How many 9/2/8N's..........

[Pete in Holland MI]

.......are still around?

Anyone have any good idea on how many are still out doing work? I know it'd be kinda tough to really know. Thoughts ?

Guessing Henry didn't anticipate many of his products still serving their masters 70+ years after they left his plant.

Just curious...

Pete

 

[Steve A W]

It would be hard to say.
So many get put out to pasture only
to be resurrected or restored years later.

 

[R Geiger]

Agree, I got two 8ns and one of them I recovered from the rusty melting into the ground status.

 

[tractorguy2]

I have a 9n. I would not be surprised if half of the 8n production was still going.

For a while the machinery jockies In my part of Nebraska were buying up all the 8ns and Dearborn equipment and hauling it to Colorado.

I know where there is an 8n and a 53 NAA with two full sets of implements are resting in the tree line. The owner says they are going to sit there until he is dead. Then his daughter can sell them. There is also a WD Allis, and a 3010 diesel

 

[Darryl 2Ms]

I think i read recently that there may be close cto 300,000 still doing work here and there. That's about a third of the total run of 9n, 2n, and 8n. And that's why so many newer parts are available for these little gems. I myself just picked up a 1940 9n (81 years old!) that runs like a dream with a sherman trans, tight steering, and the brakes actually work! Using it for tedding, and raking hay. Runs the buzzsaw in the winter. Hopefully get to repaint it someday, but right now it's working!

 

[HarryVanderpool]

Makes no difference to me.
If our 2N was the last one on earth, I would continue to use and maintain as my favorite tractor.
We have all kinds of new equipment, rolling stock and cool tools.
Regardless, when I get the urge to get away for a few....Mowing on the 2N is the answer.
I love the sound, the feel and simplicity.
Today I finished scaping our hay field with our newer MF FWD tractor and our "Bad to the bone" Rears PacFlail mower".
After taking a break I jumped on the 2N to hit some spots I missed.
I thought, "God I love this tractor!!!"

 

[lha]

I have a '41 9n that works well and I just spread 40 yds of gravel on my driveway without any problems. I see some 9,2 and 8ns around still doing light duty work like bushogging and mowing,etc.

 

[JMOR]

(quoted from post at 17:30:34 07/02/21) .......are still around?

Anyone have any good idea on how many are still out doing work? I know it'd be kinda tough to really know. Thoughts ?

Guessing Henry didn't anticipate many of his products still serving their masters 70+ years after they left his plant.

Just curious...

Pete

ne thing I will bet a donut on....there will not be a tractor made in 2021 still working in 80 years from now!

 

[Tim PloughNman Daley]

Oh yes he did! Henry Ford was a visionary. He envisioned a world tractor - one that would be suited for every soil condition, application, and every country in the world not to mention affordable to the farmer. Included in his vision were that parts could be interchangeable and rebuilt over an over and offered a dealer discount on a trade-in engine for a rebuilt unit on model As and early V8s. He was mechanically inclined and one reason he included a toolkit in all of his vehicles. He knew the people buying his machines were also smart enough to do their own repairs and maintenance, often on the road or in the field. His machines were meant to last forever! He almost succeeded until patents and lawyers got in the way. Henry Ford didnt have a college education, barely a 7th grade level education, and couldnt read a blueprint, but had vision of what he wanted and pursued his vision above and beyond. All visionaries were like him. Leo Fender couldnt play lick on guitar, began as a radio maker and repairman; Alexander Graham Bell had poor hearing and was totally deaf at the end as was Ludwig Von Beethoven but composed some of his best pieces totally deaf; and Edgar Rice Burroughs (Tarzan author) never set foot in Africa. Gates, Jobs, Musk have nothing on these guys! You know as well as I that here in Michigan you can't throw a rock without hitting a Ford Tractor, many of them N's, and see very few, if any, non-runners. In my life I have only seen one Ford N in a field with trees growing around it. Somebody must've forgotten where they parked!


Tim Daley(MI)

 

[Btzj02]

"God I love this tractor!!!"

Call me crazy, but mowing with The Old Girl is my therapy. Last weekend I hit a stump and the PTO popped out of gear before the tractor died. Cleared the stump and engaged the PTO and kept going. A few seconds later the mower stopped turning but the PTO lever was still engaged. I looked back and saw hydraulic oil so I swung the 8N51 and pointed her down hill. The (after Market) PTO shaft pulled out of the tractor! Grabbed a wrench from the tool box, removed the PTO shaft and found that an internal clip ring had failed and allowed the bearing to slide forward. Walked up to the shop, pressed bearing back to where it belonged, installed new clip, walked back down to the river and installed the shaft. Drove up to barn and only had to replace one gallon of hydraulic oil. Drove back down to the river and completed mowing. Best afternoon of therapy ever!

 

[Skipper_488]

Enough that you can buy parts for them on Amazon.

 

[Caryc]

(quoted from post at 14:30:34 07/02/21) .......are still around?

Anyone have any good idea on how many are still out doing work? I know it'd be kinda tough to really know. Thoughts ?

Guessing Henry didn't anticipate many of his products still serving their masters 70+ years after they left his plant.

Just curious...

Pete

I have an 8N and a 1958 MF Workbull and five acres. I love both those tractors and they get used about equally. Forgot to add that both have FEL's.

This post was edited by Caryc on 07/03/2021 at 07:40 pm.