1951 Ford 8N Serial # 362570
The "St.Jude" Restoration Project

By: John Smith of Old Ford Tractors

This 8N restoration project was completed in 2002-2003.

This 1951 Ford 8N tractor will be undergoing a full and complete restoration from the ground up, both mechanical and cosmetic, to return it to like new original condition. This page will be updated regularly to follow the progress until the tractor is completed.

Upon completion of the restoration the finished tractor will be donated to the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital annual charity auction and pork chop dinner which will be held in Brimfield, Illinois on April 12th, 2003. The tractor, along with it's original Ford tool kit and operators manual will be sold to the highest bidder and all proceeds will benefit St. Jude. Some background: In early June we asked Steve Parker, chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Ford/Fordson Collectors, if he knew of a straight 8N we could buy for this project. Steve contacted several other Ford guys and Marvin Baumann in Michigan offered a nice 8N that he had available. He kindly agreed to bring the tractor to Illinois and he and several others have generously contributed to the purchase. The tractor is exceptionally straight and original with excellent sheet metal. The Proofmeter shows only 1557 hours and by all appearances this is probably correct. A quick appraisal finds the engine to be solid but a little tired (smokes), a noisy bearing somewhere in the transmission, and one loose rear hub. Everything else seems in great shape. This is certainly the nicest original tractor we've ever had for a restoration project and will be a pleasure to work on.

Before restoration
before restoration

Disassembly and Cleaning

Reassembly

Finishing Touches

Finished! A friend with a steady hand volunteered to paint the Ford script on the hood and fenders which was the last detail on this project. As weather conditions permit, we will try to get some good quality "completed" photos of the tractor taken outside.

We managed to get outside and snap a couple of pictures before the weather turned colder and it started snowing. The tractor runs and drives really nice. The hourmeter now shows "1.0". We've had many people ask how much it cost to do this restoration. Since so many of the parts, materials, and services were donated or discounted, we can only estimate that the cost for the tractor itself and all parts and materials purchased at retail price would be about $7500.

There was approximately 800-850 man-hours of labor invested.

Finished!
Finished!
first test drive
first test drive
final test drive
final test drive

The Auction

On April 12th, 2003 at 7:15 pm the tractor was sold at the annual St. Jude Children's
Research Hospital dinner and charity auction at the Brimfield Grade School gym in
Brimfield, Illinois. We wish to thank everyone for their wonderful support and the bidders from around the country who called to place their bids during the auction. The results were overwhelming to say the least. The final bid - $17,200 for St Jude.

The winning bidder and new 8N owner Steve Schmidgall of Peoria, IL (left).
The winning bidder and new 8N owner Steve Schmidgall of Peoria, IL (left).

Special Thanks

The following have made contributions to help offset the cost of this project.

Their generosity is greatly appreciated.

Marvin Baumann (MI)
Mark Favero (IL)
Bump Steidinger (IL)
Ford/Fordson Collectors Association
Ed Gooding (VA)
John Sanderson (MI)
Wall's Industrial Services (IL)
Automotive Finishes (IL)
Born Paint Co. (IL)
George & Paula Cooley (IL)
Lyle Lamprecht (IL)
Phil Smith (IA)
Bearing Distributors Inc (IL)
Steve Parker (IL)
Don Barkley Just8Ns (NC)
Charlie Hardesty (IN)
Danny Norman (GA)
Kevin Cassidy (AK)
Roger Elwood (CT)
Al Claeys (MI)
Dean Lake (IL)
Larry Satterfield (IL)
Automotive Spring Co. (IL)
Timber Tractor Sales (IL)
Peoria Tire and Vulcanizing (IL)
Givens Machine Shop (IL)

Caterpillar Inc Mossville Plant Maintenance Department Employees (IL)

Special Thanks

The following have made contributions to help offset the cost of this project.

Their generosity is greatly appreciated.

Mark Favero (IL)

Bump Steidinger (IL)

Ford/Fordson Collectors Association

Ed Gooding (VA)

John Sanderson (MI)

Wall's Industrial Services (IL)

Automotive Finishes (IL)

Born Paint Co. (IL)

George & Paula Cooley (IL)

Lyle Lamprecht (IL)

Phil Smith (IA)

Bearing Distributors Inc (IL)

Steve Parker (IL)

Don Barkley Just8Ns (NC)

Charlie Hardesty (IN)

Danny Norman (GA)

Kevin Cassidy (AK)

Roger Elwood (CT)

Al Claeys (MI)

Dean Lake (IL)

Larry Satterfield (IL)

Automotive Spring Co. (IL)

Timber Tractor Sales (IL)

Peoria Tire and Vulcanizing (IL)

Givens Machine Shop (IL)

 

Caterpillar Inc Mossville Plant Maintenance Department Employees (IL)

Thanks to John Smith of Old Ford Tractor for allowing us to use this information.