8N Loader on a TO-30?

I recently purchased a Ferguson TO-30 tractor and I want to put a loader on the front. I came across an old loader that was on a Ford 8N Tractor. I know the tractors are similar and was wondering it that loader would work on the Ferguson. Any help or input would be greatly appreciated. May 26, 2014

It depends on which Ford or Dearborn loader you are talking about.most of those that will fit a Ford 9N, 2N or 8N will fit a Ferguson 30. The rear mounting is usually not a problem as the rear axle fender mounting pads are identical and, this is usually where the rear of the loader frame is mounted.

The front brackets vary somewhat. Loaders that use a hanger bracket that mounts on the front axle carrier will usually either fit the TO-30 or can be modified to fit the TO-30. In some cases mounting brackets for the TO-30 were available at the time the loader was in production. The earliest Dearborn loader used a front mounting bracket that attached where the front axle carrier is bolted to the front of the engine. If you want to mount this type of loader you will have to modify this bracket.

Some other potential problems you could encounter include: The need for hood modifications. The tip up hood on the TO-30 may not work with some of the loader frames and those loaders that use a front-mounted hydraulic pump will all require hood modifications. The TO-30 hood can either be removed when the loader is being used or modified by unbolting the top section from the dog legs and grill, securing the dog leg and grill segment with brackets attached to the front fuel tank mount and installing a pair of hood latches on the front of the hood to attach it to the dog legs. The top section of the hood is then removed by undoing the hood latch and the newly installed hood latches for access to the battery, gas cap and radiator cap. This is also the traditional way of modifying the TO-30 when a front mounted PTO pump was installed.

For loaders that use a front mounted pump you will have to obtain the proper modified crankshaft pulley to accommodate the front PTO shaft to drive the pump. These were available when these Ford or Dearborn loaders were in production. Steiner Tractor Parts recently started producing a modified crankshaft pulley which will accommodate a pump drive. You may have to use some different components than those that were used on the Ford or Dearborn PTO drive to attach the shaft to the pulley.

For those Ford or Dearborn loaders that use the tractor’s internal hydraulic pump to operate the loader you should install the Ferguson hydraulic drop valve on the tractor to connect the lift cylinders to the Ferguson System pump. The Ferguson System does not provide position control unless this drop valve is installed. Without the Ferguson drop valve, the TO-30 will give you the choice of either all the way up or all the way down, which is not ideal for loader operation where you will want to stop the loader from raising or lowering at some point.

The Ford hydraulic system has position control which means the loader lift or drop may be stopped at any time by moving the 3 point hitch control lever.