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I started seriouisly looking for a tractor in the fall of 2004. The Craftsman lawn tractor was simply too small for the work I was trying to do. I was utterly clueless, didn't know the language or what used tractors should cost. Browsing the classifieds was extremely frustrating. Everything less than 10 years old was either WAY out of my price range or a complete basket case. In order to find something in my price range of 2 to 3 thousand dollars, it was obvious I was going to be looking for something a lot older. A 10-year old automobile will be ready for the scrap yard unless it was carefully maintained and only driven to church on weekends by a little old lady. It seemed like tractors held their value much better than I thought they should. That was hard to believe since it appeared to be standard practice to just leave them in a field to rust between chores. My search led me to various places. I became interested in grey market tractors. Grey Market tractors are inexpensive used tractors imported to the U.S., mostly from China and Japan. Apparently it is a status symbol to buy a new tractor every few years, and very little market for used machines, so they are being shipped to the U.S. and sold by various dealers. The major down side to grey market tractors is a lack of factory support. Yanmar is one of the larger manufacturers, and they even manufacture the smaller tractors for John Deer, but go to any John Deer web site and read what they have to say about grey market tractors. It's really scary. I could deal with the lack of modern safety features, I wouldn't get them on a older Made-In-USA tractor either. But I could not deal with the total lack of factory support or a reliable source of parts. Some of the sellers seemed to be first-class, but none were near-by where I could go check their inventory or talk to other customers. After that dead-end, I knew I was looking for an older model tractor that was made in U.S.A. The model I was looking for should have been made in enough quantity that there would still be a large number of them in actual use. My thinking was, if there were still a lot of them in use, parts should be easier to find. I discovered that there was one model of tractor, that not only was made in the good ol' U.S. of A., it was actually the source of much of the technology and standardization for modern tractors! The Ford N-Series tractor started a revolution in tractor design but there were going to be drawbacks to a tractor built more than 50 years ago. Prices for all of the Ford N-series tractors appeared to be about the same. So I quickly narrowed my search down to an 8N. That way I would have the benefit of as many factory improvements as possible. Now for the drawbacks - Vehicle electrical systems back in the day were 6 volts, positive ground. Running any modern 12 volt, negative ground accessories would require a separate 12-volt system, battery, or a conversion to 12-volts. Safety features such as RollOver Protection Systems (ROPS) would probably not be standard equipment. Live Hydraulics, and Power Take-Off (PTO) did not appear until later models. The hydraulics and PTO on the older tractors generally do not work independant of the drive train. Step on the clutch, and everything stops. This makes it difficult to use some implements since you cannot decrease ground speed without also decreasing the PTO speed. You cannot raise the hydraulic lift when the clutch is depressed. Having the PTO directly connected to the drive train also creates a dangerous condition with implements that store energy such as rotary cutters. The rotating blades in a cutter have a lot of momentum. Depressing the clutch only disconnects the engine from the drive train. The PTO runs off the transmission input shaft AFTER the clutch, so the implement will continue to power the tractor tires until the blades stop turning! This feels like trying to stop a truck with a large trailer behind it. You hit the clutch and mash on the brakes, but it just keeps going, and going... That is a really good way to knock down a fence, run into a tree, off a cliff, or any number of other things that will just ruin your day (if you are lucky). Enter good old American ingenuity! The solution to the lack of Live Hydraulics on the N-Series tractors is easily purchased from a gentleman named Zane Sherman in Talledega, Alabama. In fact he has several ingenious devices for the N-Series tractors. His Zane Thang will provide some hydraulic control features for the 9N and 2N that did not appear until the 8N model. His Live Thang will provide live hydraulics on virtually any N-Series tractor and many others. Here is a link to his site: Live Thang. The solution to provide safe use of the PTO is an over-running clutch. This is basically a ratchet that only allows the PTO to power the implement and freewheels when the implement tries to drive the tractor forward. ROPS on an older tractor is more of a problem than I thought. For something that looked no more complicated than a roll-bar, it should not be that hard to build. A ROPS of course has to be strong enough to support the weight of the tractor. But what I discovered is that there are serious legal issues with building your own ROPS, especially if you ever sell the tractor and someone gets hurt. A ROPS has to be properly certified, and tested. There are very few companies making a ROPS for the N-Series tractors and they are expensive. For now, my philosophy is to just be safe and try not to do ANYTHING that might cause a rollover. |