1953 Ford Golden Jubilee Tractor

Well, here she is. No trailer queen here! She is used on a weekly basis during the summer to cut about 5 acres of pasture, and other assorted jobs.

I have replaced some of the parts and really worked at getting her cleaned up from years of abuse. When I acquired her, the gas line was leaking, oil was leaking from all over, the hydraulics were sluggish and leaking, and who knows how long it had been since it last tasted fresh oil. I think my wife thought I was crazy, but all I saw was a beautiful piece of our countries history. She deserves better than the scrap yard.

First things first. Where do I start. Hmmm. Books, need books. So I started to look for book on this model. Most I found on Ebay. The three that I bought and still use are as follows;

Ford Tractor NAA Service Shop Manual
Owners Manual Model NAA
Master Parts Catalog Models 9n, 2n, 8n, and NAA 1939 thru 1953.

Armed with a plethora of knowledge in print, and a toolbox of tools, I have set a course that may not end for some time!

My first project, fix the gas leak. Turns out that the leak was caused by the gas line running up next to the battery. So how to fix. One web site I use for parts is just8ns.com. Checking their site I could not locate an original design gas line. So as pictured, I used two flexible replacement gas lines and a connector to make it function. Not pretty, and it won't win any awards, but the leak is fixed, and I can replace it when I locate an OEM replacement.

Now that the risk of explosion has been reduced, it's time to change the oil, and work on the leaks.

Scouring the parts options, I came across a spin on oil filter kit to replace the original canister style filter. Although the kit is not OEM, I felt for the time being, that making oil changes easier would be advantageous. So as pictured here, is the kit in place. The kit comes with the filter, base plate, gasket and attaching nut. All that was needed was a bolt from the hardware store so that the original mounting nut could be removed, and the attaching nut in the kit installed to replace it. The whole proceedure took maybe 10 minutes as I cleaned the entire area and took extra care to make sure the gasket was in place.

I have since replaced the oil pan gasket, and the drain plug gasket as well. During this process I also thoroughly cleaned the oil pan to get rid of any sludge and metal shavings.

Once back togther I think I actually heard a sigh of appreciation. And she runs better too!

Next I turned my attention to the suspension. Pictured here is the replaced steering links. The old ones were so deteriorated, the seals were virtually gone, and grease was completely absent.

Replacement was easy, loosen the locking clamp, and unscrew from the steering shaft. Lightly grease the new threads, screw into place.
I then greased the joint. Whala!

Pictured in this photo is the Leveling Box Assembly. As it implies, this handy tool levels the implement you are using, or adds a cant to the implement depending on the job. The one that came with the tractor was so worn due to lack of lubrication and maintenance, that it started to strip the threads in the main body. This was an easy fix as well, but helps to stress that keeping the tractor maintained is paramount.

Like I said previously, this is a work in process, so stop back as I add more to my rebuild project!