8N or 9N Ford Tractor

Help! We removed the cowling on our tractor to recharge the battery and now we cannot get it back on. We have the cowling bolted by the steering wheel but the front part of the cowling is stuck and will not lower. What do we need to do?

First, we need your definition of "cowling" and WHY you would attempt to remove it to charge the battery. Then, take a trip over to John Smith's most excellent site to figure out WHAT model you actually have.
Smiths Identify

Cinder........you removed the COWLING???

Gonna make a WAG (wild A$$ guess) that yer cowling is normally called a "HOOD" 'cuz you talk about bolts by the steering wheel. And I bett'cha removed the 2-bolts in the "dog-legs" that bolt to the side of the radiator.

Didja know that you haffta stick yer RADIATOR neck thru the top of the cowling BEFORE you can bolt the 4-bolts into the dash and BEFORE you can bolt the doglegs to the sides of the radiator???? .......sheesh

Didja know you can charge yer battery thru the gastank access door??? NO NEED to remove the cowling.

Just remember when charging batterys, ya gotta match POLARITY. Charger plus (+) usually red to battery (+) usually molded to top of the battery. ...and... charger minus (-) usually black to battery (-) as molded to top of the battery. Its there, ya just gotta look.

And it is VERY IMPORTANT to realize you can NOT charge a 12V battery with 6V charger ...nor... can you charge a 6V battery with 12V charger.

hint: many battery chargers can be BOTH a 6V or 12V charger, but NOT at the same time. They have a SWITCH for the operator (that's you) to choose the correct charging voltage.

And while the N-Tractors came from the factory 6V-positive ground, they can be converted to negative ground. (mox nix) 12V alternators are ALWAYS negative ground.

Don't let ground confuse you; ground can be positive and negative at the same time. Just pay attention to yer battery polarities. ........Dell the amazed

Did you remember to take the radiator cap off before putting hood back on?

Whenever you're dealing with re-installing sheetmetal parts, you pretty much have to get everything where its supposed to be before bolting- and then don't bolt anything tightly until you get all the bolts started. Probably need to unbolt it back by the steering wheel and start over- getting the front part in place first, then lowering the rear, until all the attachment points are lined up. Sometimes it takes some jockeying around to get it right.

We were working on my wife's tractor. She had a friend of her's convert it over to 12 volt(along with other things) and he had replaced the battery with one out of a recreational vehicle. This battery turned out to not hold a charge. Unfortunately , it was larger than the battery intended to be used in this vehicle and could not be removed from the hood trough the access panel. The end of the story (as Paul Harvey would say) was that the hood had to be removed to get the old battery out. Took me a while to figure out that the grill will unlatch and then the sides of the hood can be expanded to clear the top of the radiator easier. I had it back together by the time my wife came back from the house to tell me she had posted here for advice. Thank you all for helping out, as I normally don't work on my wife's tractor and any words of wisdom are always appreciated.

Cinders other haff, eh? Treat that lady to glass'a GREEN BEER for initiative .........would it surprize you to learn that the rectangular gastank access door is NOT designed to use to install a battery??? Slide'm in from the starter motor side. Use either size #22 or #35 12V batterys. Simple, eh?

And didja know that there is a separate board that specializes in just the 1939-52 N-tractors??? Yer welcome to post N-Tractor (you do NOT haffta be a member) questions there as some of the members are crackerjack N-Specialists. .......Dell the quacker