fuel

[StinKy 0]

Lately I've been watching Classic Tractors on RFD TV channel. Many of the old tractors were multi-fuel such as gas to start then switch over to diesel. Kerosene is also mentioned, but lots of these owners talk about "distillate" for fuel. Is that just another name for kerosene or did they run their engines on the same stuff they "sipped"? Dick

[BradW 0]

Hello Dick, distillate was cheap gas, you could use either that or kerosene. The principal here is that when these "Multi-Fuel" tractors came out, "Distillate" was around 15 cents a gallon or less depending upon dealer or region, this made for cheap power, but as a rule of thumb, for every 30 H.P. the tractor makes, 3 H.P. were lost to using low quality or lower refined fuel such as Kerosene and Distillate. Usually there was a 1-3 gallon starter tank and a 15-20 gallon running tank, you would have a cover that went over the radiator controlled by a lever to allow more or less air in and out, and then once the tractor was chugging at a water/coolant temp of 210-220 degrees you could turn a lever over to allow the low cost fuel to power you, some of these motors also allowed you to put in a bit of water at first with the low cost fuel with another lever to prevent backfire, then the tractor would be fine, one thing you want to remember is to drain the carb at the end of the day and turn the gas back on, otherwise you would never get that tractor to start,-BradW P.S., if you have more questions about this I can send you some photos of a dual tank setup I once owned, -BradW

[JordB110 0]

Dick, I have linked a recent discussion on www.allischalmers.com about distillate. Jordan[A href='http://www.allischalmers.com/forum/forum_view.asp?mid=34809&mtop=034809&mtext1=distillate&mtext2=&morder=normal&mnext=-1']http://www.allischalmers.com/forum/forum_view.asp?mid=34809&mtop=034809&mtext1=distillate&mtext2=&morder=normal&mnext=-1[/a]

[StinKy 0]

Who would have guessed!! They were running ancient tractors on much the same fuel that powers the Jet Age! Brad, I dont know if you get the RFD channel, but I can highly recommend it to anyone interested in old tractors. The owners of these old machines really go into detail about how and why they work. It's fascinating to me. Some of the engines in them were 2 cylinder and had 400 plus cubic inches! Jordan thanks for the link. There's some serious knowledge among those guys. Dick

[ka9bxg 3]

A freind and I redid a case 20-40 tractor 10 years ago it used distalate as the main fuel.We figured out the cubic displacement as 1260 cubic inches and that was a two cyclinder engine 8 by 9 1/2 now that is a engine.Bob

[JimDk 1]

Another great tractor that burned kerosene was the OilPull built by Advance-Rumley Corp.These tractors were engineered and built to burn kero.They used oil in their radiator to allow higher operating temp.and the engine exhaust also went out thru the radiator to increase heat.OilPulls also used water injection under heavy load to prevent detonation. Like many tractor companies,Rumely fell on hard times during the depression and was actually bought by Allis-Chalmers and phased out about 1935. Most large tractor shows usually have at least one OilPull on display and I have found that the owners are willing to explain the finer points of the great machines. [A href='www.rumely.com']www.rumely.com[/a]

[BradW 0]

Hi Bob, if you think a 20-40 is huge, you sould she a 40-72! In the picture below is a '23 40-72 and next to that is a 20-40, I have seen and heard one of these in person being a member of the J.I. Case Collectors Association and they are one heck of a machine, they showed the piston and rod out of it and it cannot even be described how big it was!,-BradW http://www.tractorshed.com/gallery/tphotos/a3524.jpg

[BradW 0]

Rumely were probably some of the most advanced tractors of their time, I have seen a few of them and rode on one in a plowing demonstration, great tractor, next to case another favorite would be Hart-Par which eventually became Oliver which became white corp. then Agco, -BradW P.S. If you or anyone else is interested in old tractors, drop me a line, like to discuss them, thanks,-BradW

[StinKy 0]

I've seen tractors on RFD channel very similar in size to the Case pictured and they said they weighed around 9 tons. Dick

[beamer 0]

I worked for a pipeline company when I got out of high school and they had 5 cylinder diesels that actually ran on the crude oil being pumped through the pipelines. The pistions were the size of 6 gallon plastic pails and ran at 700 rpm. The oil was changed without shutting down the engines (similar to diesel locomotives). The engines sat in one room and a firewall was built between the engines and the gigantic pumps. The pumps were piston constant velosity and the arms that ran the pistions had big machined flat areas they slid on and they poured crude oil into these areas for lubrication. The flywheel between engine and pump was 18ft in diameter and floors were cut out to accomodate them. The pump station is now a museum in my little hometown as it is not in use any longer. Thought you might like to read it..