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Hard-To-Find Ford Tractor Parts
Red Rock Manufacturing is the place to go for Ford N-Series tractor parts developed by aftermarket companies. Phil Smith started with one product, the Dowden Foot Feed, in 2002 and keeps adding new parts every year. Today there are more than 35 different parts. Recently Red Rock added engine mount adapters for Ford Flathead V-8 and GM V-6 conversions.

"This started as a part time business," says Smith. "I still work as a mechanical engineer, but Red Rock is getting busier all the time. The phone still hasn't stopped ringing after FARM SHOW ran a reader's ębest buy' letter about my Automatic Fuel Shut-Off Valve."

Smith doesn't stock used parts; he reproduces them. Some parts are unique to Ford, while others are universal to most makes of older tractors. Smith says the nature of Ford N's and their popularity gave birth to lots of aftermarket products.

"These old Fords were pretty basic when they were introduced in the 1940's and early 1950's," he explains. "Other smaller companies started making accessories for them. Now many are hard to find and often expensive, so I began to reproduce some of them."

The biggest seller remains the gas gauge, but the product list includes any number of interesting and useful add-ons, like the Sherman transmission rebuild kit. It slips between the engine and the stock transmission to give N-Series tractors 12 speeds forward.

"They were easy to add," explains Smith. "You just split the tractor and removed a short shaft and slipped in the Sherman. There were a lot of them made. I have a complete rebuild kit with bearings and seals. I also make a replacement for a cast iron shift lever for the Sherman. It was easy to break."

Some other Red Rock products include FarMech and Arnco parking brake levers, Calhoun Kwik-Hitch drawbars, Greene Engineering Drawbar Locks, Steelcraft Umbrella Holders, Sherman Transmission Cable-to-Lever Kits, and V-drawbars. Often the reproduction parts are designed to outlast the originals. The V-drawbars, for instance, are laser cut from a single piece of steel for added strength.

If Sherman doesn't have what you're looking for, he just might add it to his product list.

"We're always looking for other off brand tractor accessories to replicate," he says. "Anyone with an idea should let me know."

Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Red Rock Manufacturing, 1117 Park Lane, Pella, Iowa 50219 (ph 641 780-1748; rrm@iowatelecom.net; www.redrockmfg.com).


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2009 - Volume #33, Issue #1