laugh or cry ?

Looks like the joker painted it...

Edited by DiyDave - 11 Sep 2017 at 9:00pm

It's kind of a mutt tractor, but definitely not an 8N. It's a 1940-41 9N with a 2N grille, among other things. The I-Beam radius rods and the lack of a couple bolts in certain places point to it being a 9N. 

Edited by CrestonM - 11 Sep 2017 at 9:26pm

prolly found that thing somewhere in OK! i'd hide that thing in the forrest too!

Man that falls in the ugly duckling category. 

I like the part about the stunning paint job yet he wants to sell it LOL.

Hideous--I had to avert my eyes!

JimD wrote: Hey!  We don't use purple in Oklahoma.

We used to have a Ford Jubilee with a full hydraulic loader. Burned more oil than gas but always started and ran. Would love to have it back. As far as paint goes your tractor paint it as you wish but realize you may devalue the tractor. Never understood spend the time and effort to do it and not do it right as far as color goes!!

Gary Burnett wrote: Bad part is the paint job is the best thing about that tractor.

Boo!!
Any experienced plowman who knows how to set a plow and run a tractor knows a N series can't be beat with a 2 or 3 bottom (a 3 only in light soil)

While I do love Allis very much, I'm not so biased that I won't admit when another brand is superior at something.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy plowing with my B and 2-12 trailer plow, but if I did anything more than an acre or two, I would take the N in a heartbeat. Draft control not only makes for a better ride, but it also saves time, fuel, and tires. (Allis proved that in a test plowing with a WD using traction booster and another test with no TB) Plus, I think the 8N is geared better. A better selection of field speeds, and a real road gear that will rival a Farmall M. And don't forget the Sherman over/underdrive transmission.

No, an N isn't a WD45 or a D17 (which most people seem to want to compare them to) but for their size, I do believe they are superior to any other small tractor built.
When properly adjusted, the brakes will stop you on a dime every time. Those fantastic brakes saved my dad's life when he was 8 years old and he got pinned under the left rear wheel while the tractor was cruising in road gear (riding with his dad). If they had been Allis brakes (or any other color), he would've been dead, no doubt, as the brake-locked wheel skidded him over 20' on the dirt road.

From what I've noticed, everybody that had bad experiences with the N's either asked too much of them or are just operators who don't know how to fully utilize their tractor and the hydraulic system. Understand your tractor, and use a little common sense, and you will never have an issue, as long as you use it for its intended purpose.

I talked to one guy who had nothing good to say about an 8N's plowing ability… After watching him once, I noticed when he plowed he shoved the hyd lever down, buried the plow, then complained the tractor reared up on him. Once I told him how to use the draft control system, (lower the plow just enough so the plow rests on the ground, then drop the lever another inch or so, and plow.) he thanked me very much.
Yes, the pump linkage and hydraulic ram piston get worn over time, and cause the system to act up, but there is lots of adjustment in the linkage. What tractor doesn't show wear after 60+ years?

Recognize it's a smaller tractor (not a D17), understand how to use it correctly, and you will have a wonderful two plow tractor that can't be beat. That's my take on the N-series subject.

*Fun Fact* Henry Ford had a few Allis B's on his farm, and he did like them, but recognized they had some limitations. He set out to build a small tractor like the B, but he also wanted to make some improvements. The 9N was the end result of that.

Edited by CrestonM - 12 Sep 2017 at 8:58pm

Creston, like all things, lot of it is because of the operator's care and maintenance of their equipment. I have driven a couple N series fords and you could stand on the brakes of one of them and it felt like they didn't do a thing.  On our WD, you just toed them and they would stop you, until you left the brakes lock on and harden the brake shoes to glass and they would not stop you either. Yours truely did that till it was like, 'wheres that burning stench coming from' and then realized what it was and where the smoke was coming from.  And guess who had to replace them... LOL.
 As for plowing, when a person knows how to set a plow, they seem to slip through the ground effortlessly until you hit gumbo blue or gray clay and that will set you back all of a sudden.  
 We have some of that crap, spin on top when its wet, super wet you spin down to the plow sole/hardpan and sit there and spin and when its dry, its like plowing cement. So you do need to set the plow best you can. and the hitch system on the WD combined with the traction booster had your 3 pt. is beat all to hel... smitherins... because of where the pulling point is attached, ahead of the rear wheels.  Get into tough plowing, the plow sort of holds the front end down, while the torque and traction booster starts lifting the front end. It's an ingenious balancing act taking place on the snap coupler system, to get through the tough spot, the TB will start raising the plow which creates a lighter front end and as the front starts raising, the front hitch starts lifting the front of the plow slightly and more so if it gets higher.
 Where as the the 3 pt picks everything up on the back end, all the weight... and ideally you want the arms to be nearly level on the 3pt. Hit a tough spot, and up goes the front end if you don't have enough weight on it.
 And then there are the plows... JD just plain pulls hard and been told Melroe plows do too. Oliver radex pulled easier than most.  I had a 4x16 AC plow I pulled behind my 190XT and wore the plow out and didn't have time to find new moldboards and shins and shares and landsides so I hooked onto a 5X16 Oliver plow and dreaded trying to plow with it... surprisingly, it did not make that XT beller much louder and still in the same gear.
  Got a story fer you, dad used a WD for was plowing with 3x14 mounted plow and one spring he decided that he would give Neely Ford a call and see what he had to try plowing with... Was a hard year to plow and the WD was stretched to the max in first gear.  So Neely delivered a Fordson Major diesel with 4x16 plow. Dad tried it out, he adjusted and adjusted that plow and to no avail did that plow work with that Major. the Major struggled with that plow... Half a day shot. He called Neely to come and get it. Neely said it wasn't properly set yet and would be out the next day. Dad went back to plowing with the old WD and 3x14. Neely came the next day and went out and started plowing... he spent from 9 to noon trying to adjust that plow and never could get it to plow as nice as the WD was doing. He made a comment about this ground was some f***** hard s*** and loaded the Major and plow up and went back to town.  The next year we had a WD45.  And a few years after that, we had a D17.   LOL

You've got some good points, JC. I was intentionally leaving the WD out of my equation, just because (from my experience) a WD is a lot more tractor than an N, in both size, weight, power, etc. (A whole 10 horses and couple thousand pounds heavier). I was comparing the N to similar size tractors, such as the B/C/CA, etc. 

Edited by CrestonM - 13 Sep 2017 at 6:53am

Fred in Pa wrote:   Creston ,just where did Ford get that great idea for his Hyd. System ,that's what made the tractor .

CrestonM wrote: You've got some good points, JC. I was intentionally leaving the WD out of my equation, just because (from my experience) a WD is a lot more tractor than an N, in both size, weight, power, etc. (A whole 10 horses and couple thousand pounds heavier). I was comparing the N to similar size tractors, such as the B/C/CA, etc.  Bring traction booster into the equation, and you're right about the snap coupler. I too believe it is a great plowing design, putting the hitch point ahead of the rear axle. It is also true "In the seat hitching".  However, on the N's...imagine trying to plow without a 3pt top link...the plow will just want to tip forward. Now put the top link in, and all the force that wants to tip the plow forward is conveyed into the tractor, pushing the front end down, and thus the tractor won't/can't tip if everything is set right. I used to have a diagram that showed this, but I'm having trouble finding it.

Creston, you can't compare the N to the B/C,,,,,,,,,,you have 10 more horse than they do.   Yes you can compare it to the CA though.  And you'd be left in its tracks.  The B/C doesn't have Traction Booster but the CA does.
Sorry buddy.......you gotta compare apples to apples.....

Ted J wrote: CrestonM wrote: You've got some good points, JC. I was intentionally leaving the WD out of my equation, just because (from my experience) a WD is a lot more tractor than an N, in both size, weight, power, etc. (A whole 10 horses and couple thousand pounds heavier). I was comparing the N to similar size tractors, such as the B/C/CA, etc.  Bring traction booster into the equation, and you're right about the snap coupler. I too believe it is a great plowing design, putting the hitch point ahead of the rear axle. It is also true "In the seat hitching".  However, on the N's...imagine trying to plow without a 3pt top link...the plow will just want to tip forward. Now put the top link in, and all the force that wants to tip the plow forward is conveyed into the tractor, pushing the front end down, and thus the tractor won't/can't tip if everything is set right. I used to have a diagram that showed this, but I'm having trouble finding it.  Creston, you can't compare the N to the B/C,,,,,,,,,,you have 10 more horse than they do.   Yes you can compare it to the CA though.  And you'd be left in its tracks.  The B/C doesn't have Traction Booster but the CA does. Sorry buddy.......you gotta compare apples to apples.....

Edited by CrestonM - 13 Sep 2017 at 7:20am

CrestonM wrote: TBone...Depends on how bad the tough spot is. A couple years ago I had that same question, so I taped a ruler to my fender, then attached my phone to the tractor and set the video recording. I plowed a little that way, and to my surprise, most of the time the plow only bumped out about 1/2".  Of course, it all depends on the situation. Other times I've hit a stump or something when breaking out feed plots, and it almost lifted the plow completely out of the ground.  Actually there used to be a video on You Tube of a guy driving a large piece of steel into the ground, then plowing over it with a N or a Ferguson. When the plow hit the chunk of steel, the draft control raised the plow completely out of the ground.