Just a note of gratitude to all the fine, helpful folks here at this forum.
Just a few short weeks of reading/conversing in these forums with folks like Dell, Zane, sounder, Dunk (hated to admit that one) :wink: and.... I'm sorry that I can't mention ALL you guys who got me over-the-bump and helped me get to know this tractor a little better.... but here's what I'm thinking that made me say this....
About 12 or 13 years ago I had a neighbor with a big JD 4000 series and a 12' dual-hyd hog that he generously allowed me the use of to keep our joint-use grass runway mowed. Bein' a city-mouse who'd moved to the country, I didn't know squat about farm equipment, and there were plenty of opportunities for me to hurt myself. (I'm thinking of the time I was curious about how high the FEL with a spike on it would lift a round bale.) :shock:
Anyways, as my neighbor aged (his kids were about to commit him to assisted living) and I became the sole-owner of the runway, he GAVE me his old N-Ford tractor and 5' hog. Both had a fine patina of brown, but seemed otherwise in good condition. Trouble was, it didn't run. He said something about "if you could just give it a tune-up it should be just fine... it was a good worker and did fine until ten years ago when I parked it after buying the JD."
It looked intact, good sheet metal. No evident damage. Good rubber, Even had nearly new looking rear ag tires.
I checked all the fluids and other than rusty radiator water and varnish-smelly gas, it was fine, and no leaks! A new 6 volt battery would turn it over.... but no start. I fooled around with the magneto-looking thing (now I realize it was a front mount points system) for about 5 minutes, and figured it was some kind of obsolete system that'd never work again. I didn't contact anyone or do any research on it....after all, I still had the use of his JD.... (and I didn't realize his family was moving him to assisted living0.... So I called a buddy who had a farm down near Lockhart and asked him if he knew anyone who wanted an old Ford tractor that didn't run but had good rubber. He came up with a friend and hauled it away.
Well, the next month, the neighbor was gone and his JD was taken away by one of the kids who lived far away and sold off. I was suddenly faced with no method to keep my runway mowed.
I rented a JD from the local rental place a couple of times, but that was costing about $250/day and after a half-dozen times of that I began to figure I'd better get my own tractor.
I guess I'm one of the luckiest guys around when one of my Cessna 170 buddies told me he had a 9N that didn't run and I could have it and the hog attached to it. By now, I'd gotten a computer and found the Internet, also. I drove over to Toledo Bend, picked up the 9N with a borrowed trailer and hauled it back to central Texas. It would crank over, and raise the lift, but no start. There was that goofy little magneto-looking thing on the front of this one too!
An Internet search found this site, and all you helpful guys got me to realize that these old tractors were NOT so obsolete they weren't capable of being started again! So I took all the advice I found here, and bought a IT-4 manual and removed that front mount and..... voila! This ain't complicated at all!
It started but made a clanking racket like you'd never heard. Screwdriver-stethoscope method revealed front cylinder banging away. I pulled a compression test and No. 1 was dead. The rest about 90 psi.
I injected compressed air into the spark plug hole and whoooosh ... it all blew out the crankcase filler tube. Pulled the head....and found the sleeve all down in the sump and the piston flopping all around in the cylinder. Sleeve job.
Ordered the parts and a 12 volt alternator conversion kit and starter from this site and a week later I was the owner of a FINE-RUNNIN, 9N Ford Tractor. Whhooeeee! I'm a EKSPURT!
Now I wasn't new to mechanic work, ... I'd paid for college and flight training by working for Toyota dealers all thru the early '70's and I'd fooled with engines for years already. And I'd worked for aircraft engine shops in the mid-70's also. I am/was not a timid or inexperienced mechanic. But for some silly reason I took a look at that first front mount tractor and with no documentation or education about it decided it was not worth the effort. I look back on that and shake my head and wonder why I didn't feel inspired enough to dig into it, and get that first N-Ford running. I was so ignorant about it I can't to this day tell you which model it was... a 9, 2, or 8N.
You guys changed all that about 5 years ago. Thanks.
Just a few short weeks of reading/conversing in these forums with folks like Dell, Zane, sounder, Dunk (hated to admit that one) :wink: and.... I'm sorry that I can't mention ALL you guys who got me over-the-bump and helped me get to know this tractor a little better.... but here's what I'm thinking that made me say this....
About 12 or 13 years ago I had a neighbor with a big JD 4000 series and a 12' dual-hyd hog that he generously allowed me the use of to keep our joint-use grass runway mowed. Bein' a city-mouse who'd moved to the country, I didn't know squat about farm equipment, and there were plenty of opportunities for me to hurt myself. (I'm thinking of the time I was curious about how high the FEL with a spike on it would lift a round bale.) :shock:
Anyways, as my neighbor aged (his kids were about to commit him to assisted living) and I became the sole-owner of the runway, he GAVE me his old N-Ford tractor and 5' hog. Both had a fine patina of brown, but seemed otherwise in good condition. Trouble was, it didn't run. He said something about "if you could just give it a tune-up it should be just fine... it was a good worker and did fine until ten years ago when I parked it after buying the JD."
It looked intact, good sheet metal. No evident damage. Good rubber, Even had nearly new looking rear ag tires.
I checked all the fluids and other than rusty radiator water and varnish-smelly gas, it was fine, and no leaks! A new 6 volt battery would turn it over.... but no start. I fooled around with the magneto-looking thing (now I realize it was a front mount points system) for about 5 minutes, and figured it was some kind of obsolete system that'd never work again. I didn't contact anyone or do any research on it....after all, I still had the use of his JD.... (and I didn't realize his family was moving him to assisted living0.... So I called a buddy who had a farm down near Lockhart and asked him if he knew anyone who wanted an old Ford tractor that didn't run but had good rubber. He came up with a friend and hauled it away.
Well, the next month, the neighbor was gone and his JD was taken away by one of the kids who lived far away and sold off. I was suddenly faced with no method to keep my runway mowed.
I rented a JD from the local rental place a couple of times, but that was costing about $250/day and after a half-dozen times of that I began to figure I'd better get my own tractor.
I guess I'm one of the luckiest guys around when one of my Cessna 170 buddies told me he had a 9N that didn't run and I could have it and the hog attached to it. By now, I'd gotten a computer and found the Internet, also. I drove over to Toledo Bend, picked up the 9N with a borrowed trailer and hauled it back to central Texas. It would crank over, and raise the lift, but no start. There was that goofy little magneto-looking thing on the front of this one too!
An Internet search found this site, and all you helpful guys got me to realize that these old tractors were NOT so obsolete they weren't capable of being started again! So I took all the advice I found here, and bought a IT-4 manual and removed that front mount and..... voila! This ain't complicated at all!
It started but made a clanking racket like you'd never heard. Screwdriver-stethoscope method revealed front cylinder banging away. I pulled a compression test and No. 1 was dead. The rest about 90 psi.
I injected compressed air into the spark plug hole and whoooosh ... it all blew out the crankcase filler tube. Pulled the head....and found the sleeve all down in the sump and the piston flopping all around in the cylinder. Sleeve job.
Ordered the parts and a 12 volt alternator conversion kit and starter from this site and a week later I was the owner of a FINE-RUNNIN, 9N Ford Tractor. Whhooeeee! I'm a EKSPURT!
Now I wasn't new to mechanic work, ... I'd paid for college and flight training by working for Toyota dealers all thru the early '70's and I'd fooled with engines for years already. And I'd worked for aircraft engine shops in the mid-70's also. I am/was not a timid or inexperienced mechanic. But for some silly reason I took a look at that first front mount tractor and with no documentation or education about it decided it was not worth the effort. I look back on that and shake my head and wonder why I didn't feel inspired enough to dig into it, and get that first N-Ford running. I was so ignorant about it I can't to this day tell you which model it was... a 9, 2, or 8N.
You guys changed all that about 5 years ago. Thanks.
