The Ford Barn

mach0415 · 09-09-2021, 04:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terry, NJ

Why would anyone want to? Ford made good cars and trucks, but, tractors not so much! I had one, a 1952 8N and that cured me! I'll take a good International H or M over it any day. My cousin farmed 80 acres with his John Deere B from 1936 to 1992. The N model tractors are the most overrated of the bunch. Mine would slip on wet grass!
Terry

I’ll second that! I had a ‘49 8N and hated it for all the same reasons. Hence, the past tense…
And of course nothing similar, engine-wise, to the Model A engine - other than being a flat head.

40 Deluxe · 09-09-2021, 06:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terry, NJ

Why would anyone want to? Ford made good cars and trucks, but, tractors not so much! I had one, a 1952 8N and that cured me! I'll take a good International H or M over it any day. My cousin farmed 80 acres with his John Deere B from 1936 to 1992. The N model tractors are the most overrated of the bunch. Mine would slip on wet grass!
Terry

The "secret weapon" on these Fords was the three point hitch system designed by Harry Ferguson. As the grill on mine says: "Ford Tractor Ferguson System." It really only worked for plowing. The plow shares were angled enough to pull the moldboards deeper. The tougher the ground, the more the plow tended to dig in. The three point system was designed to keep the plow at a set depth so it tended to lift the plow to maintain the depth. So, as the plow was trying to dig in and the hydraulics were trying to lift the plow, weight was transferred to the rear wheels. This gave better traction without adding all kinds of weight to the tractor. This enabled an N series tractor to "fight above it's weight", so to speak.
The 1948 National Plowing Contest was won by a 8N Ford with the 6 cyl. Funk conversion (may have been a V8, not sure). Anyway, if it would "slip on wet grass", I doubt it could have won that contest!

rotorwrench · 09-10-2021, 10:23 AM

Sounds like either a tire or a rear wheel weight problem. Some folks added the optional wheel weights and some put calcium chloride inside the rear tire tubes for weight that won't freeze. I've never had problems with rear tire slippage but it depends on the surface. If a person is plowing snow, I could see slippage there. They will slip in mud but I've seen tracked vehicle slip in mud before. Very hard surfaces may see some slippage but I would ask the operator what he was trying to pull before making a judgement.

Poo Poo them if you want but no tractor is perfect. When you compare the little N-series Ford tractors to other similar tractors in that time frame, they were the hands down winners with the 3-point hydraulic system. That system revolutionized the ag industry. When I was a kid, the old draw bar only tractors were relegated to pasture service where the cows could scratch their itch on them all day. They weren't worth a damn for anything else. My Grandad added a hydraulic pump and a home brewed front loader for hay lifting to his old Farmall F20. From that point on, that was all it was used for until it too finally joined the other units in the pasture.

Harry Ferguson generally gets all the credit for the"development" of the Ferguson system 3-point hitch. Charlie Sorensen had some interesting things to say about that in his book. When Henry and Harry got together to talk about his idea, Charlie was there and he stated that Harry's design was drawn out out by hand on paper and not even in any form of drafted design. They were just simple drawings of his proposed idea of a 3-point connection with the back of the tractor. Charlie and other Ford design personnel with the tractor division are the ones who really developed it all out and came up with a system that would actually work. This included a lot of testing on one of the Ford family farm properties. The plow depth compensation system was developed to keep the tractor from flipping over backward if an operator hit a big rock in the field. Harry Ferguson took credit for this stuff but it was not part of his original hand drawn design idea and he didn't help develop it much at all.

09-10-2021, 10:23 AM	#23
rotorwrench Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: San Antonio, Texas Posts: 16,422	Re: ford 9n and model a motor Sounds like either a tire or a rear wheel weight problem. Some folks added the optional wheel weights and some put calcium chloride inside the rear tire tubes for weight that won't freeze. I've never had problems with rear tire slippage but it depends on the surface. If a person is plowing snow, I could see slippage there. They will slip in mud but I've seen tracked vehicle slip in mud before. Very hard surfaces may see some slippage but I would ask the operator what he was trying to pull before making a judgement. Poo Poo them if you want but no tractor is perfect. When you compare the little N-series Ford tractors to other similar tractors in that time frame, they were the hands down winners with the 3-point hydraulic system. That system revolutionized the ag industry. When I was a kid, the old draw bar only tractors were relegated to pasture service where the cows could scratch their itch on them all day. They weren't worth a damn for anything else. My Grandad added a hydraulic pump and a home brewed front loader for hay lifting to his old Farmall F20. From that point on, that was all it was used for until it too finally joined the other units in the pasture. Harry Ferguson generally gets all the credit for the"development" of the Ferguson system 3-point hitch. Charlie Sorensen had some interesting things to say about that in his book. When Henry and Harry got together to talk about his idea, Charlie was there and he stated that Harry's design was drawn out out by hand on paper and not even in any form of drafted design. They were just simple drawings of his proposed idea of a 3-point connection with the back of the tractor. Charlie and other Ford design personnel with the tractor division are the ones who really developed it all out and came up with a system that would actually work. This included a lot of testing on one of the Ford family farm properties. The plow depth compensation system was developed to keep the tractor from flipping over backward if an operator hit a big rock in the field. Harry Ferguson took credit for this stuff but it was not part of his original hand drawn design idea and he didn't help develop it much at all.