TRACTOR PARTS Allis Chalmers Case & David Brown Farmall & International Ferguson Ford & New Holland John Deere Massey Ferguson Massey Harris Minneapolis Moline Oliver & Cockshutt Kubota / Yanmar

TRACTOR MANUALS

Allis Chalmers	Case	Farmall IH	Ford 8N,9N,2N	Ford
Ferguson	John Deere	Massey Ferguson	Minn. Moline	Oliver

Discussion Forum

Distillate fuel for Farmall H

Welcome Guest, Log in or Register

Author

Phil Wassink

07-13-2003 20:53:46

Report to Moderator

I just bought a Farmall H and would like to know what distillate fuel is. Thanks in advance. Phil

[Log in to Reply] [No Email]

Sid

07-15-2003 04:41:13

Report to Moderator

Re: Distillate fuel for Farmall H in reply to Phil Wassink, 07-13-2003 20:53:46

From a technical book about agricultural tractors, printed in 1952. "Distillate being sold for tractors resembles and frequently is a No.1 fuel oil. It is sold in the average town, not as a fuel oil for heating purposes, but as a tractor fuel, although the dealer may sell from the same tank for both purposes."

Some oil companies did supply a distillate specifically for use as a tractor fuel.

"Nine states in 1949 imposed gasoline taxes that were not exempt or refunded to the farmer when used for agricultural purposes."

Regular gasoline,cents/acre 22.61
Regular gasoline, cents/acre with tax 35.23
Distillate cents/acre 17.5

Fuel prices, central Iowa, May, 1948.

Octane rating of gasoline 70.
Octane rating of distillate 31.3

"Gasolines make up 80% of tractor fuel used, distillate accounts for 6%, Diesel fuel 4%, kerosene 3%, and miscellaneous fuels 7%." (U.S.D.A.,1949)

Farmall H compression ratios : Gasoline - 5.9; Combination gasoline/dist - 4.75; Kerosene - 4.5.

Thought the above description of distillate and the reason for using it might help.

[Log in to Reply] [No Email]

Wayne Swenson

07-14-2003 20:26:09

Report to Moderator

Re: Distillate fuel for Farmall H in reply to Phil Wassink, 07-13-2003 20:53:46

Not to mention the fact that you have to start the engine on gasoline and switch over to distillate after the engine is up to operating temp. This means you need a radiator shutter that works and a good eye on the temp gauge. When you shut it down, switch back to gasoline and run the distillate out of the carb or just drain the distillate out of the carb. Distillate carbs had a convenient drain on the side you could operate by hand (or pliers).
Engine oil dilution is also a problem because the distillate doesn't burn as cleanly or completely as gasoline.
Keep the small tank for looks and fill the main tank with gasoline; you will have much better results.

[Log in to Reply] [No Email]

Dan in Ore

07-13-2003 22:29:31

Report to Moderator

Re: Distillate fuel for Farmall H in reply to Phil Wassink, 07-13-2003 20:53:46

Distillate is what we now call kerosene. In the teens through the forties it was considerably cheaper than gasoline so many manufacturers set their equipment up to run on distillate.

The trade-off (there is always one of these) is that it reduced power output about 10 per cent. If you could put up with the reduced power and had the extra 10 bucks or so to buy the distillate model then it was well worth the investment.

[Log in to Reply] [No Email]

Bob Kerr

07-21-2003 14:30:32

Report to Moderator

Re: Re: Distillate fuel for Farmall H in reply to Dan in Ore, 07-13-2003 22:29:31

2 years ago at the Elnora, Indiana show, I ran a dyno test with both gasoline and kerosene. There has been lots of "talk about which fuel made more power and I figured we would see what the chatter is about. I took my 1935 F-12 kero (distillate) model and ran it on kero for the first test. engine had been running all day so it was plenty warm. we hooked up the dyno (M&W I think)and ran it up to full speed and adjusted the carb for the most HP output. Got 13.5 HP on kero. Then I swicthed it over to the starting tank where the gas was and ran the kero completly out of the lines for about 20 min as kero models have lots of lines and a small cast iron "storage tank" bolted to the top ot the hood, also to let the manifold cool back down after resetting it to the gas or cold setting. Had to fill the tank up again with gas for the test. Did the exact same procedure on gas including adjusting carb for max output and got 13.5 HP once again. I did have to readjust the carb after testing because the kero and gas require different settings. I have seen where some of the hs and Ms that were dual fuel had different heads and other parts as well as HP ratings , but the F-12 I tested had the same HP for both fuels.

[Log in to Reply] [No Email]

karl f

07-14-2003 10:42:12

Report to Moderator

Re: Re: Distillate fuel for Farmall H in reply to Dan in Ore, 07-13-2003 22:29:31

this topic comes up quite often. actually kerosene is a different fuel, but fairly similar. distillate, or tractor fuel as it was also called is no longer available.
to sum up what i've gleaned from reading these forums: distillate was a by-product of the method crude oil was made into fuels (as a by-product it was fairly cheap compared to gasoline). a new, improved (faster, cheaper, etc.) method was developed during ww2, so it was quickly adopted...but it also eliminated the by-products that were used for distillate. i would say that after about 1950 none was available. if you want to experiment and see how it would run on distillate, you could try kerosene, or a concoction of a bunch of slightly flammable stuff (some people have posted their recipies before)

today you're best running gasoline.

-karl

[Log in to Reply] [No Email]

robert

07-15-2003 05:40:43

Report to Moderator

Re: Re: Re: Distillate fuel for Farmall H in reply to karl f, 07-14-2003 10:42:12

distillate or power kerosene or TVO(tractor vaporising oil) was widely used down here, as it was 1/2 the price of petrol and they used less of it,due to the vaporisation,
bearing in mind it was a higher octane than lighting kerosene 52 octane springs to mind

power kero was still available well into the 1960,s & maybe 1970,s would have to check around & find out when

to see a single fuel tractor is somewhat rare, but dual is very common

incidently u can duplicate power kerosene 50% lighting kerosene & 50 % unleaded petrol i have a W6 that is dual fuel & want to make up a batch,mainly for nostalgia reasons;-)

[Log in to Reply] [No Email]

[Options] [Printer Friendly] [Posting Help] [Return to Forum] [Log in to Reply]

TRACTOR PARTS	TRACTOR MANUALS

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today. [ About Us ]

Home | Forums

Copyright © 1997-2023 Yesterday's Tractor Co.
All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of any part of this website, including design and content, without written permission is strictly prohibited. Trade Marks and Trade Names contained and used in this Website are those of others, and are used in this Website in a descriptive sense to refer to the products of others. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy

TRADEMARK DISCLAIMER: Tradenames and Trademarks referred to within Yesterday's Tractor Co. products and within the Yesterday's Tractor Co. websites are the property of their respective trademark holders. None of these trademark holders are affiliated with Yesterday's Tractor Co., our products, or our website nor are we sponsored by them. John Deere and its logos are the registered trademarks of the John Deere Corporation. Agco, Agco Allis, White, Massey Ferguson and their logos are the registered trademarks of AGCO Corporation. Case, Case-IH, Farmall, International Harvester, New Holland and their logos are registered trademarks of CNH Global N.V.

Yesterday's Tractors - Antique Tractor Headquarters

Website Accessibility Policy