Late last spring I brought home a '47 8N that had been sitting on a hobby farm for at least 15 years, $200. I figured it was worth that in parts, so why not--and the steering box is incredibly tight, far better than any other early 8N I'd had. My other '47 needed a friend, as I'd recently sold a '50 to my nephew. The engine on this new find was stuck. One of the rear rims collapsed due to rot on the trailer on the way home, so it was a bit of a chore to get the remains of that wheel and tire off while on the trailer, then refurb a discarded rim with the marginal wheel center section. Oh, and when airing up the other tire, the rubber cracked like ice on a very cold lake, leaving 1/4" gaps on the weather-exposed tread. Fenders had enough damage on them to smash them down onto the tires. Something heavy--like a barn--had to land on this tractor to do that kind of damage. I ended up cutting numerous fender-to-bracket bolts with a grinder to bend them both away from the tires for clearance.
A couple weeks back, I shoved it into the shop and proceeded to remove the engine, green coolant was present to the top of the block; last weekend pulled the pan. The clutch is brand new, with the manufacturer's paint brand on the wear face of the clutch, and stickers on the pressure plate still in place....decades after it was installed. No. 3 had a growth of crud on top of the piston, probably from some form of stop leak and then the ATF/Acetone I put in on top of the pistons. 1 and 4 in the down position still have shiny cylinder bores with cross hatching showing...but the pistons are stuck tight, either due to the dried goo on the crank or some rust on the rings.
The tractor has obviously been sitting far, far longer than 15 years....more like 50. The "oil" in the pan was the consistency of roofing tar, and when I pulled the drain plug, nothing came out. I put a pan under the hole, and three days later I had a 6"tall mound of tar in the pan, stalagtites dripping from the tractor all the way to the pan, plus the ATF/acetone mix that I put in through the spark plug holes back in July. Oil filter was a perforated heavy-gauge metal unit like I've never seen before.
Had about an inch of tar in the pan; the oil pickup tube was mired in it. The crankcase had dried carbon all over the crank and block, and the camshaft as well; No. 2 and 3 rod bearings were just touching the junk. The valve area was filled with powdered rust over everything but the valves themselves. Four stuck valves, relatively easily freed up, some carbon build up on them but not terrible. Valve guides seized in place. Broke loose 2 and 3 rod bearing caps with significant difficulty as the tar-type oil is a remarkably good glue, the crank is immaculate and the bearings appear to have very little wear on them. All the pistons appear to be stuck. Tomorrow, I'll pull the governor and probably the crank, independent of the stuck pistons. Then probably heat up the lower spring retainers and try to break them loose enough to pull the retainers and pull the valves out. Then really get to work on breaking the pistons loose.
If I'm really lucky, this will be valve and seat cleanup, pistons, rings and gaskets and I'm done, without having a full rebuild. We'll see. Once the engine's taken care of, we'll get the axle and transmission drained and see what surprises await there.
The tractor will stay 6v, will keep most of it's original patina, and we'll see about some rubber for those rotted rears. Maybe she'll see some labor in the spring in the garden. I found that when I had the 6v '50, and the 12v '47, was pretty darned nice--less time changing implementsa--just change tractors!
A couple weeks back, I shoved it into the shop and proceeded to remove the engine, green coolant was present to the top of the block; last weekend pulled the pan. The clutch is brand new, with the manufacturer's paint brand on the wear face of the clutch, and stickers on the pressure plate still in place....decades after it was installed. No. 3 had a growth of crud on top of the piston, probably from some form of stop leak and then the ATF/Acetone I put in on top of the pistons. 1 and 4 in the down position still have shiny cylinder bores with cross hatching showing...but the pistons are stuck tight, either due to the dried goo on the crank or some rust on the rings.
The tractor has obviously been sitting far, far longer than 15 years....more like 50. The "oil" in the pan was the consistency of roofing tar, and when I pulled the drain plug, nothing came out. I put a pan under the hole, and three days later I had a 6"tall mound of tar in the pan, stalagtites dripping from the tractor all the way to the pan, plus the ATF/acetone mix that I put in through the spark plug holes back in July. Oil filter was a perforated heavy-gauge metal unit like I've never seen before.
Had about an inch of tar in the pan; the oil pickup tube was mired in it. The crankcase had dried carbon all over the crank and block, and the camshaft as well; No. 2 and 3 rod bearings were just touching the junk. The valve area was filled with powdered rust over everything but the valves themselves. Four stuck valves, relatively easily freed up, some carbon build up on them but not terrible. Valve guides seized in place. Broke loose 2 and 3 rod bearing caps with significant difficulty as the tar-type oil is a remarkably good glue, the crank is immaculate and the bearings appear to have very little wear on them. All the pistons appear to be stuck. Tomorrow, I'll pull the governor and probably the crank, independent of the stuck pistons. Then probably heat up the lower spring retainers and try to break them loose enough to pull the retainers and pull the valves out. Then really get to work on breaking the pistons loose.
If I'm really lucky, this will be valve and seat cleanup, pistons, rings and gaskets and I'm done, without having a full rebuild. We'll see. Once the engine's taken care of, we'll get the axle and transmission drained and see what surprises await there.
The tractor will stay 6v, will keep most of it's original patina, and we'll see about some rubber for those rotted rears. Maybe she'll see some labor in the spring in the garden. I found that when I had the 6v '50, and the 12v '47, was pretty darned nice--less time changing implementsa--just change tractors!
