Welcome to the board... I have a '50 8N as well, with the front-mount distributor - that's an important piece of information to provide if/when you post for help troubleshooting your 'new' tractor.
You can purchase both the owner/operator manual as well as the highly-recommended F0-4 shop manual from this and other sites - that should be your first purchase...
Also recommend reading through John Smith's
excellent site for an overview of what you've got.
As for levers and pedals, etc.:
[list:4098c4d387]>Clutch pedal on left
>Lever behind clutch is PTO "on-off" - forward = off, rearward = on. If you're new to farm equipment, treat that spinning PTO like a live cobra - never step across a running PTO shaft or wear loose clothing while working near it.
>Left and right brake pedals on right
>Small lever under RH side of seat is for 'draft control' and is only used when plowing, leave off (down) for everything else
>Large lever on RH side of seat is position control for the draft arms - up = up, down = down. If your hydraulics are in good shape, you should be able to lift around 800lb before your front wheels come off the ground, and they should hold the implement up overnight, give or take.
>A lever on the RH or LH side near the bellhousing is most likely for an over/underdrive aux. transmission (Sherman is the most common). Operation varies by what you've got.[/list:u:4098c4d387]
Anything beyond that will need pics to identify. Actually, why not post some pics anyway so we can see what you've got? :wink:
Here's mine:
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