[AT] N-Complete, a bit disappointing...

[Indiana Robinson]

I have made occasional trips to N-Complete at Wilkinson Indiana for a fair
number of years mostly for parts. They are only maybe 45 miles from me. I
had not been for several years due to health reasons and a few years ago
the company changed hands. I went yesterday for a couple of small parts and
also out of curiosity. The first thing I noticed was that there was only a
handful of used tractors out in the lot, where there used to be dozens. Not
a big deal, I was just always impressed with how many were always on hand.
As we went in I noticed that they no longer had a selection of common parts
out in the small showroom. Again not a big deal, I had just always liked
walking over and grabbing common parts. The friendly young lady at the
counter was helping a customer who was buying a complete new exhaust system
including clamps and a hanger for an NAA or later tractor. She was working
very hard at being sure he was getting all the right stuff he needed. There
were three completed tractors sitting in the small showroom and he was
comparing each part to a tractor sitting there to be sure he would have
everything he needed. She was doing a fine job and we were all talking and
joking a bit. He made a price inquiry and it was around $80 at that point.
Not bad at all and he was pleased. When he got down to the hanger at the
very end of the pipe and she headed into the back to get one I joked that
that last hanger mount was going to be $300. Turned out I wasn't far enough
wrong... I think it was about $60... And it was nothing like the one on the
tractor. He rather quickly decided that he didn't need one after all and
that he would just make one out of a 2" piece of strap iron. She was
finishing up his paper work and he was just looking at that tractor
closely. Suddenly that tractor starter engaged and the tractor which was in
gear started moving forward, starter only, not firing. It was about 5' away
from and headed for a shiny restored Ford/Ferguson... The young  lady ran
to place herself between the two... I guess she was planning to cushion the
low speed crash? The guy was trying to hold the thing back and finally
pushed down the clutch and I grabbed the shifter and knocked it out of
gear. About then the starter stopped. The guy said that he had just taken
hold of the starter to solenoid wire and it started moving.
The young lady was quite shaken (normal) but we all had a relieved chuckle.
The guy rolled it back and insisted it be in gear to keep it from rolling
and I insisted that it be in neutral and the brake locked or it could do it
again. The girl kept saying "All I could see was $14,000 rolling at
$10,000"...
I wanted a preformed oil line that runs from the fitting on the block to
the oil pressure gauge. I would normally make my own but I was being nice
to myself. I showed her on a 2N that was sitting there and she went back
for it and my other item. When I got home I looked at it and realized that
she gave me the line that runs from the filter to the governor instead. I
won't make a trip back, I will eventually need one for my other 8N since
someone had removed the oil filter from it. Just an annoyance. It was
tagged with the right number. I looked it up when I got home and saw it was
the wrong one. In her defense she was still pretty rattled.
Now for the "disappointed" part...
I had time to look those three "re-manufactured" tractors pretty closely. I
had in the past looked at N-Complete tractors very closely, both at shows
and in their showroom and shop. I was always very impressed. These three
were just "OK"... but not what I was used to seeing...
The Dotson gang and some other list members here have done far better work.
One thing I had noted when trying to set the brake on that NAA was that on
the locking pawl on the passengers side was tightly stuck... I don't think
just paint stuck but tightly rust stuck. I could not move it at all with
the little flip over lock / unlock lever. The pin that holds the lever was
in wrong and as a result even if the pawl was free the lever would not have
locked it. Beyond that some parts of all three tractors simply did not show
the level of "finish" that I always saw in the past. Generally "OK" but not
"excellent". One little example: On one tractor the rear end of the radius
rod on one side was very deeply pitted and just painted over. It was
clearly visible from some distance back. The old N-Complete would have not
have passed that... One of the two 9N/2N's had a "V-bar" drawbar attachment
on it. The pin hole in it was badly wallered out and elongated but not
repaired as it would have been in the past. The burr was just ground off.
One of them had one of the lift rods from the upper lift arm down to the
lower arm with quite a bow in it.
Most of these things are things I would not give much notice at all on a
tractor an individual brought to a show or as with mine that are done with
use rather than show in mind but as the young lady mentioned these were
$10,000 and $14,000 tractors said to be fully re-manufactured...
She also mentioned that the one with the starter/solenoid problem (and the
bad brake lock) was just sold and heading for Canada soon. BTW, on that one
I had noticed as I walked in that sitting at rest with neither brake locked
that the pedals were not at the same height, maybe an inch or more
different from each other...
I didn't dare mention any of this to the young lady for fear of a total
meltdown after the starter incident.
I did note that the paint work seemed good on all three, no runs, smooth,
well masked.
I was just expecting more attention to detail like under the previous
owner. Maybe if I had not previously seen the fine work of the old shop
these would have looked better to me. (shrug)


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