1939 9N

[GS55]

I have a 1939 9N that my dad bought me years ago that is in rough shape. Until recently I had someone to work on it who kept it running, but he moved, and it's dead in the water, probably electrical. How can I find someone near me in the Fingerlakes of New York who can get her running and possibly convert to 12V. All I do is mow the lawn, which is really overkill, but it reminds me of my father, which is important. I can send more particulars, and am willing to learn to work on it myself, but I am an older lady with pretty much no mechanical experience. I do understand what a carburetor does though.

 

[showcrop]

Can you get a hold of the former fellow and ask him for a recommendation?

 

[GS55]

(quoted from post at 08:55:19 02/15/22)

Can you get a hold of the former fellow and ask him for a recommendation?

I doubt it, he's in his 80s and decamped to somewhere in Florida and does not have a cell phone.

 

[jimtrs]

(quoted from post at 08:43:26 02/15/22)
How can I find someone near me in the Fingerlakes of New York who can get her running and possibly convert to 12V

Try asking around locally. [b:12496fd766][i:12496fd766]Independent [/i:12496fd766][/b:12496fd766]auto parts stores are a good place to start (not your Autozone or Pep boys). Be specific when asking, that it is an older Ford tractor. Next might be an independent re-seller of farm equipment. You know, the guy on the side of the main street who is always selling a few tractors. How about local farmers? Some of them might be willing to help, or could probably recommend someone.

if you are in a large town or city, might be time for a ride to the country.

...... it reminds me of my father, which is important.

The [b:12496fd766][i:12496fd766]most [/i:12496fd766][/b:12496fd766]important reason! Good for you!

 

[GS55]

Good ideas. There is an old school tractor parts store nearby, and an independent auto parts store. Unfortunately, all, the old farmers I know have either moved to warmer parts or died, but maybe I can find a youngish one.

 

[8NChris]

(quoted from post at 08:20:04 02/15/22)
Good ideas. There is an old school tractor parts store nearby, and an independent auto parts store. Unfortunately, all, the old farmers I know have either moved to warmer parts or died, but maybe I can find a youngish one.

ello, I am using Windows 10. On my screen the top right is a box, first row middle selection is Memberlist. You can reach out to some in your location but it looks like a tedious undertaking as it has member listed are organized by City, not state. Anyone see an option to organize states alphabetically?

 

[Leroy]

Younger farmers probably will do you no good as all they know are computor operated deisel tractors and know nothing about points like you have or anything about a gas engine. I have a non running 41 9N and a running 44 2N that Dad bought new when I was 9 months old. I would never convert as long as I could buy a 6 volt battery. Best thing you can do is look thru the tractor sections where on the posts they have listed the manuals avaible for working on those tractors and buy the set and then read them. Then I think you might be able to figure it out yourself and fix the problem. I have no idea where the fingerlakes are as I am in Ohio and also up in years at 78 years. I will ask you a few questions and that is does it crank over as in trying to start but will not and if it does crank over is it slow or fairly fast. Slow or not at all may be just a bad battery. Do you think you could remove the battery and take it to a auto parts dealer to have it tested to see if it is good. If slow or not cranking over that is first think to do. Then let us know what you have found.

 

[GS55]

It ran well until it didn't, and the battery was only a few months old and fully charged when it stopped starting. It would crank but not start. I will change the spark plugs come civilized weather, but that's about the extent of my own mechanical knowledge. I live in a damp area and also wonder if moisture may have gotten in somewhere. My old Rambler American would get moisture under the distributor cap and do similar things (If I am correctly remembering 45 years back).

 

[Jim L WA]

Don't go out and buy spark plugs for it. They don't have any moving parts and can last for hours and hours before they go bad. They can be fouled from flooding or carbon but can be cleaned with a wire brush and some brake clean.
If you can't find someone to help you using the suggested ideas, come back and we can try to walk you through trouble shooting. You will need an analog volt meter, digital will work but analog is better or a test light that will work with 6 volts at the very least.

 

[GS55]

(quoted from post at 13:19:00 02/15/22) Don't go out and buy spark plugs for it. They don't have any moving parts and can last for hours and hours before they go bad. They can be fouled from flooding or carbon but can be cleaned with a wire brush and some brake clean.
If you can't find someone to help you using the suggested ideas, come back and we can try to walk you through trouble shooting. You will need an analog volt meter, digital will work but analog is better or a test light that will work with 6 volts at the very least.

I'm familiar with how to clean spark plugs from the days when I had a regular lawn mower, but the plugs on the 9N are probably over a decade old. Does your advice still hold?

 

[Jim L WA]

Based on the fact that you said it ran well until it didn't, yes. But replace them if it makes you feel better. but it would take all four to fail at the same time to cause the tractor not to start at all.

 

[Mad Farmer]

If I wasn't ~200 miles away I'd take a look when the weather warms up.

Must be some other YT members nearby that could suggest a "N" person that's local

 

[Kirk-NJ]

You can try Lakeside tractor in Rock Stream. I bought an old
ford from them years ago. Also I called a friend in that area to
ask if he had someone he could recommend. What town do you
live in? Will message you with any info I get.

 

[GS55]

(quoted from post at 15:51:41 02/15/22) You can try Lakeside tractor in Rock Stream. I bought an old
ford from them years ago. Also I called a friend in that area to
ask if he had someone he could recommend. What town do you
live in? Will message you with any info I get.

I'm in Van Etten, equally inconvenient from Ithaca, Elmira, Watkins Glen, and Sayre PA

 

[Kirk-NJ]

I see your email isnt listed so if you want to contact me via
email [email protected] or text me at 908-310-1904. I
can send up lakesides number if needed

 

[DennyD]

In my part of the country (Missouri/Kansas/Oklahoma), a few of the surviving old-school tractor mechanics have re-branded themselves as diesel mechanics in recent years, doing work on semi tractors and heavy equipment, in addition to gas/diesel farm tractors. Even though this obviously isn't a diesel application, you might at least keep that in mind when looking around for someone to help you--it might give you additional options when looking through the yellow pages.

 

[Mad Farmer]

(quoted from post at 15:38:53 02/15/22) In my part of the country (Missouri/Kansas/Oklahoma), a few of the surviving old-school tractor mechanics have re-branded themselves as diesel mechanics in recent years, doing work on semi tractors and heavy equipment, in addition to gas/diesel farm tractors. Even though this obviously isn't a diesel application, you might at least keep that in mind when looking around for someone to help you--it might give you additional options when looking through the yellow pages.

If you can find a New Holland, [u:12133372a3]that was/used to be an old time Ford dealer,[/u:12133372a3] might find some old timers and/or people who know Ns.

We lost the last one here. Guy who ran the shops, father sold my 1940 9N new. He knew old Fords without looking at any manuals/references.

 

[Leroy]

Sounds more like a bad wire to me, either broken or loose but could be ignition switch, Easy for you to check by just taking a piece of wire and bypassing switch, If not that sounds like points and you have to take distribator off to work on that. But it could also be that little ceramic thing on inside of dash, also to check that just bypass it same as switch.

 

[GS55]

(quoted from post at 20:51:20 02/15/22) Sounds more like a bad wire to me, either broken or loose but could be ignition switch, Easy for you to check by just taking a piece of wire and bypassing switch, If not that sounds like points and you have to take distribator off to work on that. But it could also be that little ceramic thing on inside of dash, also to check that just bypass it same as switch.

The ignition switch is fairly new, maybe 3-4 years old. I understand what you mean by "bypassing the switch" but again, my mechanical skills are nonexistent, so I don't actually know how to do that. While I believe one can teach an old dog new tricks, I'd be a lot happier to have someone with experience look at it, and if that person can "teach a (wo)man to fish", rather than just give me a fish, well, so much the better. I'm sorry I wasn't born later: in the 50's and 60's it wasn't the norm for fathers to teach their daughters auto repair, and carpentry, and plumbing, and while I have developed a good working relationship with the hammer and cordless drill over the decades, internal combustion baffles me and electricity seems like some kind of magic.

 

[Papillon]

(quoted from post at 15:57:22 02/15/22)

(quoted from post at 15:51:41 02/15/22) You can try Lakeside tractor in Rock Stream. I bought an old
ford from them years ago. Also I called a friend in that area to
ask if he had someone he could recommend. What town do you
live in? Will message you with any info I get.

I'm in Van Etten, equally inconvenient from Ithaca, Elmira, Watkins Glen, and Sayre PA

I lived in Lockwood when I was 7 years old. Went to a 2 room school house and a Catholic church in Van Etten that had just a basement. I live near Poughkeepsie now, otherwise I would help.

 

[Mad Farmer]

(quoted from post at 06:36:27 02/16/22)

(quoted from post at 15:57:22 02/15/22)

(quoted from post at 15:51:41 02/15/22) You can try Lakeside tractor in Rock Stream. I bought an old
ford from them years ago. Also I called a friend in that area to
ask if he had someone he could recommend. What town do you
live in? Will message you with any info I get.

I'm in Van Etten, equally inconvenient from Ithaca, Elmira, Watkins Glen, and Sayre PA

I lived in Lockwood when I was 7 years old. Went to a 2 room school house and a Catholic church in Van Etten that had just a basement. I live near Poughkeepsie now, otherwise I would help.

There has got to be some YT members nearby.

I looked at a member search here but no way to do it by location, and ~ 7000 pages to look through.

 

[Leroy]

If the switch is that new then it should me one that has the wires fastened on with two screws and so you would just use a short piece of insulated wire with an aligater clip at each end and clip one clip on each screw and try it being sure you could grab that wire and pull it off a terminal if it started to shut the tractor off. To me that is first thing I would try as the new switches are not known to last. I replaced my orignal with a new one thinking it was the problem but it turned out to be something different that I have not heard of anybody on here say anything about in the trouble shooting tips. The only problen doing that might be getting to base of switch to hook wires up.

 

[GS55]

You'd find Van Etten sadly changed. The old VE hotel has been torn down, and all the old brick buildings are gone, replaced by a modern bank, post office, and mini-mart. Sadly I can no longer have a beer and a burger in the nearest town.

 

[Jim L WA]

Here is the first thing I would do. The distributor is located below and in front of the generator. You will find a wire bail holding the coil on top of it. Remove the coil and undo the spring clips from the distributor cap and pull that away from the distributor. Spray some WD40 inside the cap and put it back together in the reverse order. Try to start the old boy and let us know the results. This will eliminate your theory of moisture getting in the cap like your old Rambler, which was probably just cracked and needed replaced.

 

[Nylon]

If you can wait until April, I'm near
Whitney point and could come out sometime.
607 226 3550 a text is best
Lon

 

[farmall300don]

I'm not too far away myself as I live south of Waverly. I am free most afternoons. My email is [email protected]

 

[Tim PloughNman Daley]

Best to get the ESSENTIAL MANUALS and do a lot more homework and stop buying any new parts for now. You say a 1939 9N but that doesn't mean it is and is all original. There are many unique early 9N parts and if you have them, worth salvaging for a correct original restoration. Know that 99.98% of all non-starting issues are due to incorrect wiring. The early 9N used a small GEN, w/ the 'B' Circuit Design, with a rectangular VR at first til late 39. The first 800 or so unit also had an aluminum hood, brass sediment bulb, 4-spoke steering wheel, IGN key on RH dash, IGN Lamp on LH dash, Pushbutton Start Switch on LH Dash, chromed shifter lever with 5/8 screw-on ball, smooth hub rear axles, large non-pressurized radiator w/STANT chromed cap, 2-RIB fenders, smooth doglegs, and much more. If you have any of these parts, and not interested in restoring, email em and I'll buy them. The problem with shadetree mechanics is they haven't a clue on how the system is setup so guess as to how to run it. If you just want to mow grass and plow snow, a 12V setup may be best but make sure it is done correctly. These old FOIRDS are not hard to work on and can be an addicting fun habit - you just have to know what is right and what is wrong. There is much to learn and much to know before you turn the key or turn a wrench.


Tim Daley(MI)

 

[lha]

Changing to 12 volts will not solve a poorly wired or otherwise poorly maintained tractor. Mine,and that of
many others works perfectly on the original 6v+g system,and has for 81 years. 6volt bulbs and most other
accesories are easily available.

 

[showcrop]

This thread is HILARIOUS !!!! The lady keeps telling everyone that she has no mechanical abilities and sees no likelihood of learning at her age, but everyone keeps forging ahead with their easy "well just try this little whizzit" and "you know that gizmo is what ALWAYS solves your particular problem", and no! no! no! nobody else knows what they are talking about, LISTEN TO ME!! with all kinds of miss-spellings thrown in. Yes, I know it is all with the best of intentions, but as is so often the case, for a bunch of ancient geezers that keyboard with two fingers, there sure is a lot more posting than reading going on, LOL!

This post was edited by showcrop on 02/18/2022 at 02:53 pm.

 

[GS55]

(quoted from post at 17:50:11 02/18/22)
This thread is HILARIOUS !!!! The lady keeps telling everyone that she has no mechanical abilities and sees no likelihood of learning at her age, but everyone keeps forging ahead with their easy "well just try this little whizzit" and "you know that gizmo is what ALWAYS solves your particular problem", and no! no! no! nobody else knows what they are talking about, LISTEN TO ME!! with all kinds of miss-spellings thrown in. Yes, I know it is all with the best of intentions, but as is so often the case, for a bunch of ancient geezers that keyboard with two fingers, there sure is a lot more posting than reading going on, LOL!

This post was edited by showcrop on 02/18/2022 at 02:53 pm.

It is certainly true that I have gotten frustrated with some of the answers, but I'be also been able to get some really useful information, and I am not the best tpyst ether.

I used to have this wonderful book; a generic tractor repair and maintenance manual that was written for a rural BOCES program, and I wish I still had it because it explained things in a way the 9N manual does not. The 9N manual sort of assumes one already knows the difference between an alternator and a generator but the BOCES manual really started from scratch. Unfortunately it had an accident involving a bored dog. I do look on-line and at every book sale I go to for another (manual, not bored dog) but have never been able to replace it.

Anyway, I appreciate the help and advice.

 

[Jim.ME]

Web search for "Antique tractor clubs, Finger Lakes of New York". Several groups come up when I search that. That search should give you info on some groups you might contact to get info on local repair sources for older tractors. You might even ask the parts and service guys at any equipment dealer; they may know of someone who tinkers on old equipment.

 

[stevieb49829]

I'd suggest you do a new post with a title that says you are looking for local help (in the Finger Lakes area) with your '39 9N. I'd probably post it in Tractor Talk, since it is viewed by a lot more folks regularly than the "N" forum. I'm not sure how to get to the Members map, but if you can get to it on this site, look around your area, and then do a shout-out on the forums, by name, if you can find someone close by. steve