Friday, May 29, 2020

Ford 8N clutch

You might recognize this tractor, it's the 1952 8N that went through the ice last winter. I just replaced the carb on it (Chinese import, sigh) and had yet to make the mixture adjustments. So because I needed a tractor for another task, this seemed like a good time to do it. I stepped on the clutch pedal- which didn't feel right- and started the engine. I let it idle a minute to get the oil where it needs to go, and put it into first gear, Grunch! and I was moving. I hadn't released the clutch, Akk! Had to scramble to shut the engine off before I ran into something. Crisis averted, I had to figure out what was going on. 
 The pedal kind of mushes to the floorboard without releasing, but pretty much everything is hidden inside the bellhousing, the tractor has to be split to see inside. May as well do it!

First support the front half on blocks, the rear on a trolley jack. Battery out and remove seven bell housing bolts. 

Tip up and prop up the hood, remove one end of the radius rods and tie rods. 

Remove the exhaust pipe clamp, coil wire,  throttle and governor rods, hour meter cable and an oil line.

Pry the two halves apart about 6-8 inches and a look inside shows the throwout bearing is OK. The clutch comes off the flywheel with six bolts and- about after about an hour of working inefficiently...there's the problem- the rivets have sheared on the disc and the plate comes out in bits.  If it is original, it's lasted 68 years. 
One of the nice things about this model tractor is that most parts are still available, and a new plate has been ordered. 

8 comments:

  1. That's a nice shiny carb you got there pard!

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  2. Just like a Moto Guzzi then, and why people call them agricultural :-)

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  3. I have the same tractor, same year but mine has the Wagner front end loader on it making that job twice as much a PITA. Hope when I start it today I don't find the same problem.

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  4. JP, the Guzzi comes apart about as quickly as soon as you accept the fact that the rear wheel and swing arm have to come out.
    M. Silivius, The Wagner is not a nice clean design, https://progress-is-fine.blogspot.com/2018/01/wagner-loader-on-8n.html and those bolts have been in place for far too long now. And the clutch plate may be stuck onto the flyhweel from disuse. Keep us posted!

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  5. About ten years ago dad did the head on ours but have no evidence of him splitting the case apart and he is no longer around to be asked about it, so it may be the original clutch. Biggest issue right now is iffy oil pressure when she warms up. The loader is about as gutless as it gets. With single acting cylinders its just a glorified pooper-scooper to muck out dairy barns really. Right now it pisses out as much hydraulic fluid as I put in it. I tightened up the glands on the cylinders but the rods are pitted so its a lost cause. The hydraulic pump needs a rebuild too. Some pictures of mine here.
    https://isserfiq.blogspot.com/2018/05/new-log-skidder-post-for-ford-8n-tractor.html

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  6. Those old trip buckets are magnitudes better than forking it in all by hand, usually in blackfly season- and entirely inadequate, especially on a 2wd tractor. In a rural classified paper long ago, I found this and bought it. https://progress-is-fine.blogspot.com/2012/07/home-made-loader.html
    Quite useful.
    No way around a rebuild of the pump I think... I rebuilt one engine that had 5-10 lbs of oil pressure for a decade or more. It was the raking tractor and trailed a cloud of blue smoke, eventually I used it to recycle all the old car engine oil. Rebuild kits are quite cheap, and Henry designed them for a farmer to rebuild them in the field if needs be. They're simple and straightforward to do. Crank journals should be redone and finding local shops to do that can be hard these days.

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  7. When I was a very young mechanic I was sent outside to replace the clutch on one of those. I got right to it and started running off the bell housing bolts with an impact gun. Thankfully one of the old-timers felt sorry for me and came out and told me what would happen if I didn't support both halves of the tractor before I took out all the bolts and started prying. I had never worked on or really even seen a tractor before so my young mind just kind of assumed there was a frame under there somewhere.

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  8. If you are cleaning a barn a skid loader is the only way. I spent too many hours on an 8N. Way too many.

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