Interesting Little Story

So when you start out to build a new N, is that what youll end up with?
So if you took a new tractor and trashed all the electronics, except electronic ignition you would have the easy to work on tractor.

He said Ford used to make one of those, it was called the Model T.

Its a shame that in today's time it can take two weeks pay just to replace struts or get a new computer. If there's no spark on an N tractor, you can easily isolate the reason why and fix it. With todays engines and controls, it could be anybody's guess, and you may as well trade it in for a new one.

Old Ag

When Ralph Nader said the Corvair was "unsafe at any speed" he never even dreamed about the vicious, unforgiving chunks of iron that are Ford tractors circa 1939-52. Of course, that's just what I like about the danged things - they date from a time when people were willing to take some responsibility for their own safety.

JerryU

I used to haul boats for Grady-White. One of my regular hauls was to a remote bayou in Lousiana, where Yamaha has a "test" facility. We would take different hull configurations there to have the Yamaha outboard motors matched and tested to the hulls. The neat thing about the whole place was that the "laboratory" was a room full of all brands of outboards-Evinrude, Mercury, Mariners, etc, all torn down to components and blue-printed. They would take all the best engineering features of each motor and try to incorporate those into the new Yamaha motors. I would guess Ford, Chevy and Dodge all do the same things with their competitors' products.

It's kind of funny, too. Sort of like if the Russians were sneaking around trying to get the plans for the P-51 Mustang. Just a little behind the times!

Well, J.D. can put new tires on my 8N anytime - and in return I'll gladly let them investigate any Ford secrets they can find on it!

Like this one?

(From Neil's nseries site)