I recently purchased a Ford 8N tractor at nearly scrap price due to some issues that it had at the time. But it was the cleanest and best looking of the lot out of 8 tractors I had to choose from. I took a risk and got this one.
And I am happy that I did too because it has been well maintained and is very easy to work on. The original issues were a flat tire in the front and one in the back as well as the steering was frozen up. And of course the tank was full of bad gas from age.
The Old Ford 8N Tractor I Bought
It needed a battery right off the start but that is a given on an old tractor like this anyway.
After I paid for the tractor I never got to it again for a few weeks due to hauling fire wood to heat our off grid tiny house.
On this day I finally got out there to work on it. To my surprise the steering was freed up. You can see some rusty water had poured out at one time from the steering gearbox but it was moving now. I have no idea what happened but I can assure you that the steering was freed up or I would not have paid such a low price for this tractor.
The first thing I did was to get my battery installed and then spray some starter fluid into the carb to see if it would sputter at all. If it has spark, the rest is easy. And it did fire. I was so happy and excited that this was going to be an easy job for me.
Installing Ford Tractor Battery
I drained the bad gas from the tank which took forever. While that was draining I drained out the carburetor and fuel lines and cleaned out the sediment bowl.
Once that was done I flushed the entire system a bit with some fresh gas before closing it all up and putting gas in the tank.
Trying To Start My Old Ford 8N
I was so happy to see that the engine fired right up and ran very well. It ran very smooth and idles nicely. There is a little bit of smoke coming out the exhaust but this could be from sitting for years. It may clean itself out with time. I guess I will see. Either way, for its age, this tractor is running well already.
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The next day I had to get the tires inflated somehow so I could bring my tractor home. The front tire was really badly blown out so there was no saving it. I tried a tire that was laying around nearby but the center hole in the rim was too small.
The Old Junk Tire On My Tractor
It rained on and off all day. Oddly the sun would come out in between rain storms. As they say in Michigan - if you don't like the weather in Michigan, wait 5 minutes.
Here is a photo I grabbed off the video of the day. It is just so beautiful and looks like a western scene. I wanted to share it with you.
Beautiful Western Looking Scene
So I ended up taking a trip into town and went to the first car shop I could find. Fortunately they had a pair of junk tires on hand that they wanted to give away. The tire was badly dry rotted on the side walls so I paid for them to put an inner tube into the tire and mount it onto the rim for me.
Installing Better Tire On My 8N Tractor
Back at the land I put the tire on and it held just find. I let some air out of that tire because I was worried about its rotted side walls. I also aired up the back tires to 15 PSI.
I was then able to see if the tractor would drive under its own power. I had not yet tried the transmission out yet because I did not want to damage the flat rear tire. The tractor moved right out of its parking space with ease.
Driving My Ford 8N For The First Time
I was able to make the two mile drive to our off grid homestead. Other than freezing rain and wind, the trip was relatively uneventful. The tractor drove quite well.
The Ford 8N Tractor At Our Off Grid Homestead
The only issues I found are that the engine wanted to stall sometimes if I did not have the throttle high enough and there was a banging noise in the transmission housing one time per tire rotation.
The carburetor pours out gas when I turn off the engine so the float is going to need cleaning or adjustment. I will have to work on the carburetor later.
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