Ford N-Series tractor
| Ford N-Series tractor | |
|---|---|
Restored 1948 Ford 8N
|
|
| Overview | |
| Manufacturer | Ford |
| Production | 1939–1952 |
| Body and chassis | |
| Class | Agriculture |
| Powertrain | |
| Engine | 4 cylinder inline |
| Transmission |
|
| Dimensions | |
| Wheelbase | 70 in (1,778 mm) |
| Length | 115 in (2,921 mm) |
| Width | 64.75 in (1,645 mm) |
| Curb weight | 2,410 lb (1,093 kg) |
| Chronology | |
| Predecessor | Fordson tractor |
| Successor | Ford NAA tractor |
The Ford N-Series tractors are a series of farm tractors that were produced by Ford between 1939 and 1952, spanning the 9N, 2N, and 8N models.
The 9N was the first American-made production-model tractor to incorporate Harry Ferguson's three-point hitch system, a design still used on most modern tractors today. It was released in October 1939. The 2N, introduced in 1942, was the 9N with some improved details. The 8N, which debuted in July 1947, was a largely new machine featuring more power and an improved transmission. It proved to be the most popular farm tractor of all time in North America.
The first genuine Ford tractor, called the Fordson tractor (because a misleading Ford brand not related to Henry Ford was squatting on the Ford name at the time), was a tremendous success in North America and Europe from 1917 to 1928. Ford of the U.S. left the tractor business in 1928. Ford Ltd of Britain continued to thrive with the Fordson from 1928 onward. Some British Fordsons were imported to the U.S. during the following decade. Henry Ford continued tractor R&D in the U.S. after 1928. During the 1930s, experiments were made at Ford's Dearborn, Michigan and Richmond Plantation, Georgia facilities, creating prototypes of row-crop tricycle Fordsons, V8-powered tractors, one-wheel-drive tractors, and other ideas. But Henry Ford waited to reenter the market, planning to have the right new tractor at the right time to achieve a market-changing success.
In Ireland, businessman Harry Ferguson had been developing and selling various improved hitches, implements, and tractors since the 1910s. His first tractors were adapted from Model T cars. In 1920 and 1921 he gave demonstrations at Cork and Dearborn of his hitches and implements as aftermarket attachments to Fordson tractors. The hitches were mechanical at the time. By 1926, he and a team of longtime colleagues (including Willie Sands and Archie Greer) had developed a good hydraulic three-point hitch. Ferguson put such hitches on Fordsons throughout the 1920s and early 1930s. In the mid-1930s, he had David Brown Ltd build Ferguson-brand tractors with his hitches and implements. In 1938, Eber Sherman, importer of Fordsons from England to the United States and a friend of both Ford and Ferguson, arranged to have Ferguson demonstrate his tractor for Henry Ford. In October 1938 the Ferguson tractor was put through a demonstration before Ford and his engineers. It was light in weight relative to its power, which impressed Ford. Ferguson's successful tractor demonstration led to a handshake agreement with Ford in 1938, whereby Ford would manufacture tractors using the Ferguson three-point hitch system.
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Wikipedia