Ford 8N

[Mountaintown Creek Ranch]

I have been wanting to get another tractor just to pull our manure spreader. Not a huge spreader so a little tractor would probably do it no problem but it does need hydraulic ports and PTO.
My friend has an old 8N that was his father's.
I took a brief look at it it appears it only has 525 hours on it but it's been sitting in the barn for the last 15 to 20 years. I've done some research online but can't seem to match it up with any other tractors that I have found.
He said it was running great when his dad parked it there. Even the tires don't look to worn so I got to believe the hours are probably correct.
I have to go back out and take some pictures decode the serial number and figure out what it is.
The biggest question is can I put a couple of hydraulic ports on it to open the gate on the manure spreader?
Has anybody added hydraulic ports to an 8 N ?

 

[kenny thomas]

8N were great little tractors. Never seen one with hydraulics though. Doesn't mean it couldn't be done.
All of them were gas powered if that matters, but very easy to work on. With that low hours its worth a few thousand. Great hay rake tractors.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Hydraulic pump only spins when the PTO is spinning. You can chain the 3pt arms down and take pressurized oil from the test port on the bottom of the pump, use it to supply an open center valve, then return the oil into the fill plug. Engage PTO, lift up on the chained 3pt and the pump will build pressure. They only produce 3gpm and like 1500psi, so it may not do what you need it to and it'll be slow.

It's an option but not a good one. Only having hydraulics when the pto is running kinda sucks.

 

[greybeard]

He said it was running great when his dad parked it there

If I had a $ for every time I heard or said that in the last 7 decades....
Yes you can add hydraulics to to some n series tractors. Not like tractors of the modern age but Dearborn even made a front end loader for 8n Fords and many were after marketed to earlier sold tractors. The most common way add on hyds worked on those old Fords was....There's a hole in the front suspension under the radiator tank and you install a little Browne & Sharpes (or other brand) pump up ahead of the radiator by bolting a flange to the crankshaft pulley and a splined shaft goes into that flange, thru the hole & out to the pump.

Dad had one and so did my twin brother.
Worked fine, lasted long time.

I suppose ya could do it on the PTO but not all those old fords has a live pto, and the hyd pump for the 3pt hydraulics ran off the pto shaft.

Search around on Yesterday's Tractors and you can see exactly how to add hyd to an old N series.

 

[Dave]

I spent a lot of hours sitting on an 8N. Raking hay and mowing with a 6 foot sickle bar.

Back in 2000 I went through a divorce. Came out the other side with no tractor. A friend loaned me an 8N to feed with. Want to give a 8N power steering? Put a 3 point bale spear on and pick up a 4x5 round bale.

 

[greybeard]

To give ya an idea..


Don't, be tempted to do this.


It robs from the 3pt pump and there ain't much pumpkin there to begin with...

 

[dcarp]

To give ya an idea..


Don't, be tempted to do this.
View attachment 60471

It robs from the 3pt pump and there ain't much pumpkin there to begin with...

Why create a project for yourself. There are lots of smaller tractors for sale with hydraulic ports on them. Just buy 1 of them.

 

[greybeard]

Why create a project for yourself. There are lots of smaller tractors for sale with hydraulic ports on them. Just buy 1 of them.

But but but, then, he'll never know the joy of a damp distributor on a foggy morning when your wife's in the ditch with your pickup truck, , a rust frozen clutch, a rusty broken, leaking fuel bowl glass, or a bent up stabilizer bar on his 3pt...or just how terrifyingly fast that thing gets going in road gear and full throttle on a narrow semi-paved road..or getting off the seat to find the rivets on the back of your wranglers hung up on one of the holes in the rusty metal seat and the W is completely wore off the back pockets, or figuring out how to get that battery down in the battery box thru the hole in the top of the hood without scraping all the flesh off your fingers only to find you dropped it in backwards and the ground cable ain't long enough to reach the post all the way over on the other side. Don't get me started on getting that heavy long nosed starter in and out and the bendix in the right place. I've walked away from that more than once, with the starter just hanging loosely in the hole while I cooled off and collected my sanity somewhere in the shade.

 

[mwj]

But but but, then, he'll never know the joy of a damp distributor on a foggy morning when your wife's in the ditch with your pickup truck, , a rust frozen clutch, a rusty broken, leaking fuel bowl glass, or a bent up stabilizer bar on his 3pt...or just how terrifyingly fast that thing gets going in road gear and full throttle on a narrow semi-paved road..

Sometimes those ''good old days'' were not as good as we thought. Especially if you have lived thru them. Nothing quite like a rotary mower pushing you into the ditch when you pushed in the clutch but forgot to kick out the PTO lever.

 

[greybeard]

That's why you always had to buy an over running clutch thingie to put over your oem pto shaft. It keeps you from mowing the bottom of a deep full to the brim farm pond too...most times

 

[Ouachita]

Want to give a 8N power steering? Put a 3 point bale spear on and pick up a 4x5 round bale.

My Jubilee would turn into a skid steer if I picked up a 4x5. When I bought it, it had an ugly but heavy homemade brush guard bolted to the front end. First thing I did, without considering it was there for ballast, I removed it. It probably weighs 150 pounds so I reinstalled it.
As long as I don't release the clutch too fast, or try to conquer more than a 5% grade, the front tires remain in contact with Earth about 50% of the time. I still use the brakes for sharp turns.

 

[sstterry]

I flipped a Jubilee while I was in High School. I do not reccomend trying this.

 

[greybeard]

Dad flipped an 8n with a front end loader end for end, over the front. He went flying and landed in the back of the pickup I was pull starting the N with. Tractor was still running, rolled over on it's side and I got out and switched it off before helping him out of the back of his junk fill truck bed.

My twin brother came close to turning one on it's side when going too fast and making an abrupt 90deg turn into a downslope entrance with a chain locked heavy duty gate at the bottom of the slope. Another story tho.

I did flip a small open station Kubota on it's side once when a slurry load of mud shifted in the fel bucket...rolled over in slow motion. I grabbed the seat edge with one hand and braced against the rops with the other and stayed in the seat thinking 'this can't be happening.."
No damage done except a bent exhaust stack. Oil & filter changes and all was good again for many years.

 

[Ouachita]

I flipped a Jubilee while I was in High School. I do not reccomend trying this.

A poor man has poor ways. I have newer and larger tractors suited for the job now, but when a $1,500 tractor was all I could afford, and the cows where hungry, I made it work.

 

[Rafter S]

8N were great little tractors. . . . Great hay rake tractors.

I learned to rake hay with one. It was dependable too. If I went to the field by myself I could depend on it not starting, so I'd have to go get someone to help me pull start it (it was 6 volt, so I couldn't use jumper cables).

 

[greybeard]

That's about what an 8n cost new in '47. $1,400 and change..

 

[Mountaintown Creek Ranch]

8N were great little tractors. Never seen one with hydraulics though. Doesn't mean it couldn't be done.
All of them were gas powered if that matters, but very easy to work on. With that low hours its worth a

According to the serial number decoder there is a D suffix that was for diesel.

 

[Mountaintown Creek Ranch]

Maybe that decoder D stood for distillate

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

All N tractors were gas.

 

[SBMF 2015]

My grandpa started farming after He returned from WW II with a 1941 ford 9N. I still have it. In ‘41 it would have been the greatest game changer ever but I hate to break it to you guys it’s 2025!
There are tons of 40-50hp tractors out there with power steering, live hydraulics, and live pto. Not to mention park as part of the transmission.