8N Ford Model Year ID?

[Bill From SW Virginia]

A friend of mine just got a Ford 8N in his shop. We are trying to verify the Year of it. It"s an 8N for sure and still has the Distributor in the Front therefore, if I"m correct, it is an early 1950 or older. Both the Date Code by the engine and the Engine Numbers below the head are too rusty to read. Only a few of those numbers are there. The only thing that we have to go by, so far anyway, is the Casting Codes on the Main Sections of the tractor. The Front Half states "L2 82" and the Back Half "L2 83". I believe it is a 1948, but wondering if anyone out there can verify it by the Casting Codes.

Any info would be appreciated.

Bill
 

[old]

Well the 8N has a 4 speed transmission to to be sure what you have. Front mount distributor was from 1948 to the early 1950 8Ns. Some time around May of 1950 they switched to the side mount. There is a date code on the rear end of the tractor. You need to lay on your back and then slide under it to be able to see that code but it is easy to read once you see it
 

[Trac1]

Try This out:
http://www.oldfordtractors.com/idhistory.htm
 

[Dell (WA)]

Bill........does it really matter??? Unless yer county is TAXING tractors, the ONLY thing you need to know is whether yer tractor has the weird 4-nipple frontmount engine (points = 0.015"; change and adjust on the kitchen table) ...or... the more common looking 5-nipple sidemount (points = 0.025"). You can count nipples, can't you???

BTW, the flathead engine has a FLAT spot behind the oilfilter canister that has weakly hand stamped engine serial number which can be matched to published lists .......respectfully, Dell, yer self-appointed sparkie-meister
 

[Bill From SW Virginia]

Appreciate the replies.

trac1, I was actually just there and am puzzled about the Casting Codes. According to them the L2 82 decodes to Dec 28, 1952 and the other one L2 83 Dec 28, 1953, which doesn't make any sense to me. For one, this tractor is very original and has very little use and the Distributor is still in the Front meaning early '50 or older. The second thing would be that it would be too much of a co-incidence that they would both be casted on the same day, but yet different years, and a third thing would be strange as Dec 28th 1953 is almost 1954 and the last year for 8N's was 1952. It would make all the sense in the world if the "8" in L2 82 and L2 83 meant 1948, but I'm not familiar with how Ford Date Codes work.

Bill
 

[Bill From SW Virginia]

Dell, No it is not really a mandatory thing, more like a puzzle that we are trying to figure out. The "Flat Spot" that you have mentioned is the Engine Number that I originally mentioned which is not read-able.

I also just like learnig how Date Codes work for future reference.

Bill