[AT] Ford 8 N

[Francis Robinson]

At 12/9/04 8:06:00 AM, you wrote:
>I think some folks are being a little sensitive. My comment was 
>essentially that the Ford N was a good little tractor in its day, but 
>that the lack of live hydraulics and transmission driven PTO could make 
>mowing with a brush cutter difficult, if not dangerous. It should also 
>be remembered that the N was a crop tractor first, back when the PTO was 
>mainly used with flat belt pulleys to run stationary mills, corn 
>shuckers, elevators, etc. I am sure that the designers of the N never 
>envisioned that they would someday end up being used solely for rough 
>cutting fields or plowing snow.
>
>Like every tractor, the N had its good points and weaknesses. It is 
>comfortable, very reliable, easy to drive, easy to get on and off of, 
>economical to operate, has a starter interlock, has an integrated three 
>point hitch, has a standard PTO (if you change out the early ones), is 
>very reliable and sturdy, and is relatively inexpensive to maintain 
>and/or repair. On the down side are the strange brake pedals and no foot 
>boards on the 9N/2N, marginal draft control, too fast a reverse, 
>difficult to access engine, difficult to access distributor up until 
>1953, axle seals prone to leak, and the lift and PTO problems mentioned 
>above.
>
>Mike
>
>Ndg1952 at wmconnect.com wrote:
>> Thanks Farmer.  That's what I have been trying to say for years.  If the 
>> N-series is as helpless as some people try to say, how did so many survive to 
>> still be used today?
>> 
>> Nathan
>> _______________________________________________
>


	Hi Mike:

	I should have pointed out that my post was not in response to anything you said. The N Fords have 
taken an unfair bashing not only on this list but parts of YTMAG and other sites for far too long.   :-)   I just 
decided to set the record straight. Too many guys want to put it down as weak and unfit to do serious work. 
That is poppycock.   :-)   Thousands of them were the primary tractor of farms of several hundred acres all 
across the midwest. They compared well to "most" of their contemporaries in the same 25 HP class. The 
trouble is too many want to compare them to much larger tractors of the late 1950's and 1960's and that 
simply isn't a fair comparison.
	Yes, they had good and bad points just like the rest. That "marginal draft control" was not only as good 
as anything on the market at that time it was about the only draft control on the market at that time. I never 
found the reverse too fast but it sure is on my 1948 Deere A. The side mount distributor, BTW, was 
introduced in 1950 not 1953.   :-)   that old front mount dist. was a #$%&... That starter interlock was about 
the only one out there too. 
	Actually the Ferguson TO-20 (which we later put TO-30 pistons in) in my mind was a much better 
tractor than the Ford in several ways. Rear axle seals was one.   :-)   The biggy was the OVH Continental 
engine. I did like the Ford brake pedals both being on the right side (8N up) better than Ferguson's master 
pedal with a seperate turn pedal on each side. Our Ferguson TO held up well under a zillion hours of hard field 
work and when we wanted an new tractor about 1961 we traded the 1953 Jubilee Ford and kept the 
Ferguson. The Ford was traded for a Massey Ferguson 65-D
	One of the nice things about having a wide range of brands of tractors and loving them all is that I get 
to be more objective than many who see only green or red.   :-)



"farmer"


Francis Robinson
Central Indiana USA
robinson at svs.net