This weekend we continued to work on the 1948 8n although now it has become a mixture of '48 and '52. Dad had a 1952 he picked up for parts to keep his '51 running. It was time to salvage from the old boy. I checked the radiator but it's got too many holes in it. I also need the hood but you will have to wait for some pics of that beauty. I torn down much of the '52 and put my '48 parts back to replace what I borrowed.
The steering box on the '48 was in bad shape, there was way too much up and down play in the steering shaft. Steering felt tight on the '52 so it was spoken for.
A trick I read online came in handy. Remove all the bolts holding the housing in place. Then to remove the ball joins connected to the pitman arms, place a wood block behind the pitman arm where the threaded nut goes. Grab a large hammer and give the pitman arm a few whacks at the joint. This pushes the pitman arm towards the tractor and pops the ball join out using the treads. After a little cleaning and primer and red paint it looks pretty sharp.
Next it was time to address the shifter problem. The shifter pin was sheered off so the shifter spun in the socket. If you recall from the previous post my complaints about finding 4th gear, this was part of the problem. So I removed the cover and all from the '52. Here I checked the neutral safety switch and it didn't seem to work consistently. In the end my cover was in the best shape so I swapped out the shift lever and starter button. Cleaned and painted both and here is the progress so far...
No that is not "Factory Ford Red" but since this will be a workhorse I am not worried about it. Now it's time to make a parts list. I need a few odds and ends but for the most part the '48 is coming together. It might be a few weekends before I get all the parts ordered and delivered so stay tuned.
Until next time...
