Sediment bowl bail/clip broke on me--twice!

TO35 is not getting enough gas, or so it seems, as after 10 minutes it starts missing and will die unless I leave the choke open. Once it dies, after about 10 min. it is good to go but the same thing starts all over again.

Took out the sediment bowl from the gas tank, flushing the tank in the process and both the tank and sediment bowl filter had debris, so cleaned them out. Put sediment bowl back and the gas line still trickled out very slowly when I detached the line from the carburetor. While fiddling with it, blowing the line, etc, noticed the bowl leaking and while tightening it up, the bail/clip snapped in two while tightening it down with the knurled knob.

Picked up another bowl assembly at the local farm supply shop and low and behold, the sediment bowl bail/clip snapped again while hand tightening it with the knurled knob! Seems to be an inferior design at play with these aftermarket sediment bowl clips, which are some wire stamped flat so the knurled knob will slip over it.

So some questions come to mind: 1) anyone know if the sediment bowls sold through yesterday's tractors are any better, and if not, any leads on getting better clips? 2) some folks seem to have replaced the sediment bowl with a shutoff and an inline filter--has that worked out, or should I keep fiddling with sediment bowls, or both?

Thanks in advance on your ponderings and sharing....

I haven't heard of the bail breaking, so it may be a problem common to that brand, there are a lot of aftermarket mfgs out there.

I would try a different brand, and if you haven't already, replace the entire assembly. Possibly there is a problem with the seal surface requiring too much pressure to seal the leak, or a slight design difference stressing the bail. Also, the screen needs to be installed on top of the gasket.

YT is a reliable parts supplier. They stand behind their parts, but they also have to rely on aftermarket suppliers. If there is a problem, they find out by the number of returns.

If you do opt for the ball valve and inline filter, be sure to use a screen mesh, free flow type filter. A paper filter is too restrictive for a gravity flow system.

Some carbs have a screen filter in the inlet fitting. It may need to be cleaned too.

The defective brand was Tisco from TSC. I guess I'll see if they will replace the bail so I won't have to pull off the assembly to get a full refund, but I will if they won't do that and go ahead and talk to YT about where they get theirs.

I haven't checked the filter at the end of the gas line in the carburetor, something I learned about in the forum, and will also try a little gasket adhesive dried onto the cork gasket that will replace the thin rubber gasket that leaked so badly, too.

Still haven't decided on the online fuel filter--I'd like to keep the sediment bowl if I can find a good one! Do folks really think it's necessary in addition to the sediment bowl?

I had problems with fuel cut offs on my TO35, I finally stepped up and bought my last one at the MF dealership, so far it's worked good and no
problems,

I know this is elementary, but be sure a dirt robber or some other little
varmint has not stopped up the vent in your gas cap , it must be vented for you to have a free flow of fuel,

All that dirt,debris in your tank does not sound good for the carb, I installed the metal inline, free flow, fuel filter between the cutoff and carb, all I
can say is so far no carb problems and the old boy idles at 375 r.p.m.

I personally don't like inline filters on gravity flow systems.

If the screens are in place, and the tank is reasonably clean, should work without it.

Also a good, steel, one piece, well formed, proper length fuel line is best. The 5/16" pre-made brake line from the auto supply works well.

TSC said that they'd replace the clip, so I'm going in to try the sediment bowl one more time. The tank actually looks pretty darn clean inside, so I'll skip the inline filter for now and see how it goes and re-use the copper fuel line as long as I don't strip the fittings.