My purpose here is to show how I restored a 1950 (early) Ford 8N tractor and some of the problems encountered.  So far there have been more than you could shake a stick at.  The project is nearing completion and as of the date of this post I am in the 11th month since I began July 2013.

"Restoration" is a term that is all to often used loosely.  It may have different meanings but from what I've seen it usually means Earl Scheib was involved.  I have seen tractors for sale, in particular 8n's, that have supposedly been restored and clearly it has been anything but a restoration at least in my opinion.  For example,  some believe that in order to restore at tractor one must only spray paint.  Spray it over the grease and the sidewalls of the tires and viola you have restored a tractor.

Of all types of tractors to restore, why did I choose a dime-a-dozen Ford 8n?  Because there was one sitting in the weeds for my grandfather's house for the last 10 years and he gave it to me at no cost.  I wasn't looking to sell it for a profit especially since I have already spent more than it is worth as is often the case.
After dragging it out of the weeds and onto a trailer grandpa and I hauled it to the shop in rural Fond du Lac County, WI.  


July 24, 2013

It was a mess but I was ready for the challenge.  I figured I'd have it ready in about 3 months and spend no more than a $1500.  Wrong.   Most of than was gone when I decided to get new tires.  I was able to get a hold of a new set of the discontinued 3-rib Firestones for $100 a piece.



Front tire was flat and 8 inches below grade

I consider myself above average when it comes working on mechanical things but I had never touched one of these before but thanks to the knowledge of others and things like the I&T shop manual things went more smoothly than they could have.  I have learned so much that it has made much of the expense worth it for that alone.



I went into this project thinking I would only do enough to make it reliable again, not worrying about the cosmetics so much.  So I started taking it apart and had it as far apart as seen below at which point I ordered a bunch of parts only enough to replace ones that were broken.   Each time new parts came I ordered a few more and eventually ended up doing a nearly full restortion.  More on the "nearly" part later.  This was a not a wise idea because I probably spent over $100 on shipping that I wouldn't have had to had I decided to go all-out right away.

 

 

 Things began to come further and further apart until only the transmission housing remained bolted together.  It remained this way because I was confident there was no reason to open it up though I probably should have just to say I did.  The problem through out most of the project was that I was in too much of a hurry to finish it and kept trying to avoid further time and dollars spent. 

The old Datsun fork lift sneaking in for a photo bomb

More to come