514 Brown Street, Jackson, Minnesota 56143 Reprinted with
permission from, The 9N-2N-8N Newsletter.
Maybe I was born with tractor grease under my fingernails. In
1918 my dad bought a new Emerson Branting-ham 12-20 tractor to use
on the family farm. I was one year old. This machine was advanced
for its time . . . had what they called a high-speed engine. It was
powerful and had good traction in the muddy fields. It was a
‘dog’ though, as something was always going out. Whenever
Dad was repairing it, I was around managing to get real greasy.
Five years later, Dad sold it and bought a well-used 1921
Fordson. This one also seemed to need a lot of engine repair. The
cast-iron valve heads would separate from their steel stems causing
all sorts of confusion in the combustion chamber, and finally go
through a piston or a cylinder head. So, Dad was the neighborhood
Fordson and Model T fixer-upper. That gave me plenty of opportunity
to help dissect and repair the Fords.
A later model Fordson came next, and it was real modern because
it had a governor. The engine was much better, and this one did a
lot of work on the farm. The transmission was something else,
however, requiring three overhauls in the last season of its use.
Dad switched to Farmalls.
When the 9N appeared, farmers did not rush to buy them because
of their misfortunes with the Fordson. There were many on-the-farm
demonstrations, but it took a daring farmer to buy one. Any farmer
with an ounce of brains could see this 9N was just a toy and that
it would never be able to do a day’s work with that newfangled
three point hitch and such, and that it was just a joke, and how
could you expect to cultivate corn by looking ahead and have a
cultivator trailing behind you … I thought we should have one,
but Dad vetoed that idea.
Ford founded the National Farm Youth Foundation in 1940, and I
enrolled with our dealer in a correspondence course in Farm
Engineering and Management. Just as I was completing the first
year, I received a letter from the County Courthouse
‘inviting’ me to spend the next four years in Europe. Dad
wrote to me while I was in Italy saying he had been lucky enough to
purchase a wartime 2N.
After discharge I began a job in a repair shop specializing in
automotive electrical and engine rebuilding. Soon the shop became
mine. (What that meant was I could now work 100+ hours a week!) We
began to get many Ford Ns in for repair. I really enjoyed working
on them, they were easy to work on and very dependable. Parts were
easy to get, and at reasonable prices. We were doing so many that I
kept a supply of rebuilt engines on hand so a customer could go out
in a day with a rebuilt engine. Customers came from far distances
with their engine to trade for a rebuilt. I even sent a 9N engine
to a bush pilot in Alaska and he flew it in 150 miles.
In that shop I had the chance to work on pretty much every kind
of tractor, and I thought I had seen them all. There would be two
exceptions. One, I had not yet met Palmer Fossum, whose collection
extends beyond imagination. And two, I was about to learn of an
Airport Tug.
Some ten years ago, a boyhood friend who had spent most of his
life as an airport mechanic suffered a stroke and returned to live
nearby. He brought many things which he had collected; among them
was this airport tractor. Impaired by the stroke, he couldn’t
speak much, so getting information about the tractor was difficult.
I could see that it had a 2N engine, transmission and rear center
section, and steering. The rear axle housings, the front axle and
spindles were not familiar. My friend was able to do a little work,
so together we started to overhaul the engine. After we completed
the engine, his health failed and he passed away. I did other work
on the family’s 9N there, and whenever I visited I always
looked at this airport tractor and wondered what it might be like
if complete. One day I asked if I could be first in line if it came
up for sale. About a year later, Muriel, my friend’s sister,
told me I could be the new owner. I’m sure she saw me as a
little boy with a nickel in each hand, nose pressed against the
glass of the candy store that was closed for the weekend.
Finding all the parts for this tractor was quite a chore.
Several trips to the farm to search through motorcycle, aircraft,
auto and tractor parts yielded a few of the items, but I would
still have to find front and rear wheels, front hubs, radiator,
hood, grille, and half of the steering gear housing. I also needed
a dash, air cleaner, tool box, seat and its small parts, fuel tank,
and a slew of strange parts that fastened to the sub-frame.
First off I wrote to Ford Tractor Company headquarters. I
described this tractor in detail. The reply, a very long time in
coming, stated there were no records of such a tractor being
manufactured. They gave their personal opinion that I had some
variant of a Ford 800. Next I wrote to the 9N-2N-8N Newsletter. I
got a quick reply from Bob Brown (NJ), who said not only had he
seen one, he had repaired one that was still in use in a factory
near him. He was very helpful in getting me some snapshots of that
tractor. Then I realized how it would appear. William Morgan (RI)
wrote that he had restored and modified one for his brother-in-law,
and it was in use for yard chores in Maine. Several other people
sent copies of BN-O literature to me. At that time I felt I’d
never find the parts so I’d have to restore it as a
one-off.
It was the beginning of winter and my brother Ivan, a farmer,
had plenty of spare time, so the two of us tore down the tractor to
the last nut. We hot-tanked the parts to remove the years of dirt,
grease and four coats of paint. Next a friend, Martin, sand’
blasted all the exterior parts. Then we started assembly, replacing
gaskets and seals. The rear axle and axle seals had Ferguson parts
numbers on them, indicating that Ferguson had probably manufactured
them, but I still can’t find any listing on any Ferguson
tractor using these numbers.
The Jackson County Fair and Vintage Village Restoration
Association, in which I am a member, has a real nice fringe
benefit. Anytime any member is scouring the countryside for parts,
he keeps in mind the needs of other members as well. Somehow we all
seem to know what the other guy is seeking. My sharp-eyed friend,
Frank Vrchota, while on such a mission, spotted a BN-O half sunken
into the ground amongst all the other machinery. When he was
assured it was for sale, he telephoned me, and I wasted no time in
calling the owner and making a deal to buy it. He refused my check
and stopped me in my tracks, saying it would all have to wait until
spring, as the tractor was frozen into that winter’s ground. I
tried to convince him to let me try. He said if I wanted the
tractor it would wait ’til spring.
Boy, was that ever a long winter. Luckily, we had other things
to do on the BN-O in the shop to keep us busy and work off the
excitement. The brakes are hydraulic, self-energizing, disc brakes.
One side was stuck when we took it apart. To disassemble and
assemble these brakes I made special tools. The linings were good,
so we sandblasted the wheel cylinders, honed them and installed new
kits. We made new brake lines to replace the rusted ones. The
master cylinder was badly rusted and stuck. It was a Wagner, not a
Ford, and there was no parts listing on it. 1 knew that a rebuilder
could rebore it and press in a brass or stainless liner, but I
didn’t want to wait for that, so I thought I would give it a
try.
I found the brass overflow tube in a toilet water tank was
1/16 inch too small, so I made a steel plug
the size of the desired bore, started pressing it into the brass
tube, and all the while tapping out the side of the tube to expand
it as the plug pressed in. Then I removed the plug, machined it
down about .002, honed the cylinder bore, so I would have a press
fit, applied epoxy to the bore walls and pressed the brass tube
into the bore. Then I pressed the steel plug into the tube again to
force the tube walls out against the bore walls in a nice tight,
epoxied fit. After the epoxy hardened, I drilled the bleed hole,
honed the brass cylinder, installed a repair kit, and presto, new
master cylinder.
By spring, my tractor was as complete as it could be until we
could get that other tractor out of the frozen ground. Soon I
received the call to come get it. First examination showed that
someone had taken the steering gear, dash, hood, fuel tank, grille,
and radiator. The water outlet on the cylinder head had not been
covered and the engine had filled with water, frozen and split the
block, head and crankcase. The seat frame was twisted and broken,
and the upholstery was gone. I took what was left to Martin’s
for some more sandblasting. With a cutting torch I removed the
bolts that held rear fenders, front push bumper, front
fender-running boards. Then all this half-inch thick metal faced
Martin’s blast gun. (Good thing for me that Martin, an ex-Navy
man, has had experience on battleships.)
The front wheels, though present, were bent. It wasn’t easy
getting them back into shape. The BN-O has dual rears, but this
example only had two rear wheels left. These cleaned up well, but I
still needed two more. My brother and I drove many miles from
salvage yards to farm groves following tips which usually proved
luckless. Some people even brought wheels to my shop, but never the
right one. These wheels were used on Ford 1? ton trucks, 1938-44.
Another friend brought in two wheels (not incorrect), a steering
gear case, and a dash which he donated to the project. (He owns 9N
#1313.) I found front tires at our local tire shop and that was a
real surprise in a project where everything is scarce as hen’s
teeth. Rear tires were non-existent.
Nonetheless, things began to fall into place and we felt we were
making progress. Lots of well-wishers visited the shop regularly to
pay respects to the project and see how we were doing. The heavy
parts went into place easily, but beating the running boards back
into shape was a real job. I rebuilt the seat frame and an
upholsterer friend did the rest. A horn salvaged from our old
English Ford Cortina car fit right into place perfectly. I strayed
a little from stock by switching to a 12-volt electrical system. I
have plans for the future that will require 12 volts.
It was time to visit Palmer. We traded a hood with an air
cleaner opening for one without. He also had a brand new air
cleaner to go with it. We traded tool boxes so I could have the
right one. Palmer knew I needed rear wheels and directed me to look
in the corn crib. Sure enough, there was one there. (What’d we
do without Palmer?)
A few weeks later we passed through a town with a nice salvage
yard we’d visited several times before, but never with any
luck. As we approached, there was a wheel right up front, newly
placed there, like it was there for me! It was right!
Now I just needed tires and a muffler. I had been using some
Ford truck wheels on the tractor to test drive it. The muffler
remains denoted it was very large with a spark arrestor built in.
None were available anywhere, of course. (What a surprise.) A
friend showed up with a muffler a little smaller, but with the
openings in the correct positions. (Thanks for good friends.) So I
had the exhaust pipe made up in a muffler shop. It is now about the
same as a stock N, a little louder than the original might have
been.
A tire company specializing in hard-to-find tires, advertising
in Gas Engine Magazine, sent me a listing. They had exactly what I
wanted. Only the day before our Fair I had put the wheels on the
Tug, and brought it to fairgrounds. It was put to work as the
people-mover.
Volunteers drove my Tug, and all exclaimed that it was so much
easier to handle than many other farm tractors of the past. Several
said I shouldn’t put it to use as I have, but rather display it
in a museum or showroom, but I don’t subscribe to that idea.
All my other tractors and cars are always ready for a full day of
work. I think of them as ‘working classics.’ I like to hear
those engines purring when they are working. It sounds like old
times.
Now I have added headlights to complete the restoration. I made
adapters to fit small auto sealed beams into the old N
headlamps.
The paint on this tractor is a story by itself. During
restoration I discovered my tug had been painted gray, euclid
green, orange, then red. The literature listed Ford gray or
lusterless gray, or olive drab or lusterless olive drab. I’ve
received unconfirmed reports that each branch of the service used
its own color. I decided to use the Air Corps blue. While I’m
not certain my paint is that exact color, I’m certain that I
like it. Bob Brown said the two he knew of were called ‘Blue
Mules.’ In Maine, Fleet-wood Pride calls his ‘the Blue
Moose.’ I believe the moose is their state animal but, if I
ever name my tug, it will have to be ‘Babe, the Blue Ox.’ I
am a loyal Minnesotan and this is the home of Paul Bunyan and Babe,
his blue ox.
The serial numbers of my two tugs are #825 and #441. The chassis
of the second is #225. The plaque on the sheet metal cover between
the left rear fender and the transmission case says Ferguson, not
Ford. I did notice that the literature shows differences in the
seats, air cleaners, and hoods. No doubt they made changes as time
passed. There is a difference on my two tugs on how the steering
arms are attached to the front spindles. Otherwise, they are pretty
similar.
This project has taken two years and I am proud of the results,
of course, but I must thank my friends, relatives, and even some
very kind strangers whose help made it possible to find parts,
transport things, and get important tips. There were many donated
parts, services, and photos and literature from around the country
too. Brother Ivan was my right hand man. Thanks, Ivan. And thanks
to Muriel Schroen who made it possible for me to own my first
airport tractor.
