This acquisition arrived at the American Tractor shop in early February 2004. Prior to its purchase, our crew had been advised that the unit was running and had been used for snow removal. Its usefulness to its owner came to an end and it was time for it to go.
So, a trip to central Ontario, Canada was planned, just north of a town called Barrie which is approximately an hour north of Toronto.

The most obvious thing that was incorrect, even to the most novice tractor aficionado, was the color scheme. Although there was a short time frame in 1947 whereby some 2N’s were painted in the more fashionable 8N colors, according to the VIN number on this baby it did not fall into that time frame.

“I thought I’d take a short cut to speed things up, but instead it turned into a short circuit.”

The hood had the scars of a life of cold, hard labor for this old girl. The strategically placed holes along the bottom line of the hood and around the cowl told our crew that it was likely once fitted with the optional canvas engine cover which makes sense as it lived much of its life in the bitter backwoods of Northern Ontario.

Saturday March 20, 2004: When attempting to boost the battery, the gauge was reading “0”. When investigating why the battery would not take a charge, it was found that the battery had exploded.

This was the big test for last weekend’s carburetor rebuild, which now is postponed until the battery/charging issues are resolved.
According to the American Tractor crew chief, “I thought I’d take a short cut to speed things up, but instead it turned into a short circuit. We decided this would be a good time to call it a day.”

Tuesday March 23, 2004: The CORE of the Matter – An unfortunate inherent problem when you’ve got old tractors sitting around, is the possibility of many things leaking, namely, anti-freeze. Now, we all know that this substance is highly palatable to small animals and wildlife, which is why we decided to get to the core of the matter, and convert the 2N to a low-tox coolant made by Prestone. After some tedious draining and flushing of the relatively newly re-cored radiator, the unit was topped up and ready to go, and eliminating the possibility of one of our many shop pets from being poisoned. If you have small animals hanging around your shop like we do, please consider some brand of low-tox coolant – your pet will thank you for it with many years of enjoyment together!