[AT] 8N Ford

[Indiana Robinson]

On Wed, Dec 23, 2009 at 2:49 PM, Ron Cook <rlcook at longlines.com> wrote:
> Too old to be "picked on".  To be picked on you have to be able to pay
> attention.  Now what were we talking about?
>
> I wouldn't compare that 9n to anything but a comparable tractor.  Of
> which there probably aren't any.  My Granddad never referred to his 9n
> as anything but the Ford-Ferguson.  He had all the necessary
> implements.  Not all were Dearborn.  Some were Ferguson.  And they
> worked just fine.  You just have to like sitting straddle that rough
> little thing all day long, day in and day out, never getting to change
> positions much.  Granddad also had a Farmall Regular, Case VAC,  and a
> John Deere B.  He died before he got his "red belly" NAA Ford that he
> really wanted to work all those implements that he had.  Henry Ford had
> that marketing thing figured out and Harry Ferguson had the implement
> mounting figured out.
>
> Personally, I think the little Fergies are a better product.  Just not
> as easy to find parts for. Marketing again.
>
> Ron Cook
> Salix, IA
>
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I always forgave Ford that turning brake thing because a cure may have
been expensive but I never understood the foot peg thing... My father
put aftermarket running boards (steps) on his pretty early on. They
were simple things stamped out of sheet metal but they never bent and
served well. With them you could stand up and drive. Well I could,
ours had a metal cab with snap-on curtains and my father couldn't
stand up in it. He had also bought that tractor with the accessory
tall air intake stack and the larger choice in rear tires.
I finally found a picture of one of those factory cabs here:
http://www.tractorshed.com/fordnclub/n_oldad66309.htm
I like the Ferguson running boards better than the 8N because you
still had the foot pegs if you wanted them. The4 little tool box in
the Jubilee Ford were cute but always filled with dust which became
mud when it rained.
My MM-R just has foot pegs and they are not even lined up with each
other which I find annoying. I also never liked the off center
steering wheel. I did like the MM pivot seat bracket where you can
swing from one side to the other but the pivot and stop could easily
amputate a finger if you got sloppy.
Most of the time on a tractor I didn't like being cantilevered so far
back behind the rear axle as many were built. Too dusty back there...
A young guy who worked for us at the Garst Seed Research Farm bought
an old WD to use with a pull type bush-hog on his lot. One day he was
mowing along and the seat broke off at the "one" mounting bolt at the
axle and he fell under the mower. He ended up missing big hunks of
skin and meat (talking "big" here) but lived. His scars were huge and
he knew lots of surgeons by first name. Not a good thing... My father
knew a fellow who was picking corn with an pretty old John Deere and
he hit a hidden gulley about 18" deep. He was bounced off of the back
of the seat and onto the unguarded (what is a guard?) PTO shaft. He
also lived but didn't really want to...
I often wish that my Farmall S-M, S-MTA and 400 LP didn't have that
big old battery box under you right where my feet often want to be.
:-)
I do find that my 1948 John Deere A is very comfortable to drive and I
like the open little platform. I'm not big on hand clutches but my
MM-R has one too.
I have never liked those Massey Harris seats that have that big long
pipe running from under the seat half way up to the radiator. OK,
maybe not quite that far but still a pain to climb over.


-- 
Have you hugged your horses today?

Francis Robinson
aka "farmer"
Central Indiana USA
robinson46176 at gmail.com