new temperature gauge for 51 Farmall M

mainamana · Apr 21, 2011

Just bought a new temperature gauge made by rochester for my "M".
I idled the tractor for 45 minutes and the needle barely moved.
What is the operating temperature for this tractor?
Does this tractor have a thermostat?
Trying to figure out if the gauge is functioning correctly.
Any comments or advice will be much appreciated.

Joe Dowling · Apr 21, 2011

My bet is that you either have a thermostat that is stuck open or has been removed. If you have the guage out of the tractor, place the bulb in a pan of water on the stove and heat it up with a candy thermometer in it to verify its operation. Don't get the wife mad though!

Bob M · Apr 21, 2011

Good chance the thermostat is not working or has been removed.

However in cooler weather an idling M is tough to bring to operating temp, even with a good thermostat installed. There's a substantial bypass passage cast into the thermostat housing around the thermostat. Enough coolant flows through the bypass to keep the engine from warming fully even with a working thermostat in place.

Try working the engine hard for 10 - 15 minutes and see if it comes up to temperature.

Or if you want to test your new temp gage, remove the bulb from the head and stick it in a pan of boiling water. The gage hand should move to the top end of the "run" range

CNKS · Apr 21, 2011

Or block off the grill and see if it moves. Your tractor is supposed to have a thermostat, many people remove them when they stop functioning and fail to replace them -- bad idea.

IaGary · Apr 22, 2011

Main Amana? Is that where you are from?

You're about the closest neighbor I have on this board.

North Liberty here.

Gary

mainamana · Apr 22, 2011

I am in main amana.

dhermesc · Apr 22, 2011

If you only idled the tractor it wouldn't come up to operating temp - epsecially if you have a guage that starts at 160 degrees.

As stated below they have a lot of bypass and those engines don't warm up much until put under a load. Their cooling system is designed to cool an engine getting the crap worked out of it, its over kill for light use.

sflem849 · Apr 22, 2011

Like they said, It will never move ideling for 10-15 min. Mine barely moves ideling in 90 degree weather for 10-15 min. I wanted to get my MD hot so I pulled it to WOT and put a feed bag over the grill.

Faster346 · Apr 22, 2011

(quoted from post at 09:06:10 04/22/11) Like they said, It will never move ideling for 10-15 min. Mine barely moves ideling in 90 degree weather for 10-15 min. I wanted to get my MD hot so I pulled it to WOT and put a feed bag over the grill.

I put a new gauge on my H and didn't think it worked either. Then one day I was working it pretty hard in the field and I noticed it had moved about 1/4" off the cold peg. I don't think these engines run very hot.

SadFarmall · Apr 22, 2011

If the radiator shutter is set correctly and the tractor is working, the gauge should read in the RUN zone. The few people (like me) who run on kerosene will know that unless the engine is hot, it won't run properly on kero. When it is hot, however, running on kerosene should see good power output.

new temperature gauge for 51 Farmall M

mainamana

New User

Joe Dowling

Member

Bob M

Well-known Member

CNKS

Well-known Member

IaGary

Well-known Member

mainamana

New User

dhermesc

Well-known Member

sflem849

Well-known Member

Faster346

Member

SadFarmall

Member

Similar threads