Farmall M diesel

Gary

Thanks for all your responses.

Gary

Thanks for that qualifier. In other words, it's like most everything else, if you want it to work right, read the manual! This looked like a old workhorse to me!
Gary

1. A third valve is opened to a chamber in the head of each cylinder to reduce the compression ratio to 6:1. This chamber contains the spark plug as well.

2. A switch is opened to unground the magneto. In diesel mode, the magneto is grounded so there is no spark to the plugs.

3. Butterflys are set in the manifold to allow air to flow through the carb. These are set in diesel mode so that air does not go through the carb.

4. The carb float is released so gas can flow to the carb. In diesel mode, the float is locked up, shutting off the gas flow to the carb.

When you start him up, you should let it run a few minutes (depends on how cold it is) to warm. Then pull the switch over lever back first and then quickly advance the diesel speed control to max. If you advance the diesel speed control first, this results in diesel fuel getting in the spark plug chambers and fouling the plugs, making it harder to start. The book says to switch to gas mode when shutting down, which will also clean out the spark plug chambers. I don't think you need to do that if you follow the above start up procedure.

Here is a picture of my MD. Bought it last year and restored it. One in good shape can go a lot of work. The MDs were built 1941 to 1952.

The tractor looked to be in good shape with fresh paint, but we didn't hear it run...my buddy was to scared of it to put them thru the trouble.
They wanted $2500 for it, which considering what the John Deeres bring in this area, and the shape it was in, I thought was a steal. The tractor is located in Chester County, PA.

Thanks for responding,

Gary