over-running pto clutch

I had an 8N for a few years. It had a trip bucket loader and came with a 12' single rank disk and a 2 bottom plow. I added a three point blade because the loader and bucket were lousy for moving snow. As I recall, the trip bucket full of snow wasn't front heavy enough to tip when the latch was released. It didn't have enough weight to push the blade in a  foot deep snow. The only way I could move snow was to drive forward away from the snow, and the hit the snow backing fast. I broke the frame of the blade doing that.

I did borrow a bush hog mower once without a ORC and I did hit stuff because the flywheel of the mower blade was connected to the intermediate shaft of the transmission and drove the tractor even if the engine was stopped. That was a handy way to design the PTO, and Ford considered it a benefit to have the PTO speed a fixed ratio from the ground speed for things like a PTO driven rake. That's very likely the source of the 540 RPM PTO since the N family were the first tractors with the shaft PTO.

I plowed a garden or two with the Dearborn 2 bottom plow. It didn't please the gardener, the depth of plowing varied from high to low and sometimes the plow would go deeper, then pull harder and the three point would lift (safety feature) the tractor rear axle and the tires did more tillage than the plow. It was just too light for the power and the three point safety features like that messed up doing a good job of even plowing.

I put new rear tires on it, a new wiring harness, and rebuilt the starter. I was glad to see it go and I actually got a few bucks for my labor over my purchase price and the costs of repairs. I moved snow better with a JD 112 and a JD 400 snow thrower, though I spent more time in wet snows unplugging the thrower (single stage) than throwing snow sometimes.

I consider an 8N a toy best suited for a yard ornament, not good for real work. I'd probably have moved more snow and plowed gardens better with the lighter and lower powered Allis G. I know post war farmers transitioning from horses got along with the 8N, but I didn't.

The MF-135 that I bought when I bought the farm is about the same size as the 8N but has twice the power and twice the weight and can do real work like plowing with 2x 16s all day.

Gerald J.

With a wd or d serries if you pull the hand clutch and then step on the break peddle it will stop the tractor while the brush hog spins. I did that last fall brush hogging with my d15. The hand clutch will disengage the rearend from everything so all you need is the break to actually stop the momentum of the tractor. With a d serries the fluid hand clutch will drive a little when it is out of range but the break will easily over come that. If it was mine I would put the brush hog on it try it in a nice open place and see how it feels if you don't like the feel those overrun clutches are pretty cheap.

Dan73 wrote: About as often as I see a 8n pulling one... but then I never seen anyone actually use a 8n

A lot of guys around here used to farm with 8ns back in the day.  They were a good sized tractor and way ahead of their time when they first came out.   My grandad had an 8N for 50 years.  It was the "big tractor" on his 80 acre farm until the day it left.  The only thing he didn't use it for was cultivating and side dressing  which was done with a Case VAC and a Farmall Cub. 

I did some plowing for him with it back when I was a teen and at that point the tractor was over 30 years old, had nearly 3000 hours on  the clock and was using oil but it would still move right along with his old two bottom Dearborn plow.  When it finally got traded on a new Deere 5210 in 2002 because it was completely worn out, the Deere dealer gave him more than twice what he paid for it new in 1952.

The three point having a mind of its own and lifting up by itself is not a "safety feature".  That is a common problem with 8ns when they get worn out which the vast majority of them were over 40 years ago.  The one my grandad had got like that, you would be bush hogging with it and suddenly the three point would lift  the bush hog up all by itself.   He looked into getting it fixed but you apparently have to disassemble the whole ass end of the tractor to do the job which is probably why most of them out there haven't been fixed.  Grandad wasn't much of a mechanic and didn't want to dump the kind of $$$ the New Holland dealer wanted to fix it into a 50 year old tractor that also needed an engine overhaul so he sent her down the road. 

They were popular back in the day and there are still a lot of them around.  Ford 8ns that have been "restored" (which in many cases simply means a fresh coat of paint) are a hot item with the folks who move out into the country and buy a five acre lot.  The Deere dealer said that some guy saw grandad's 8n Ford going down the Interstate on the lowboy and followed them to the dealership and paid them the asking price of $3,500 for it on the spot, before they even unloaded it.


Edited by VAfarmboy - 26 Sep 2016 at 1:40am