difference in N's

[Charlie M]

Hi guys - I'm not a ford person so this is probably a dumb question - what's the difference between the various N tractors. I often see what I thought was an 8N but maybe not. A friend of mine had what I thought was an 8N but maybe it wasn't either. It was a handy little tractor regardless of what it was. I used to borrow it to use a 3pt hitch sprayer.

 

[mbramble]

Check out this site....

http://www.oldfordtractors.com/idhistory.htm

 

[souNdguy]

9n 1939-1941
2n 1942-1947
8n 1948-1952

mind you those are year-models.. thus you see late 47 8ns, and early 47 2ns etc.

9n / 2n all sn's start with 9n, are about 23hp pto, 3 spd+r wide pattern front hubs, no draft control, 1 brake on each side, clutch on left, front mount distribuitor only, or magneto if wartime modle..


8n, 4spd+r, brakes on right, clutch on left, 27 pto hp ( or so ) draft and position control hyds.. front or side mount distribuitor

them the basics..

 

[MikeMI]

(quoted from post at 15:29:29 02/25/12) Hi guys - I'm not a ford person so this is probably a dumb question - what's the difference between the various N tractors. I often see what I thought was an 8N but maybe not. A friend of mine had what I thought was an 8N but maybe it wasn't either. It was a handy little tractor regardless of what it was. I used to borrow it to use a 3pt hitch sprayer.

This site has ALL the answers that you are looking for... http://bit.ly/yBBtjy

 

[Ultradog MN]

They are all 3 fundamentaly the same machine.
The 9/2N are pretty much identical save for some esoteric differences only collectors care about.
The 8N was the last and best of the 3 and came with some important improvements. Most important were position control on the 3 point, a real drawbar and better brake controls.
8N also had a 4 sp tranny which was Not an improvement over the 3 sp.
In their heyday and even now they're light, nimble, utterly simple and reliable plus inexpensive to boot.
The biggest drawback to them were their hydraulics. Their lack of live hydraulics are what prevent them from being considered a truely modern tractor.

 

[Leroy]

I do not see how the 4 speed can not be an inprovement over the 3 speed. I have 2 of the 3 speed with the sherman over-direct drive and they would be better if they were the under-direct-over. I also had a NAA and a TO30 with the 4 speed and both were better than the 3 speed without the sherman but with that under-direct-over sherman they would have been a lot better. Between the 2nd and 3rd in the 3 speed way too much gap, not as bad as with the 4 speed but with the sherman with 2 speeds between the current would be a lot better tractors.

 

[Ultradog MN]

Hey Leroy,
A couple of thoughts on those trannys.
I had a 2N for several years and used it for mowing. Both finish and brush mowing.
Later I replaced the 2N with an 8N and used it the same way.
It might just be what you got used to but 2nd gear on the 3 speed was just about perfect for mowing where on the 4 speed 2nd seemed a tad slow and 3rd was a hair too fast.
But my biggest complaint about the 4 speed was the reverse gear.
It was so rediculously fast that I was just plumb disapointed with the tractor.
It would have been ok if you had the 3 speed Sherman Combo to slow it down in reverse. For a time I did consider buying one of those but that's about the time when I discovered the later 3 cylinder Fords and went that route instead.

Edit: When the NAAs came out Ford used a larger reverse idler gear so they had a much slower reverse - not nearly as fast as the 8N was.
I never owned a Fergy so can't say about those.

 

[W_B]

I much prefer my 9N to the 8N overall, EXCEPT when I need a bit more power mowing. The 8N reverse is much too fast. I'm getting to the point I need something more modern so I'm starting to look, no money to buy, just looking for when the time comes.

 

[Ken(Ark)]

........2nd gear on the 3 speed was just about perfect for mowing where on the 4 speed 2nd seemed a tad slow and 3rd was a hair too fast.



But my biggest complaint about the 4 speed was the reverse gear.
It was so ridiculously fast .....


It would have been ok if you had the 3 speed Sherman Combo to slow it down in reverse.

Maybe it was just perception or the amount of wear on the motor between the two units . I used my 2n until I got the 8n running (position control) and I thought I liked the 2N's gearing better too . Looks like 1st & 2nd are about the same .

At full throttle

2N 1st gear - 4.07 mph
8N 1st gear - 4.19 mph

2N 2nd gear - 5.23 mph
8N 2nd gear - 5.38 mph


8N 3rd - 7.40
2n 3rd - 12.12
8N 4th - 15.47


The reverse is a biggie though
( 1000rpm & full throttle )
2N reverse - 1.92 mph & 4.36 mph
8N reverse - 3.03 mph & 6.88 mph

My 8N has a combo which doesnt really help with the mowing as the tire speed / pto rpm ratio stays constant . If you slow down the tires you also slow down the pto speed . I want the bush hog at full power but the tires a little slower .


Underdrive on reverse is cool and overdrive on the road is great .

 

[Ken(Ark)]

I much prefer my 9N to the 8N overall, EXCEPT when I need a bit more power mowing.

The difference in the motors is the 8N head has a smaller cc combustion chamber .

I thought I heard the side mount distributor motors have a higher lift cam ????

I checked a few used cams and noticed some had a few worn lobes , as much as .030 lobe difference on the same cam . Combine a worn cam , ring blow by , distributor advance , etc , and two motors that started about the same could be off by 25% hp after 60 years .

 

[Leroy]

Working ground the 3rd gear in the NAA or TO30 was more what was right but at times a 3rd over would have been what was needed or a 4th under as third was too slow on hay rake and 4th too fast, same for the rotary hoe. 3rd would have been a good speed for a bar mower as 2nd in the @n was too slow and 3rd was a little fast but mower many a acre of hay with a bar mower in third. The TO 30 used the same rear end gears as the 2N Ford and the speeds were the same as the NAA. Planter 3rd over would have been about right, second over in the 2N just a bit slow on planter.