Ford 8n at Work and Attachment List

I thought I would add in a little about what I have been getting into around the property with the old girl.  My daughter just turned 1 so I cleared and graded a nature trail for her.  I have been maintaining the road and moving dirt around with a scoop bucket.  I removed some invasive vines that had killed all the other trees and plants with the root rake.  Most of the time I just look for things to do just to get out of the office and out on the tractor.  I haven't started on any gardens or anything yet...that will probably be this growing season.

Right now my dad and I are sharing most attachments until I start bringing some home.  Here is a list of what we have (operational).  I would be interested in hearing what others have outside of this list that they find very useful...

• Scoop Bucket (loving this one to fill in a hole from a pool that has been removed)
• 2 Scraper Blades (one came with my tractor so it's the only attachment I have)
• Box Blade with teeth
• Root Rake (not the thin rake fingers style)
• Boom
• Bush Hog
• Finish Mower
• 1 Bottom Plow
• Middle Buster
• Disc
• Roto-tiller

By far the best upgrade has been my seat.  The wife bought one of those suspension seats to replace my pan style seat.  I have to admit it was a great gift.  I had it assembled and mounted within a day.

Upgrades/Fixes I will need to get into soon...

• New Tires
• Hydraulic Piston Rebuild
• Rear Axle Seals
• Clean gear oil off brakes and new pads
• PTO Shaft Seal

Fixing Lift Arms

So I should have been more careful...that part is obvious.  There is a steel bar on the outside of the left lift arm.  I took an attachment off and the wire I had tied and wrapped around the 2 arms broke.  In about 1/10 of a second the bar is up in the fender.  Not good.  A few mins on the shop press and it was better than before (was a little bent when I brought her home).  So I added a few things I had laying in the shop to help out and made some not-so-original modifications so the lift arms would stay out of the tires.  It has helped.

Adding new parts - Alternator and Lights!

So I just finished installing an old Delco alternator from an old Cadillac.  It charges so that was great.  I used some old brackets and welded up a mounting bracket for the alternator.  I created the top bar from some old conduit with some fancy offset bends.  Works great.  Have it all wired up.  Check here for great wiring instructions:

http://www.myfordtractors.com/12volt.shtml

I added lights and a switch so we are ready to deal with it getting dark around 5:30/6pm.  Thanks to Jason and my mother-in-law for the Christmas gifts, some fancy lights from Just8ns and Amazon. I used the ones from Just8ns for the fronts even though I think they are the rear lamps.  The other was a generic 12v worklamp so I mounted that in the back.  Still need to sort out a ground issue on that lamp.

Also, dad had an Ammeter in a box so I have a nice illuminated Ammeter in the dash.  I will try to upload pics soon of all the new additions.


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Needs New Engine

It has been far too long since an update.  Here is the story.

Machine shop found cracks in the block where the valves seat so it was basically a lost cause.  I looked at ordering a new block and rebuild kit and the blocks are hard to find.  I finally decided to pony up the money for a fully assembled engine.  I purchased one from http://www.waltstractors.com and it arrived on a pallet.  A few complaints I have.  Some of the head bolts leaked coolant onto the head.  it would pool in the little dips.  Walt offered to send new bolts but the head bolts were longer and have stopped leaking so I didn't take them up on the offer.  Also the paint used on the head was not high temp and is all peeling off.

Bolted up my new engine and fired it up.  Starts easy and runs great.  No more smoke so that is a great thing.

I have all my old parts and I am looking to sell them.  The head was machined already and is in really good shape.  Be sure to check out the parts page to take a look.

Parts for Sale

Time to Tear it Down...

Well, although I did get some projects around the property done with the tractor despite it's bad smoking habits, it was time to tear down and fix the problem.  If anyone has the manual, it is amazing how quickly you can separate the engine from the transmission on these.  You can pull the pins in one of the front axle bars and fold the front tires aside.  I opted to remove the whole front end and roll it out of the way.

There was considerable piston movement so they are worn out.  We pulled the caps and the main bearings don't look that bad.  Everything looks like it has been serviced before.  Most parts are marked with .010


The clutch doesn't seem bad, the ring gear is missing some teeth from when the starter must have bound up.  I also found chunks of the starter bushing in there.  Will need to order a new one of those as well.  Off to the machine shop...

Smoking...Test Some Additives

The 8N has been doing some work around the yard.  I traded an old straight pipe which ran under the tractor for one that aims up.  The tractor had a minor miss on one cylinder which got much worse the more I ran it.  I have been testing additives just to see if they have any effect on it (I expect they wouldn't but the tractor seemed like a perfect test subject since I am rebuilding it soon). 

The first additive I tried was SeaFoam.  Since it only took half the can to treat the oil, I used the rest to treat the gas.  It did not solve the miss and the tractor continued to smoke the same. 

I also tried Mystery Oil both in oil and gas.  It seems to make the tractor smoke different (more but different smell and consistency).

As for results, I will say that when I inspected the plugs, cylinder 1 had plenty of crud around the tip so I am not sure if that was a result of the SeaFoam (which was in much longer) but I expect yes.  Here is a picture of the spark plug...

So I plan on servicing the block and ordering an engine rebuild kit depending on what I find in there.

At the same time I plan on welding up a bumper and brush guard for the front.  A very small oak tree leaned against the grill after I backed over it and nudged my grill and radiator, pushing the radiator into the fan blades.  I have been so careful not to drive forward over anything but this proves that when clearing brush with a tractor, anything can happen.

Hood, Front Fenders and Grill...

Today was a roller coaster of a day.  We will start with my mission to add an inline fuel filter (knowing that the gas tank still has rust in it) and I have learned that there is no simple way to add a tubing fitting to a flare line.  I will have to do some creative thinking to see if I can still manage to add the cheap filter so I can replace them regularly at least until some of the rust works its way out of the tank.

Next I spent Sunday trying to repair the severely rusted front fenders.  I wet sanded the hood after the rain fiasco.  I got everything ready for a coat of paint Monday morning and was hoping for assembly Monday night.  All did not go as planned.  After wet sanding I cleaned the hood with a degreaser as recommended by the person behind the paint counter where I bought all the paint.  This was a mistake.  I should have wiped it down with Acetone like I usually do.  After a few swipes down the hood I noticed some really bad fish-eye finish.  I grabbed a rag and soaked it in Acetone and cleaned all the fresh paint off.  I wiped down the other areas I sanded and painted the hood for a second coat.  The fenders turned out as well as expected since I didn’t make them perfect.  I had a feeling they would get beat up someday, I didn’t realize it would be today.  Nothing seemed to fit so it took some beating and bending to get the front fenders to match up with the grill.  Of course I was then missing a critical pin on those fenders to fit into the grill.  I made it work with a bolt tightened into the grill and decided I would put a hole in the fender side to receive the bolt.  I welded a nut to the outside fender (good bye paint finish) and assembled most of the parts.  

Here is where the 1948 Ford 8n sits.  The fenders line up pretty well with the brackets on the front but the radiator cap would not fit.  I have added 2 layers of a high density rubber but it is still not setting the radiator high enough to clear the top of the hood.  I will need to add some spacers and buy some longer carriage bolts to mount.  The hood and fenders are sitting off to the side until I can get some spacers and raise the radiator.  I will hit the parts place and pick up some new steel fuel line and make some pretty bends up and over the engine to the sediment bowl.