What's shakin'?
BKB
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What's shakin'?
BKB
Not much. Reading but not posting. Im restoring an old 1952 ford 8N tractor. Have got it in a billion pieces and have stripped all paint down to bare metal. Starting the painting process. Painting each piece separate.
Take Care, Captain
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Wow. Now that is cool. where did you find it and where on earth do you find parts for it?
BKB
There are several places that make every part to original specs for these tractors. I did not know they were so collectable.
An older gentleman that worked with Mrs. Captain has been fighting cancer for many years. He owned this tractor. It had not been cranked in 7 years but he removed the plugs and gave it a drink of marvel mystery oil every so often and kept the engine free. He called me one night and wanted me to have the tractor and all implements. I bought a new 6 volt battery, point plugs and condenser and went over to his house drained the gas out and put in fresh gas and did a tune up and it fired right up and purred like a kitten. I paid him and loaded it up. He had it since it was new and only had a scrape blade and a disk. He plowed a small garden each year and kept his and his neighbors driveway scraped with the box scrape. It was I. Great shape other than looking like someone painted it with a pine top about 20 years ago.
I hope to have it fully restored back to original condition and bring him to see it...
Take Care, Captain
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Back in the day when engines had a bunch of blow by, that Marvel Mystery Oil was a great product. I used it for years until I got my first truck with fuel injection. Used to put a can in the crankcase when I'd change the oil and add a can to the gas tank about the same time.
That's a cool project, Larke. I'd sure like to see that old boy's face when you show him that tractor. That'll be a great time.
BKB
Good stuff.
The project is pretty cool and really has my attention now. It's cool to learn about this stuff. The tractor originally was basically Red and Gray with just a few pieces of black... I'm using the ford factory red and gray that was used from 1939 to 1963 from the dealership. I'm stripping every nut and bolt, washer and screw down to bare metal and painting each piece separate. The tractor was taken care of and solid as a rock. Even runs great. But it did look like someone painted it with a pine top years ago... And they did not use the correct red and gray color. You can actually see brush marks in the hood Here is a picture before I stripped the front part after I removed the hood and front sheet metal and another picture after I stripped it. It might look like some of the metal parts still have red paint on them but they do not. I guess the paint "stained" the metal that color after all these years. There is also a picture of the hood and front side panels and the running boards are in that picture too. I've finished the running boards but have not stripped the hood and other sheet metal yet. You can see some of the parts I've finished, each was taken down to bare metal and primed and painted. One mistake I've made and will correct is that I painted the seat red. That's how it was when I got it. But according to ford the seat was originally black as was the radiator cap, hood latch and steering wheel. The rest was either red or gray. You can see some of the hood bolts in the work bench that I'm finished with and see the gray color the hood fenders etc will be. All in all its a pretty good winter project. It's stolen a bunch of deer hunting time so far but I really don't mind. Instead of sand blasting I'm using a really good paint stripper and painting that on, let it set for a half hour or so and pressuring washing the paint off. This is working well. Another trick I'm doing is I've sprayed all the caked on grease and oil with oven cleaner and letting it set an hour or so and then Hitting it with a pressure washer. That does a great job on the parts and removes any oil in the metal and really make them take paint well! I use to use that on gun stocks when I would refinish them as it pulls all the oils out of wood so I thought I'd give it a try on the tractor and it worked great there too!
Take Care, Captain
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I lovedriding the tractor with my grampa. He had an IH and a Farmall. From cutting wood, baling hay, to spreading cow poop, just being able to sit on his lap or stand along side on the wheel base- made me feel king of the world. The fqact that looking back- pretty dangerous riding on the wheel base, but my brother and I loved it.
Scott, I was sitting here thinking of a lot of those same memories. We had a an old International H model Farmall on our farm and from the time I was about 13 or so I used it as my main means of transportation around the farm, hunting, fishing, whatever. I will admit to breaking the front wheels off of it more than once. I also will admit that I could pop a pretty good wheelie with it when nobody was around to watch too. I wonder if the two were linked somehow?
That old tractor still sits out by where our barn used to be. It needs a project like Captain is doing to get it running again though.
BKB
Larke, if you do half the job on that tractor that you did on your canoe it's going to be a sight to behold.
Those are classic, I'm sure you'll do a bang up job on it.
And for a Chevy man to put that much time and love into a FORD, I'm sure you're making your daddy proud. :encouragement:
Day'um, ya'll ARE some young bucks....I started out driving my grandad's old F-20's amd F-30's....the F-20's had steel wheels and cleats, and would literally bounce yo azz off....he later bought a used rubber-tired F-30....I was in hog heaven!!!....we absolutely wore them out, and parked them in the weeds....years later, I sold both of them to a junk dealer for $300 each....no telling what they'd bring, now. ;)
Here's one of the old F-20's:
Attachment 399
And, the later model F-30:
Attachment 400
My dad has told me about the day they got a 4 row plow. He thought that was big stuff.
I'm gonna try to make it as nice or nicer than the day it rolled off the assembly line... I hope anyway. There is one dent in the hood about the size of a softball but only about a half inch at the deepest place that might give me a little of a fit. I think I can get it to pop out without having to use any body filler. But I'll use it if I have to..
JB Dad really likes the old tractor. We had several of them and a Jubilee model coming up. One thing you had to remember with the 8N was it had a "live" PTO and if you were BushHoggin' and coming up on a pond or ditch or fence you had to give yourself PLENTY of room. With the live PTO even if you pushed in the clutch as long as the Blades on the cutter were still turning it was pushing the tractor forward on the transmission. So you could not stop until the blades wound down... There been a many a 8N, 2N and 9N driven off in a creek or pond.
Ford later made a "slip" PTO adapter for them you could add on to stop this problem. I have purchased one for old "Red Belly" as I've named her....
Took a day off today to deer hunt. It's just to cold to paint and use a pressure washer! :-)
Take Care, Captain
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When you get done with that one, come on down here and get my 1947 John Deere M tractor.
I'm gonna have to sell her. After all that back surgery I can't "climb aboard" any more. To get into the drivers seat ya have to climb up and over the seat from the back of the tractor.
Send me a picture Co-9.
I would be interested in buying it for real...
Take Care, Captain
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This reminds me: back when I was a kid Dad had an old John Deere AR sandblasted and then he painted it. After he was done he cut down an old Simplex pull behind blade, welded up a mounting frame for it, and stuck it on the front of the AR. He used it for pushing snow in front of our service station. He still has it and said I could have it but I recall it has a cracked head so would like to get that fixed if possible. In order to start it with the cracked head he would have to take the sparkplug out and get it glowing red with a propane torch before she would pop off. Once it was running she purred as well as any of the old Popping Johnnies ever did.
I would love to get her rolling again and use it in local parades.
Me and my brother bought an old B. F. Avery... a 1938, and it looked like it belonged in a junk yard. but it would RUN! Took every piece off and did what you are doing.
Man that thing looked sweet.
None of y'all proll ever heard of B. F. Avery, cool little tractor. What WE loved about it was it they was built in our hometown of Louisville, KY.
http://tractors.wikia.com/wiki/B.F.Avery_%26_Sons_Co.
Not sure why this link isn't going to the page I googled...but you get the jest.
http://tractors.wikia.com/wiki/B.F.Avery_%26_Sons_Co.