Tool Talk

Wrench Forum => Wrench Forum => Topic started by: stanley62 on May 28, 2012, 12:47:46 PM

Title: A Fomoco and a Dogbone
Post by: stanley62 on May 28, 2012, 12:47:46 PM
I never buy Ford wrenches, but got this on cheap so it followed me home.  The dogbone was not as cheap, but was reasonable enough.

Ford 9N17014 with an M in a circle on the back
Sterling No. 295 dogbone.
Title: Re: A Ford and a Dogbone
Post by: john k on May 28, 2012, 01:29:17 PM
Nice pair.  The open end is a Ford wrench, but actually  a Fordson tractor wrench.  I am not a researcher with all the catalogs, others do that way better than I, but that wrench has two uses, one or the other is true.  On a Fordson tractor there is no fuel gauge, the wrench is dipped in the tank,  the numbers will tell you how many gallons of gas remain.   Or, when plowing its customary to reset the plow to do the dead furrow, then reset to plow.   If the ground is hard, or wet, one has to check the depth of plowing, here is where the wrench can be used as a ruler.  Depending on the cover crop, plowing was done five to six inches deep, sometimes, more, or less.  I have the same wrench, but not the box end.    Good find.
Title: Re: A Ford and a Dogbone
Post by: rusty on May 28, 2012, 01:56:47 PM

So if you didn't buy a plow, how would you know how much gas you had?
Title: Re: A Ford and a Dogbone
Post by: Lewill2 on May 28, 2012, 02:14:01 PM
A stick... But not a match.......
Title: Re: A Ford and a Dogbone
Post by: Wrenchmensch on May 28, 2012, 03:28:48 PM
The embossed legend, Fomoco, seems to suggest Ford tractor. Why Fordson tractor and not Ford tractor? 
Title: Re: A Ford and a Dogbone
Post by: stanley62 on May 28, 2012, 03:50:44 PM
The Logo is indeed Fomoco.  I tried to upload a closeup, but it keeps failing...
I hope they don't decide to go thru.  I tried 3 times...
Jim
Title: Re: A Ford and a Dogbone
Post by: Neals on May 28, 2012, 03:58:03 PM
The 9Nxxx number on that Ford wrench makes me wonder if it came with a Ford 9N tractor
Title: Re: A Ford and a Dogbone
Post by: rusty on May 28, 2012, 05:45:14 PM
Interesting info about the die revision number here:

http://www.ntractorclub.com/cgi/viewit.cgi?fb=nhistory&th=630

(Had a longer post on this, but the forum ate it, sigh)
Title: Re: A Fomoco and a Dogbone
Post by: Bus on May 29, 2012, 11:44:40 AM
Ford plow wrench mfg. after the Ford-Ferguson break up. Rule marks where to measure plow furrow depth not gas level,
Title: Re: A Fomoco and a Dogbone
Post by: BRwrench on May 29, 2012, 07:59:34 PM
The Ford script logo was used on these wrenches from 1939 to 1950 when the logo was changed to FoMoCo.  Ford and Ferguson dissolved their partnership mid 1947.  These wrenches came with the 9N, 2N and 8N Ford tractors. (The 9N came out in 1939, the 2N came out in 1942, and the 8N came out in 1948).
Title: Re: A Fomoco and a Dogbone
Post by: john k on May 29, 2012, 09:36:45 PM
On the Ford tractor, Fordson name thing.  Back in the early days say about WWI time, Ford decided to market a tractor, well somebody was messing with the name fordtractor or such, and to get around the copyright, or lawsuits or,,,, Henry and his son Edsel came up with the name Fordson, this was for the early iron tractor with steel wheels.   Without digging it out, my tractor wrench has Ford script on it, pretty sure.  Was a story about all this long ago in the magazine, (Special Interest Autos).   So when the 9N series started, farmers kept calling them Fordson tractors, at least my grandpa did. 
Title: Re: A Fomoco and a Dogbone
Post by: keykeeper on May 30, 2012, 09:36:02 AM
Ford plow wrench mfg. after the Ford-Ferguson break up. Rule marks where to measure plow furrow depth not gas level,

+1 on this. Why would anyone stick an old dirty wrench in the fuel tank and contaminate the gas???????? Not very smart, and as stated, not what the wrench was intended for.
Title: Re: A Fomoco and a Dogbone
Post by: Bill Houghton on May 31, 2012, 12:56:00 PM
Ford plow wrench mfg. after the Ford-Ferguson break up. Rule marks where to measure plow furrow depth not gas level,

+1 on this. Why would anyone stick an old dirty wrench in the fuel tank and contaminate the gas???????? Not very smart, and as stated, not what the wrench was intended for.
Well...we had a stick at the gas station, the official method for checking fuel levels in the buried tanks.  We did keep it pretty clean.
Title: Re: A Fomoco and a Dogbone
Post by: keykeeper on May 31, 2012, 01:25:20 PM
And that stick was the accepted method for checking tanks and calculating how much was in there to sell. I worked in a gas station when I was younger, we did the same thing. We also had a set of rules for using it, including not banging it on the end when we dropped it down (would compact the wood, changing the reading), wiping it off before use, after use, etc.

I know one thing for sure, the manager would have crapped if I "stuck" the tanks with a big old rusty steel rod that bounced around a toolbox between uses.

Title: Re: A Fomoco and a Dogbone
Post by: Papaw on May 31, 2012, 05:23:55 PM
Many gas stations still use that stick, I know the one I buy at does.
Title: Re: A Fomoco and a Dogbone
Post by: Branson on May 31, 2012, 05:36:15 PM
I haven't seen one in use for a long time, but I remember them from the '50s, so when I found one in the wild, I picked it up.  The owner didn't know what it was and looked funny at me when I told him.  That was somewhere around 1986...
Title: Re: A Fomoco and a Dogbone
Post by: Wrenchmensch on May 31, 2012, 05:51:21 PM
What's a "Dogbone" wrench?  I was under the impression that they were double-enders with multiple sockets at each end. The three below would be examples of what I call "dogbone" wrenches.  Am I mistaken?  Please advise.
Title: Re: A Fomoco and a Dogbone
Post by: stanley62 on June 04, 2012, 02:20:40 PM
Wrenchmench,

 I agree that all the wrenches you show are what I have heard called  dogbone wrenches.  I am not sure what constitutes a "dogbone" wrench other than it looks like a dogs bone.  I looked up the Sterling and found it listed at a couple auctions as a dogbone, thats the only reason I call it that.
Jim