whats the distilled gas all about?

gtofani · May 9, 2017

my owners manual discusses distilled gas tank and fuel tank.
So are there two tanks on my 1941 farmall bn?
how do i tell if its set up to use the distilled gas as well as the regular gas?
the manual also says i could use the distilled gas tank for gasoline also as an auxillary tank.
What do most do?

John T · May 9, 2017

You ask what most do............

What most do is NOT USE low octane so called "distillate" aka "tractor fuel aka "drip fuel" (all related to todays Kerosene) nowadays. I've never seen a place you can even purchase it.

Back in the day tractors were called "All Fuel" and equipped with the likes of a hot manifold or other methods to warm and keep the distillate in a vapor state. They would start on gas then once temp was achieved you switched over to the distillate.

Some brands had a small red capped gas tank for start up, then a bigger green capped main tank for distillate, and, of course, a valve for change over to distillate once warmed up. Then they switched back to gas a bit prior to shut down so it remained in the carb bowl.

No warranty that's how I recall, maybe other gents have different opinions?????????????????????

You tell if its set up if it had the two tanks and the hot manifold or other systems and the carbs were different if all fuel

John T

old · May 9, 2017

Distillate was a by product of making gas way back in the day and was also used to heat homes also called heating oil. Much like kerosene but super cheap. John Deere had the all fuel name and the Farmall called them dual fuel tractors. What you did was start them on gas then once good and warm you switched them over to the cheaper fuel.

I own a JD all fuel B and I have run it on diesel and gas mix as well as on kerosene but now days it is cheaper to run it on just plane old gas

old · May 9, 2017

John. JD was the only company to use the all fuel name so the other companies called them dual fuel or distillate fuel tractors since JD had the name locked in. A lot like A/C calling there road grader a W Speed Patrol due to Cat owning the road grader name

John M · May 9, 2017

Ive never seen a distillate/kerosene B, and only 2 distillate As. IIRC, the extra tank is under the hood on the left, as if
sitting on it, side. Do yourself a favor and forget about running anything it in but gas. You cant get distillate, but you can get
kerosene, and it stinks to high heaven, and always makes me puke whenever I smell something running on kerosene.

D beatty · May 9, 2017

They did make distillate/kerosene B. I found a fairly good photo of one.

SadFarmall · May 9, 2017

My Farmall A is kerosene. That was the standard for A, H and M Farmalls out here. I have run our M on kerosene in the past, but you have to mix lighting kerosene with mineral turpentine in equal parts to get approximately what used to be called 'power kerosene'. The tractors run very well on it, but it is horribly expensive now.
SadFarmall

John T · May 9, 2017

Right on Rich, yep I've heard and seen them called ALL FUEL MULTI FUEL DUAL FUEL. Regardless what they were called, they share they were started on gas, then once warmed up with the help of hot manifolds and all fuel carbs, they ran on Distillate AKA Drip Fuel AKA Tractor Fuel. Looks like all the good gents here agree on this one yayyyyyyyyyyyyy

John T

John M · May 9, 2017

Shouldve warned me! Dang that's a bright pink. Ive never doubted they were made, just never saw a B, or BN set up for distillate. I think we had 3 As, maybe 4, but none of them were ever set up for it, and it wasn't until recently like the last 4 or 5 years that I saw an A set up.

randy hall · May 9, 2017

they were actually called low compression which equals low power. in the a h and m timeframe the owners manual will have all of the answers, gasoline engines used 60 octane fuel, distillate engines used 36 octane fuel and kerosene engines used 0 octane fuel. I sure would not have wanted to put distillate in a furnace tank.

rustred · May 9, 2017

plus dont forget you had to drain of the oil level daily. distillate would go past the rings and into the oil pan. another reason the engines got worn out badly back then. the oil would get diluted.

Athol Carr · May 10, 2017

Prior to the letter series Farmalls the standard fuel was kerosene with an engine compression ratio of about 4.4 to 1. The gasoline tractors used about 60 octane gasoline. The eraly letter series tractors such as the Farmalls A, B H and M had the choice of kerosene (most of the rest of the world) distillate (USA) or gasoline (high octane about 70) The kerosene engines were still about 4.4 to 1, the distillate engines about 4.5 to 1 and the gasoline engines about 5.7 to 1. On the small Farmalls the gasoline starter tank was on the right side of the engine when looking from the seat and was supported by brackets attached to the cylinder head and used the same fuel cap as the main tank. On the Farmalls H and M the starter tank was mounted on the front tank support opposite the air-cleaner (again on the right side) but had a much smaller cap. On my 1948 Super A which was originally burning kerosene (now about twice the price of petrol (gasoline) whereas in the early 1950s was about a third of the price.

Athol Carr · May 10, 2017

Sorry about the triple photographs, the early previews didn't show them!!

BarnyardEngineering · May 10, 2017

(quoted from post at 19:18:03 05/09/17) plus dont forget you had to drain of the oil level daily. distillate would go past the rings and into the oil pan. another reason the engines got worn out badly back then. the oil would get diluted.

That was the reason for two petcocks in the oil pan, I believe. IIRC you opened the top petcock to drain off the previous day's accumulation of fuel after it had a chance to settle out.

Distillate fuel may have been a contributing factor but the main reasons engines got worn out badly back then was the materials weren't as good, tolerances weren't as good, oils weren't as good, and engine designs weren't as robust.

Compare a Farmall M engine to a modern Cummins diesel, and the Cummins is built like a brick you-know-what-house by comparison. It's no wonder they go 10,000+ hours, where an M engine is ready for an overhaul after a few hundred hours of hard pulling.

jeffcat · May 10, 2017

Just for fun. If you want to try that fuel here is a simple one. Go to
Depot or Lowes and buy a gallon of this stuff. Not cheep but it is
fantastic for kerosene lamps. Also makes a great emergency fuel you
can keep in the trunk of your car. During warm weather this stuff will
give you the thrill of an all fuel tractor.

Athol Carr · May 10, 2017

The nearest thing to kerosene today is Jet A-1 (once used to have a supply from airline maintenance for cleaning parts etc.)

redforlife · May 10, 2017

Distillate and kerosene burning engines had 2 tanks, and a manifold that would heat the intake. They had to be
started and warmed up on gas, before burning the other fuel. And switched back to gas before shutting tractor off.
They tipically had a drain plug on the carborater, and an extra oil pet cock to drain the fuel off the motor oil
after it set for a while not running. Kerosene and distillate were cheaper fuels back in the day. But not now.
Distillate is pretty much not even available now. It was a fuel that was not totally refined. Kerosene is made of
from coal, and is much more expensive than gas on today's market.
I just burn straight gas in these engines. I use the extra tank for a reserve tank in case I run out of gas in the
big tank. Make sure you run the proper amount of engine oil, and use the proper pet cock when checking oil level.
You do not have to drain any fuel off the engine oil when burning straight gas. Also, your radiator shutters
should be open and not closed when burning gas, unless running in really cold winter conditions.

whats the distilled gas all about?

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