remove hood to set points

[Fuddy Duddy]

I talked to a guy that had listed a 8N on CL $850. Good tires. Said it was running but he couldn't get any fire. I talked to him on the phone. He said if it wasn't Red he don't want it. He's a Farmall man. Said this came with the property and he used it for a while. Then it quite running. No fire. He said it was crazy how they had put the distributor up front where you couldn't get at it. He said he had a buddy that was a pretty good mechanic come over and they removed the hood to check the points. They never did get it running. Unfortunately he already had a guy coming over to look at it the next morning and he was committed to him first. I was 30 minutes away with cash in hand. I told the guy how to remove the distributor and then its real easy to work on at your bench. He called me back about 45 minutes later and said "You were right, I'm going to get this thing running'" He said he would let me know if the other guy was a 'no show'. O'course I didn't hear back from him.

 

[Fuddy Duddy]

Heres the original listing. First time I saw it I was out on the road so I just emailed him and asked what work did it need. I never heard back from him. So figure it was sold. Didn't think it would last long. Then 10 days later I saw the add again. I was home then so I called. He told me he didn't know how to work the computer. That his wife takes care of that.
8N FORD TRACTOR 850

 

[Dean]

I well know the service manager and most of the mechanics at my local CNH dealer.

A year or so ago while speaking to the service manager, he complained about the need to remove the radiator to adjust/replace the points on front mount Ns. Seems he had recently removed the sheet metal and radiator twice to service the distributor on a customers tractor and it was still giving problems. The customer was, of course, paying somewhere around $75.00/hr for the work.

I told them how to remove the distributor for bench work and to replace the cheap TISCO points with a decent set, which they did, solving the problem.

Dean

 

[Mark Schrier]

This cracks me up because the first couple of times I worked on the distributor, I used a mirror, a clamp-on light and a whole bunch of blueish colored air!

I was at the parts store and the mechanic who had just walked in from the shop came over to make sure I had the gaskets I needed. I was grousing about what a pain it was to work on these.

He just looked at me funny and said,"Loosen up the fan belt and unbolt the distributor".

Life got a little easier after that!

When I asked my brother if he had ever worked on this when my uncle owned it, he said my uncle used to take the radiator out to do a tune up. Not quite sure how that worked for him.

I am sure glad my uncle taught me about carpentry instead of mechanic work!

 

[flembo]

I have done quite few front dizzy tuneups on my 3 ns but I still can't master the 2 bolt 15 min. snaple the caple an let er dangle thing.I might have it under an hour removing, bench work and replace. I defenenatly don't like dangling the cap it gats in my way.

 

[Mark Schrier]

I just pull the plug wires and the wire off the top of the coil. Whole unit comes out just fits between the generator and the hood. If you take the fan belt off the generator and water pump pulleys, you can get it far enough out of the way to make it easier.

This is one thing I'm getting good at, as I have had it in and out about 20 times in the last two weeks.

Mark

 

[FLOLDFORD]

Had a guy call me a few years ago that found out from a friend of mine that I worked on old tractors. Said he had changed the points and condenser in his 2n and could not get it to run. I told him if he could bring it buy I would take a look at it. He showed up a couple days later with it on a trailer. I jump up on the trailer and pulled the distributor out in just a few minutes. you should have seen the look on his face when I turned around with it in my hand. He had changed everything with it in the tractor didn't even pull the hood or anything else. Said he did it by using a mirror. Said it took him all day. And believe it or not he had it pretty close points were not closing by just a hair. I didn't charge him a dime to get it running. Worked on a few more time since then but never on the ignition

 

[HCooke]

I've change front mount points a few times (I have 8 front mount Ns). I don't think I could do it with the radiator off!

 

[heybusdriver]

Did you just take it out 20 times for practice or
was there a reason? 8^)

Stan
9N 222933
2N with 8N motor 8N345567
8N 146710
8N 179555
8N 197904
8N 199000
8N 254079
8N 362039

 

[36 Coupe]

The front mount distributor first appeared on the 1932 Ford V8.Friends and I were just teenagers but we were never dumb enough to pull the hood and radiator to change the points on a Ford V8 or 6.In 1942 the distributor was changed to one like the tractor,much easier to remove.Ive changed the points on 47 Ford V8 on the roadside when a point spring broke.My friend can pull the distributor out of his 9N in 5 minutes.Ive owned many Ford V8 cars and never had much trouble with ignition.I could change fuel pumps in the dark though.When we had a problem with a Ford we went to the Ford garage during break time or lunch time and asked Charley Wales how to do it.We always brought Charley a soda or coffee when we had questions.I still cant believe anyone is dumb enough to pull the radiator to change points in a Ford tractor.

 

[tesmith66]

I take the coil off and leave it there with the wire attached, then pull the distributor and go to the bench. Takes about 5 minutes and I don't have to touch the belt.

 

[W_B]

I used to loosen the belt but since learned better. I take the wire off of the coil, pull the plug wires and take the whole thing out to work on it, that way can be sure the coil is on right and making contact. To each his own. My first car was a '66 Plymouth Belvedere with a 318 V8. I would take the distributor out of it too, just a one bolt hold down. Had a mark chiseled on it so it got lined up right. Man, those were the bad old days when you had to tune up a couple of times a year and replace tires every year and half or so.

Even when new to all this I never thought to take the hood or radiator off!

 

[Fuddy Duddy]

I was surprised to hear I'm not the only one with such a story. I hope that service manager at the CNH dealer didn't charge that customer for all that work after he found out the error of his ways. And using Mirrors? Boy that would be a tricky one. LOL