Tractors Are Good For the Soul!

Posted on by
Lauran Paine

By Lauran Paine. N-News Winter 2015. Vol. 30 No. 1

Our tractor wasn’t just about work on the farm. It was about hayrides and picnics, too. I can’t think of those things and not smile. Now I use it for parades and teaching the grandkids about old tractors. But I recently restored my harrow – a Dearborn-Towner Model 11-29 – and now when I drive my tractor, the sights, sounds, vibration and even the rattle of the harrow take me right back to 1961. “Magical,” I say. “Old tractors are good for the soul!” Continue reading →

Workers: A 9N Movin’ Feed & Snow

Posted on by
Daniel Howe's 1940 9N takes a breather.

By Daniel Howe. N-News Winter 2015. Vol. 30 No. 1

In the summer of 2005, we picked up a 1940 Ford 9N to help out around our 15 acre farm. I knew we needed the tractor to carry round bales to feed our horses, but I also needed it to plow snow. Front mounted snow blades seem to be as scarce as hens teeth and they also use the 3 point arms to get their lift. I set out to design my own reliable plow. Continue reading →

1969 2000

Posted on by

By Rob Rinaldi. N-News Autumn 2014. Vol. 29 No. 4

These days, Steve Domkowski makes his living as a welder/fabricator, but he comes from a long history of farming. Steve’s great-grandfather, Vincent Domkowski, moved to their home place over a hundred years ago and started a small truck farm and beef operation. Steve’s grandfather Anthony took over the operation, followed by Steve’s father, Anthony Jr. Ford tractors have always been the primary power on the farm and though Steve is not farming the home place now, he is honoring that tradition by working his way through the restoration of several Ford tractors, all of which started out on the farm or in his father’s collection. Continue reading →

Workers: An 8N With a Job to Do

Posted on by

By James Morrison. N-News Autumn 2014. Vol. 29 No. 3

When the summer issue of the N-News arrived in my mailbox, my wife and I had just returned from grocery shopping. I immediately pulled a chair into the shade on the porch and began reading. I’m not sure my wife cares for the magazine, so it was her task to unload the groceries. Of course, I would have done it had she waited a while. Continue reading →

My 1942 9N

Posted on by
Steven Fairfield's 9N

By Steven Fairfield. N-News Summer 2014. Vol. 29 No. 3

The tractor is a 1942 9N, Ferguson System with a Sherman Transmission. When the 9N was launched, it became evident that a more versatile transmission would be a big improvement over the standard 3 speed. Restoring this tractor back to a more original condition began in 2003. After being torn down, the engine was rebuilt, new king pins installed, clutch, and general mechanical repairs. Continue reading →

Workers: Ford-Funk Truss Boom

Posted on by

By Dick Eyler. N-News Summer 2014. Vol. 29 No. 3

The poles were 6×6’s twenty feet long. The metal trusses spanned thirty feet. I was building a pole barn to house tractors and combines at a peanut farm. Most of the work I’d do myself, but Fred Catabia, a friend, volunteered to help when he had time. The first problem I needed to solve was how to set the heavy posts and install the metal trusses. Fred recalled that I had a Ford tractor with a front end loader. Continue reading →

Inspired – a Lift Disc Restoration

Posted on by

By Wayne Wiseman. N-News Spring 2014. Vol. 29 No. 2

When I received my N-News Vintage Tractor calendar last year, the picture of the 8N tractor and lift-type disc (May 2013) caught my eye. I had acquired a lift-type disc, but in very rusty and worn condition. I didn’t know anything about the disc, but I read on the metal plate that it was a Dearborn with a model number of Lift-E. As I own a 1958 Ford 861 PowerMaster, I thought this disc should be worth rebuilding and would be a good match with my Ford tractor. Continue reading →

641 Diesel Workmaster

Posted on by

By L Timothy Knutson. N-News.

It’s always nice to have a project waiting in the wings. In the summer of 2008, I had started to work on my 740 (see Volume 26, Number 4, Autumn 2011), but I was already thinking about my next restoration project. It was during one of my web searches that I saw an ad for a 1962 Ford 601 Diesel. The tractor was at a dealership in a small town SE of Austin, TX – not far from where my son and his wife live. The asking price was a bit higher that I was prepared to pay, but on a whim, I made the call. Continue reading →

Transmission Woes

Posted on by

by Charlie Yancey

When my wife took me on my first trip to her home state of Maine, I was hooked. Growing up in the Southwest leads to a bit of green envy and water lust. Maine is just the state to satisfy both of those wants. In time, I was able to convince her to move back to her home state. We bought an old farm, and what’s a farm without a tractor? Continue reading →

Ford One-Row Picker

Posted on by

Jan Garber

I was raised doing farm work in the late 1940s through the early 1960s when I graduated from Sabetha Kansas High School. My granddad was my mentor for everything – mechanics to woodworking – and he had a great shop. At age 7, he had me driving his two 8Ns. One, named “Tuffy,” had a loader on the front and the other, “Bessie,” was unencumbered. Gramps usually ran Bessie since it was easier for him to get on. It didn’t really make a difference which tractor I drove, so long as I got to drive one or the other. Continue reading →

The Farmboy and the Farm

Posted on by

My exposure to Ford Tractors started in childhood during the late forties and early fifities. My family had a ranch in Exeter, California, a small rural town about an hour Southeast of Fresno. My family was in the grape growing business from 1946 until 1953. The grapes were for table consumption on the first picking and then those that were not considered “table grapes” were picked and sent to one of the local wineries. The Ford tractor was the main stay of that operation. Continue reading →

How To Buy: A Ford N-Series Tractor 1939-1952

Posted on by
Dave Erb

(This article originally appeared in Volume 28 Number 1, Winter/January 2013) In this series of articles, N-News contributors share their lessons learned and observations in buying a used Ford tractor. Here, longtime contributor Dave Erb writes about his personal checklist for looking at a 9N, 2N or 8N to purchase. While all N models are fairly dependable, Dave says, as production continued into the fifties improvements to the tractor were undeniable. What follows are some pointers that will prove helpful for anyone pondering the purchase of one of these faithful tractors.

9N Redux

Posted on by
9N post-repair

By Guy Silva. N-News Spring 2013 Vol. 28. No. 2

Guy Silva worked for 30 years for a city water division, and over that time he ran a lot of Ford backhoes, which is how his interest in Ford tractors germinated. After working a northern Michigan property that he and his wife owned with a 1954 NAA, he sold it, but then after retirement he reconsidered. “I discovered I really missed having it around,” he says. Continue reading →

The Next Generation

Posted on by
Jasmine working the field on Galen's 8N

By Galen Mommens

One of the biggest problems facing N series fans, and all other lovers of old iron, is that they can’t help but wonder what will happen to their machines when they can no longer keep them. Not only are the tractors getting older, but so are the men and women who run them. Continue reading →

Coming of Age With an 8N

Posted on by
Cornell Knutson in the field

My first memory of our tractors was from 1951, when I was about four years old. I was in the kitchen of our north Iowa farm home, watching out the window as a truck delivered a new tractor to our yard. It was the second 8N for our farm and the last tractor my dad would buy. Mom recalled that there had been a tractor on the farm when they were married in 1942. From her description, it must have been a 9N. Continue reading →