I don’t know how many of us here are interested in old tractors but this is something I will be doing over the next few days. It is unrelated to Land Cruiser events and it is 5 o’clock in the morning, I’ve been up for an hour waiting for daylight so I can head back outside and start sanding. If you’re interested by all means read on.
For the last several years, this Ford 8N tractor has been an extremely beneficial addition to our living space. There are acres of oak trees, stone,gravel dirt road, snowstorms, items to be lifted and moved, and it certainly is harder at this age to start moving things around. This winter we had a 30+ inch snowstorm in two days and the old Ford was able to plow the entire driveway, parking area and a dirt road heading out to the main road all with ease. Granted it was freaking cold because there is no cab protection, but it did not slow me down.
I probably could have used something like this 30 years ago, but of course at the time there were many other important needs and necessities so this thing snuck into my life probably four years ago. I’ve decided it is running so well it really needs to be cleaned up a little bit. Just put a brand new starter and a new 6 V battery in and it starts extremely well. I rebuilt the carburetor last year but cranking it over at very low. RPM would always fail to start.
I would hit the battery terminals with my 12 V jump box and the starter would spin 10 times faster and it would instantly start up ….those old Ford Bendix ratchet type starters have four brushes inside and the condition was horrendous so the new starter seems to be doing extremely well. This Ford AN tractor also has a Dearborn front loader frame and trip bucket. The buckets been modified to accommodate a 6 foot scoop and has worked exceptionally well. Ford eight and tractors do not have power steering so when that front bucket is loaded with stone, it takes the strength of two men to turn the wheel and that is something I will be definitely having trouble with in the future.
There is a power steering adapter kit, and also the option of just replacing the tractor with something with a backhoe and more of an articulated bucket, but 1947 was my most favorite Harley Davidson year and I’m sticking with it so how do you get inside the engine when working around that amazingly huge Dearborn loader framework.?
The easiest way is to remove the hood. Sadly, the 10 gallon gas tank is bolted to the other side of the hood and needs to be drained. My dilemma is that it’s always full and so are the six 5 gallon gas cans. I keep around the house for generators and chainsaws and everything else that goes with it so I really had no place to put this extra fuel. I did manage to empty one of the tanks in the suburban, but that was barely 5 gallons and eventually found enough containers to offload the fuel and begin to remove the hood now I look inside and I see peeling paint and other issues that I would like to address cosmetically so that’s where I am. Here are a few photos of what has transpired so far
Those bolt on forks in the front have saved me several times I moved the refrigerator across the yard and into the pole barn with them, as well as a wood stove and use them also to pull out some old shrubbery.
It would appear to me that some of these nuts and bolts have not been removed in the 77 years. The nuts and bolts holding the fuel tank into the hood are castle nuts, but they don’t use cotter pins, they use wire.
Frankly< the tractor is running great. All of the fluids have been changed earlier this spring and I probably should just button it up and use it rather than make more work for myself, but I always was a paint guy and clean and shiny is my thing so I will sand it up to a little bodywork and repaint the color.
For the last several years, this Ford 8N tractor has been an extremely beneficial addition to our living space. There are acres of oak trees, stone,gravel dirt road, snowstorms, items to be lifted and moved, and it certainly is harder at this age to start moving things around. This winter we had a 30+ inch snowstorm in two days and the old Ford was able to plow the entire driveway, parking area and a dirt road heading out to the main road all with ease. Granted it was freaking cold because there is no cab protection, but it did not slow me down.
I probably could have used something like this 30 years ago, but of course at the time there were many other important needs and necessities so this thing snuck into my life probably four years ago. I’ve decided it is running so well it really needs to be cleaned up a little bit. Just put a brand new starter and a new 6 V battery in and it starts extremely well. I rebuilt the carburetor last year but cranking it over at very low. RPM would always fail to start.
I would hit the battery terminals with my 12 V jump box and the starter would spin 10 times faster and it would instantly start up ….those old Ford Bendix ratchet type starters have four brushes inside and the condition was horrendous so the new starter seems to be doing extremely well. This Ford AN tractor also has a Dearborn front loader frame and trip bucket. The buckets been modified to accommodate a 6 foot scoop and has worked exceptionally well. Ford eight and tractors do not have power steering so when that front bucket is loaded with stone, it takes the strength of two men to turn the wheel and that is something I will be definitely having trouble with in the future.
There is a power steering adapter kit, and also the option of just replacing the tractor with something with a backhoe and more of an articulated bucket, but 1947 was my most favorite Harley Davidson year and I’m sticking with it so how do you get inside the engine when working around that amazingly huge Dearborn loader framework.?
The easiest way is to remove the hood. Sadly, the 10 gallon gas tank is bolted to the other side of the hood and needs to be drained. My dilemma is that it’s always full and so are the six 5 gallon gas cans. I keep around the house for generators and chainsaws and everything else that goes with it so I really had no place to put this extra fuel. I did manage to empty one of the tanks in the suburban, but that was barely 5 gallons and eventually found enough containers to offload the fuel and begin to remove the hood now I look inside and I see peeling paint and other issues that I would like to address cosmetically so that’s where I am. Here are a few photos of what has transpired so far
Those bolt on forks in the front have saved me several times I moved the refrigerator across the yard and into the pole barn with them, as well as a wood stove and use them also to pull out some old shrubbery.
It would appear to me that some of these nuts and bolts have not been removed in the 77 years. The nuts and bolts holding the fuel tank into the hood are castle nuts, but they don’t use cotter pins, they use wire.
Frankly< the tractor is running great. All of the fluids have been changed earlier this spring and I probably should just button it up and use it rather than make more work for myself, but I always was a paint guy and clean and shiny is my thing so I will sand it up to a little bodywork and repaint the color.
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