# This Is To pogobill and catfishhjohn



## Hombre (Jul 24, 2016)

Now, to my reason to be here. I have a '49 Ford 8N since 1962, when I spent 4 months of my labor building a 54' x 36' - 6 stall garage for the owner of a Ford Tractor dealership in Springfield, Mo back in 1961. This owner had worked as a foreman for Ford Tractor plant in Dearborn, Mich. from 1938-1956. He had eight "N" Series tractors in a back show room that never set a tire in a field. I figured my labor which amounted to about $6.000.00 ended up paying for one of those 8N he owned. I'm still the proud owner of this 8N. 

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To reply to my Introduction message, here is a photo of that '49 8N that I paid $6,000.00 in labor back in 1962.
The first 12 years that I own it, it was used to remove and put away my Bass Boat at home, and to do a few parades in and around Missouri, Arkansas, and Kansas. 
The salty solution in the rear tires ate up the rear rims, and those I had to replace. The original tires became old and weather crack as it is called. I still have a fairly good "hat rim" that came from the tractor. The 8N has never been in a plowed field. I did buy a 72" finishing mower, but, only use it about five times due to the PTO setup. I quit doing parades and pulling parade floats due to the highly expensive liability insurance one has to have now if it is used to pull floats/trailers with children.
I converted it to 12 volts Electronic Ignition back in 1999, and changed to a Zenith carburetor, which BTW makes the tractor start and run much better. Those 6 volt batteries are hard to find and very expensive.

The 8N just takes up a stall space in my big garage, and ask me to take it out and run every time I open up the garage door.
I am 86 years old, and thought about selling. The wife recently ask me if I wanted it to be buried with me when I kick the bucket. Not a bad idea.

Here is the photo taken back in 2002.


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## Thomas (Nov 1, 2006)

Indeed a beauty. :thumbsup:


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## FredM (Nov 18, 2015)

that is indeed a great looking tractor Hombre


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## pogobill (Jan 31, 2012)

Indeed a lovely tractor. Nice to have the air pre-cleaner, and those silver rims on the back are a nice touch. 
Thanks for the up date and a bit of your history as well as the tractors. Looking forward to a few more stories there Hombre. 
You'll have to tell us about the electronic ignition installation and how it went. I was thinking of trying that on mine.


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## Hoodoo Valley (Nov 14, 2006)

Nicely done! Great story too. Thanks for sharing.


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## Hombre (Jul 24, 2016)

pogobill said:


> Indeed a lovely tractor. Nice to have the air pre-cleaner, and those silver rims on the back are a nice touch.
> Thanks for the up date and a bit of your history as well as the tractors. Looking forward to a few more stories there Hombre.
> You'll have to tell us about the electronic ignition installation and how it went. I was thinking of trying that on mine.



Converting to 12 volt Electronic Ignition went very smooth and really easy. I had some doubts it would work with such a old tractor.
I had heard from a Ford tractor dealer that there was a source making electronic ignition setup for old tractors. This was in 1998, and the converter was somewhere in Oklahoma. It taken me couple months to locate where, and found it was in Owasso, Ok few miles north of Tulsa., but still didn't know the name. So, the wife and I needed a few days away from home and I had a cousin living south of Tulsa, decided to check out who the company in Owasso. Just so happen, the John Deere dealer in Owasso knew who I was looking for. It was Genesse Products and it was just across the street from the Deere location. I spent an hour or so with the person there and did the design and layout and what he thought I needed to convert to EI. However, he didn't have any parts, or the things I needed, and ask if he could call me when he got it all setup for resale. Couple months went by and he called me to say he had it all setup to install on a old 6 volt front mount distributor 8N, and the complete price was $345.00 which included a 12 volt GM 3 wire alternator, 12 volt round coil, 12 voltmeter gauge, brackets and pulley for the old fan belt width, the Electronic Ignition module for the distributor, and the complete wiring system. I only had to buy a 12 volt battery. I removed the old 6 volt wiring, voltage regulator, the resister assembly, and added new spark plug cables made for 12 volts and new NKG brand spark plugs. Here it is 17 years later and I haven't touch or replaced anything in the way of the EI parts, alternator, or ignition parts. I did replace the battery about 4 years ago. Other than that it starts on the first turn of the starter button and runs very good. I can idle it down to 400 rpms and let the clutch out in fourth gear and it moved without any hesitation, something I couldn't do with 6 volts.

I consider it was worth the money to make the conversion.


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