Home-Built Half-Size Ford 8N Tractor

Home-Built Half-Size Ford 8N Tractor AG WORLD Ag World 21-1-20 Retired farmer and mechanic Willard Stensrud, Stewartville, Minn., built a half-scale 1950's Ford 8N tractor that's an exact replica of the real thing. The "mini" tractor is powered by a 4-cyl. gas engine out of an old Ford Fiesta front wheel drive car and has the car's 4-speed transmission. The rear axle is out of a 1980 Ford station wagon. The tractor was built as close as possible in every detail to the real thing, complete with fenders, lights, curved hood, and a tube grille on front. The seat and steering wheel are from an old Wheel Horse garden tractor. The emblem from a Ford Escort car mounts on front. The 30-in. high rear tires are off an old Deere corn planter and the 16-in. high front tires were bought new. On back is a home-built 3-pt. hitch equipped with a 44-in. wide, 16-in. high scraper blade. "It has been in several parades where it always gets a lot of attention," says Stensrud. "I call it my 4N because it's about half the size of an 8N. It isn't much bigger than my Allis-Chalmers 716 garden tractor. I farmed with 8N's and also worked on them a lot when I worked as a mechanic for a lo-cal Ford dealer. "The engine has about 40 hp. I turned it parallel with the wheels and welded the spider gears solid. The driveshaft chain-drives the rear axle. I bolted a small sprocket onto the driveshaft and mounted a bigger sprocket onto the rear axle in order to slow it down. It goes so slow that I once entered a slow tractor race and won. I think it would be a great tractor for mowing. It has a top speed of about 15 mph. To adapt the car's rear end I had to cut 1 ft. off each side and weld it back together. "A lot of people ask me how I made the hood. I used the hood from a 1973 Ford pickup and cut 8 in. off each side, then moved the sections in and welded them back together. The hood can be removed with four bolts for easy access to the engine. To make the grille I got help from a friend who had an iron stamping machine. We used a die for it to stamp out steel bars and welded them upright over an opening in the front of the tractor. "The 3-pt. is raised or lowered by a hydraulic power steering pump that's belt-driven off the engine. I can change the angle of the blade by changing the position of a pin." Stensrud used 2-in. angle iron to build the tractor's frame. He used 1/2 by 2-in. flat steel plate to make the lower lift arms and a length of steel pipe to make the upper lift arm. The tractor's brakes are off the Ford station wagon. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Willard Stensrud, 513 3rd Ave. S.E., Stewartville, Minn. 55976 (ph 507 533-8480).

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