TO35 Fuel Tank

Fergie friends,

I recently purchased an original-condition 1955 Ferguson TO35. The tractor had been left to sit with an empty tank for a long time, so now the tank is filled with rust and corrosion. My preference is to replace the tank. This model like other Fergies has the built-in 2-gallon reserve tank, along with the original "HF" bowl filter that has the two feeds for the dual tanks. Problem is that I can't tell from various vendor listings whether the repro tanks have that feature. Does anyone out there know?
Bill

Luray, Va

Sent you an e mail Ron .

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Wher did you mount it Charles? Do you have a photo? :)

I fitted a fuel shut off solenoid to my elderly friend's TEA Ron . He was forever forgetting to shut the fuel off and once lost the entire tank onto the garage floor .

One that is used for petrol/LPG change overs is what you need . LPG , Liquefied Petroleum Gas , is used as an alternative fuel a lot here , you start on petrol then change over to gas once hot . They cost about $28 and can be wired to either open or shut when energised . In this way you can wire it to open when the ignition is turned on , it will then automatically turn itself to the off position when the ignition is turned off .

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/PETROL-FUEL-SOLENOID-SHUT-OFF-VALVE-12V-AUTOGAS-LPG-LIQUID-DIESEL/162727308877?hash=item25e34dae4d:g:uBQAAOSwOgdYnb5B

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Do you have any photos of the screen and solenoid?

The "old tank" or "The sitting tank not used for a while" seem to always find some kind or other crud,scale or what ever. I have a sheet of very fine copper mesh,much like the little piece found near the top of some sediment bowls. Any way, off to to get a wooden dowel the size of the PU tube(usually brass -easy to solder to) I carefully made a peice of screen,wrapped around the PU tube =soldered the screen tube with an electric soldering gun.Next I worked a little of the screen tubeover the fuel pickup,soldered the screen to the tube. Now I have a filter of sorts to keep any larger peices out of the fuel line. I make them as long as I can- more surface area. I forget how the Fergusin PU is made but I have 3 of these on my case tractors. They help a lot in the long run over the years. I am gettig more & more disable now, so they sit a lot. The good is o fuel problems. Also I bought somemine 12 volt solinoid valves that I installed in line - when I turn the key off the fuel is automaticly shut off also. My 2 bits.

Photo of the actual tractor below.

To be honest I do not believe that tank needs anything more than a good cleaning. I have seen some that were much much worse and the owner just cleaned it and rinsed it out good and put it back on. If you want to spend more money order a new tank and hope it will fit as well as the original one did.

I can photo the outside but don't really need to. There is one filler cap through which I took the photos, and no fuel gauge hole. So what we have is an internal tank of some sort that would not fill until you filled up the main tank pretty far. If you filled the main tank to the top, this segregated tank would fill also by spillage though the opening. I've never seen anything like this so I continue to wonder what it's for. It certainly could be a two-gallon reserve that doesn't drain until the gas valve is turned out to full.
I realize some folks don't think so ... but it's hard to see why else you'd weld in a structure like this to the bottom of the tank before welding the top half on. The tank does not leak, but as the pictures show, it's pretty bad on the inside. I'd be willing to do the usual gas tank resto process, except that I don't see how it would work with this unusual section inside. If I go with a repro tank, I can flush this tank and take it apart to see how it is made.



Good suggestion Ron .
The dual tank with double fuel tap as fitted to TED 20 tractors .

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did not know a to-35 had a fuel gauge ?????????????????? none of mine do or provision for one.

They all have a gauge.

Provided by nature, called a stick! LOL

The Ferguson wrench works well too.

I use the same sticks that I block the clutches with.

Good suggestion Ron .
The dual tank with double fuel tap as fitted to TED 20 tractors .

If you had a dual tank, a Charles described, you would have two filler caps, and two drain fittings. Do you have photos of the outside?

Dan and others on this thread - I've managed to take some decent pictures looking down into the corroded tank from the filler opening. Generally the pictures are looking towards the driver's seat side. The "second tank" is a few inches below the top of the "main tank." Ideas and opinions?

Bill



Fuel tanks usually have baffles in them to reduce sloshing. Some tanks also had a place for a fuel gauge sensor which is usually a round plate with a wire going into it. Is that what you might be seeing?

Dan[img][/img]

I will try to take a picture of the inside of the tank. Not sure it's possible given the poor lighting. There is clearly something that LOOKS LIKE a tank inside the tank. You can put a stiff wire through the round opening at the top and run it down to the bottom. It does look like you could fill it separately with a small funnel.
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tanks are the same,
as Steve said, the reserve tank option is accomplished with the cut off valve fuel bowel.
I had to buy the cut off at MF to get this option or I may have inserted a 1" long copper tube into the inlet of the cutoff of the new cutoff valve I bought, cannot remember which, I do not think they make the original quality fuel cutoff valves all are aftermarket,

you open the valve about 2 turns, the main inlet tube sticks up about 1" higher into the tank, keeps you from running out of fuel, when you run out of gas, then you open up the valve all the way, it lets fuel run in from the shorter inlet tube, this is your reserve option. hopefully, at least enough fuel to get back to the fueling tank if you have planned well.

my advise, never use this option, as you can suck all kinds of old fuel tank debris, that is lurking around in the bottom of your tank, into your fuel lines and carb.

I even placed an top quality metal inline fuel filter in the line between the cutoff valve and carb, best move I ever made to keep debris out of the carb.

your original tractor will stay low hours, if it will not run, because you have tank junk in the carb.

since my machines get little use I always open the shut off valve all the way. that has so far prevented any gas line clogging in the 30 years I have been tractoring. knock on wood.

To my knowledge there is only one tank for that model.

The reserve is accomplished in the valve.

All replacement tanks are aftermarket. The one I bought was a poor fit.

Hard to say if the one you get will fit any better, but be ready to do some custom fitting.

The dual tank is used by petrol/ tractor vaporizing oil burning tractors . It is a feature of the Ferguson TED20 kerosene petro Standard engine . The small tank you call a reserve is the petrol tank used for starting and running until operating temp. is reached . The big tank used for the petrol kerosene oil mixture. The fuel tap at the base allowed you to switch over from one fuel to another from the driver's seat once the temp has been reached or you wanted to shut down .
Simple way to clean out the tank is to feed light chain into the inside then rotate the tank inside a concrete mixer .

I see now that the reserve is achieved by an indentation in the bottom of the tank, so I agree that there is no separate internal fuel tank.

But ... when you look down into the fuel tank through the filler opening, to the side nearer the driver you see another similar opening about 2-3" down in what looks like a separate tank. Am I seeing an anti-slosh feature of some kind?

Fuel tanks usually have baffles in them to reduce sloshing. Some tanks also had a place for a fuel gauge sensor which is usually a round plate with a wire going into it. Is that what you might be seeing?

Dan

Who ever told you the TO-35 had dual tanks told you wrong. The reserve is achieved by backing out the fuel shut off knob all the way so the shorter tube picks up the lower fuel level. The longer tube is the main feed with the knob turned out two turns open from the off position.