I was admiring the various rear ends I saw at the show this weekend, when I happened to notice a particularly shapely one that really caught my attention.It seems this delightful little 9N had axle housing that did not have the usuall fender mounts. Instead of ears cast top and bottom for the bolts to go through, it was solid completely around the axle, thoroughly encasing the fender bolts. No casting numbers were visible on the axle housings. Then I also noticed that the differential housing was different. It was more robust up at the top where the link is attached, flaring out thickly all the way to the very edges of the housing. Again, no casting numbers. Now I thought to myself "perhaps this is from a Fergison", but as there were fergies there willing to allow me to examine their rear ends extensively, I immediately concluded that these were not fergy rears. Not that fergies don't have nice rear ends themselves mind you. So I'm left suspecting that either someone else in history has/is making replacement casting parts for these tractors, or Ford itself used several suppliers of castings. While I can see an aftermarket supplier of these parts existing, it would certainly be odd for someone to buy both axle trumpets and the differential that way. Anyone know anything about this? Allas, I was unable to ever find the owner of this tractor to ask him about it.
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