Normal operating temp for a B

The following is a direct quote from the owners manual for the B.

Jay

Doesn't the temp go up rather quickly due to the thermostat ?

And then it starts to open slowly and let the cooler / cold coolant mixture start to circulate.

- and also maintain that temp., eg 180'F

Gary

Gary, no the temp just rose to were is at and held. I drove the tractor up and down a steep hill at high throttle for about 30 minutes and it never got any hotter. Everything seemed fine, I just assumed the normal operating temp would be somewhere in the white area on the gauge. The tractor doesn't have shutters, and I was even running it without any sheet metal on it. That could have made it run a little cooler I guess. It's certainly better than over heating, but I was just wondering if running it cool could be causing any harm?

I think I have the same temp gauge.  Mine gets into the green and stays there, but takes 15 or more minutes to get there.  It is northern Indiana and around 30 degrees in the morning when I am usually running it and I don't have shutters.  I haven't had a chance to run it in warm temps yet and when my Dad had this B, the gauge was messed up and not working (why I got the new one).

Edited by HoughMade - 28 Nov 2017 at 9:12am

Thanks Gerald! That's what I needed to know, and you explained it well.

My 1939 B runs Luke warm. No thermostat or shutters. I'm going to put a canvas across the inlet.

I forgot to mention that a cold running engine will be a very dirty engine when you open them up.

I tried to put a new thermostat in the B today. I ran into some problems due to some previous jerry rigging. First of all, there wasn't a thermostat in it. I guess that explains why it was running cool. I got a few questions, but first I want to apologize for the photos. They are sideways, I don't know why they show up like this, nor can I figure out a way to fix it. It was either post them like this or use photo bucket, and I didn't want to deal with that.



First I believe the housing should be held on with 2 long bolts. Someone used all-thread rod(one 2 inch longer than the other)and 2 nuts at the top. This is minor of coarse, but the rods seemed tight. I hope the holes aren't striped out and they JB welded them in.



Next this plate was between the housing and head. It's obviously home made, but necessary, without it there would be a big opening under the housing.



I think this is not the correct thermostat housing for this tractor. The recess for the thermostat is at the top, but I can't understand what holds it up there. Most thermostats I've installed the recess was in the bottom and they just sat in.



This is the thermostat I got at the part store. It's supposed to be for a B. It has the thermostat, a thick rubber washer, and a brass ring. The brass ring won't even go inside the housing. Since there was nothing in the housing, I have nothing to compare. I'm not sure if I got the right stuff or not, nor how it goes back in.



I believe someone put a different housing on this tractor and made that plate so it would work. I can put it back together the way it was, but I'm not sure if it is possible to install a thermostat with this setup. Any advice is welcome, and I hope y'all can make out my pics. Thanks Ranse.

The housing on my 38 doesn’t look anything like that, and two 1.25” long x 5/16” diameter (?) bolts with lock washers afix it to the head. Mine is a match for the area on the head where it bolts down and doesn’t overhang toward the radiator/fan like that. I discovered that my tractor does not have a thermostat either yesterday when I was halfway flushing it prior to getting it to run. Unless the thermostat fits in the hose somehow I cannot fathom how one would be installed.

Dave H (NE) wrote: The gasket, thermostat, and spring are held up in the housing by the adapter plate. The parts book shows this. Your are missing the spring.

As I recall, the thermostat in Ford 9N, 2N, and 8N did mount inside the upper radiator hose that was straight. If the hose size was right it would be an easy addition to an AC tractor.

Apple products take pictures at a couple orientations and include a tag in the digital picture for which way was down when the picture was taken and apple devices and computers understand that and display the picture bottom down. Windoze PCs don't know that and so display the pictures on their sides much of the time. GIMP is a PC program (windoze and linux) that does notice the rotation and the flag and offers to correct the picture orientation as soon as the picture is loaded. Photo shop may have that capability, but I've never used it.

Gerald J.

You are missing the 2 inch wide spring that holds the thermostat at the top.

The thermostat Steiner sells is the same one as the 9N, but it comes with a gasket for the Ford only, throw the gasket away. Buy the spring separately if you have the thermostat. Here is what you need:



Edited by HoughMade - 03 Dec 2017 at 10:42pm

I agree, that's totally unlike mine. Mine has a housing for a thermostat, but no thermostat installed. I could put one in, but I just use the shutters. 

Maybe drill and tap a hole in the top of that cast iron housing? 

drobCA wrote: yeah, yeah these pictures are horrible.  will replace them them tomorrow with the hood off and in the light.  but meantime, here's how my 41 B arrived to me - same housing as Ranse's - and I am eager to see what his hood looks like. sure hope not like mine - he must have used one of those old hook-type canopeners to cut the hole.