydraulics, working the bucket in a pile becomes difficult. They make them and basically it involves replacing the front pulley with one that a pump can be driven off of. I ended up buying an old '66 Melroe (Bobcat) skid loader for cheap and that obviously takes care of my occasional need for a front dump bucket.

Someday, I will sandblast the old Ford and make it perfect again, but for now, I just use the hell out of it. I actually can't believe it still runs as I never touched the internals of the engine and it was beat when I got it!

[Tim Hancock]

PS
FWIW, I would much rather have a newer modern small tractor, but I do enjoy buying old stuff and fixing it up and at the time if I had 10 grand or so laying around to blow, I probably would have bought an airplane engine or another Porsche to fiddle with.

[Tim Hancock]

Found a couple pics of my runway mowing setup.



Definitely rude and crude!

[speedracing944]

Thanks for all the input. I didn't think about the manual steering with a load in the bucket as well as the hydraulics cutting out if the clutch is put in. I will have to check out the setup the guy is using for the hydraulics. here is a pic of the machine I am thinking about.




So for about $3000 i can get a Ford #N or a mid '80's kubota or yanmar. With the kubota or yanmar I worry about part availability and longevity of the tractors. The old #N's seem to have quite the following and one can still get parts for them. One thing I like about them as well is they are like older Porsches is the value of one seems to hold very well.

Speedy

[on2wheels52]

I don't want to call a tractor an investment but a buddy has been through four in the last few years, sold all for more than he paid originally, plus used them. Tractors don't depreciate like autos. A late model Kubota vs an 8N? I'll take the orange one for getting something done.
Jim

[speedracing944]

[madmmac]

I have had and used my 8n for the last 12 years with only a shot of starting fluid needed to wake her up now and then, she has been trouble free....well except when I high centered on a stump right on the exhaust pipe and broke the intake/exhaust manifold...yes it is all one piece. The beauty of that is that it was only about 40 bucks for the complete manifold.

With what you are going to do with it, and used safely and wisely, you should have no problems with it as you have planned. Remember with stump pulling and dragging that with those tall tires, they create a lot of torque and that it is very easy for the front end to come over and back on you!!

I have the 4 speed tranny, but I sure wish I had the high/low option as well.

Good luck,

[Tim Hancock]

Originally posted by madmmac


I have the 4 speed tranny, but I sure wish I had the high/low option as well.

Ditto on the high/low. I think it was called a ?Sherman? high low box that many N's were retrofitted with. 3rd gear is a bit too fast to mow with and when the grass is not too thick and wet, 2nd gear is a tad slow.

[xlr8]

Moving some firewood with the tractor-

[xlr8]

Shoveling some dirt-