Tractor fuel "that is what it was called in Nebraska&qu

My Dad used to buy "tractor fuel" from the "local tank wagon" that delivered to farms many years ago. He said it was a blend of gas and #2 diesel fuel. Obviously you can't buy it anymore. Does anyone know what the "mix" might be?
Thank you for any help.

maby karosene??

Distillate Engine. This is an engine that burns light fuel oil, grade 1 or 2, having a density on the order of kerosene. These are spark ignition engines which are usually started on gasoline. A carburetor is used for vaporization of the fuel. After the engine has been started on gasoline and sufficient exhaust manifold heat has developed to assist the carburetor in vaporizing the fuel, a transition is made from gasoline to fuel oil.

ONE "theory"...
Tractor fuel/distillate/TVO

TVO or tractor vapourising oil . The TED Ferguson tractor was built to run on this . Essentially Kerosene or heating oil with petrol added in varying amounts . There are many differing recipes depending on how hard the tractor is to work .

(quoted from post at 00:55:48 04/10/17)
TVO or tractor vapourising oil . The TED Ferguson tractor was built to run on this . Essentially Kerosene or heating oil with petrol added in varying amounts . There are many differing recipes depending on how hard the tractor is to work .

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Thank you all for the comments.

This tractor is not going to work. Only going to be in parades. Which recipe would you recommend?

Tractor fuel in NW SC was gasoline with about 10% kerosene in it. It was tax free for farm use. Grandpa's farm had a tank and old tall gas pump with glass container at the top.
My uncle always backed his cars over the years up to the pump and filled them up.
This was in the 40's and 50's.
Richard in NW SC

This tractor is not going to work. Only going to be in parades. Which recipe would you recommend?

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Regular old gasoline will work just fine.

"Tractor fuel" around here was "petroleum distillates" meaning the garbage left after refining gasoline. The closest thing I'm aware of these days is "white gas" or Coleman lantern fuel, and that stuff is WAY more expensive than gasoline.

This is copied from the Friends of Ferguson Heritage site .
It is advice developed over much experience with these engines [ specifically the Ferguson TED20 ].
I have a TED myself , it runs quite happily on straight petrol though on occasion and to please some older tractor admirers I add a cup full of Kerosene to the tank to conjure up the peculiar and evocative smell of TVO.

[color=blue:5f1b428591] There must only ever be 2 ingredients in TVO
Petrol (unleaded is absolutely fine for a Ferguson tractor) 98 Octane
28 Second Heating Oil 20 Octane
Aim for an Octane value between 55 and 70
55 if doing very hard work
70 if doing topping and the like
To give you some idea of the sums:-
1 petrol and 1 heating oil comes out at 59 Octane
2 petrol and 1 heating oil comes out at 72 Octane
1 petrol and 2 heating oil comes out at 46 Octane
Petrol on its own is suitable for road runs (with the heat shield removed).
Octane is not the only factor, but is provides a good guide line

Diesel fuel is designed to cause ignition by compression and will encourage pinking. It is not designed to burn in TVO tractors, and no upper cylinder lubricant is required in these tractors, so do not use anything other than petrol and heating oil.

Using fuel which does not burn completely will destroy the lubricating properties of the oil and that (in a Ferguson TE tractor) will result in wear to the cam shaft bushes and then loss of oil pressure from cam shaft bushes. Loss of oil pressure will, then result in damage to the crank shaft. Lubricating oil in a TVO tractor's engine should be changed according to the Tractor Instruction book.
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The word is broad in technical meaning. It is not a blend of Diesel and gasoline. It was a upper mid level product of early
distillation processes that resulted in a product that, at the time, was more difficult to refine into gasoline, but was lighter
than Kerosene/Diesel. It would ignite with a spark if preheated well enough to vaporize. It had modest to high sulfur content
(again due to sourcing of crude, and no process to remove it).
All of today's efforts to blend it into existence are used to get the feel look and smell of the "tractor fuel" of the past. Jim
Data find

The distillate fuel also must have been a dirtier fuel. In my experience, the fuel tanks on on the tractors that used the distillate are the tanks that are always the nastiest inside and require extensive cleaning. The tractors that came from the factory to burn gasoline nearly always have CLEAN tanks.

I have heard that one of the jet fuels is pretty close, maybe jet A? Jet B is a blend of approximately 30% kerosene and 70%
gasoline, I just googled it.

Jet-A-1 is Refined Kerosene Jet-B is refined Kerosene and Naptha blend. I have found nothing in any literature to state that gasoline is a component of either one. Would you identify your Google reference. Jim

Tractor fuel may vary some, depends on law at times, 'road' taxes lower or not applied to tractor fuel. One reference was a 1950s BP blend of 50/50 unleaded gasoline base with 'summer' diesel fuel sold as untaxed farm use, forestry use for distillate tractors from pre WW2 days and the winter use by forestry equipment, snowplow diesels. British TVO was result of 'road' tax on diesel fuel regardless of use, the old distillate engines available and the newer tractors able to be retro converted to 'distilate' use. 'Heating oil' did NOT have 'road tax' so mix of taxed gasoline with untaxed light oil meant a more economical fuel and some valve lube benefit as well- lead for higher octane gasoline had it share of tax as well, post war 'clear pool' gas was basic unleaded 60-70 octane variable. European fuels prewar and post war had different blends- Iron Carbonyl(?) used instead of tetraethyl lead for octane boost in some, coal tar derived benzol/benzine added in Italy and France at times along with plant derived ethanol. Low compression farm tractor able to run on light oil and gas mix got a tax break- car drivers tempted to steal from farm tanks ended up smoking and sputtering, sheriff could pull them over and do a sniff test, bust thieves for trespass , vehicle fuel tax dodging, whatever contraband found in vehicle search- as in a underage to drink driver who'd bought some beer away from home and ended up stealing farm tank gas. 5 or 6 different misdemeanors, impounded vehicle could be a profitable night for police- and driver might not be able to sit down for couple days after parents bailed him out. Work release instead of jail and fine for farm trespass for towny driver might involve cleaning gutters behind dairy herd- cows with dungy tails would give extra lesson, whup up side of head meant more than teaspoon of shampoo needed. Was sort of amusing for country boys that didn't have to shovel S**t for couple weeks while towny got hands (and rest of body) dirty. Was accused of setting up driver, supposedly told him to take fuel from the brown striped tank and car was dieing on way back home when deputy pulled him over, somebody called about another gas tank theft, had been a few previous month or so. RN

Today's blending of gasoline and diesel does not equal kerosene but it has enough gasoline in the mix to ignite the sluggish diesel.
Still doesn't get rid of those long diesel hydro carbon chains that do not exist in kerosene.
Cheapest supply of clean clear kerosene around here is not the hardware store or the kerosene pump the Almish use at the gas station in town.
Jet A-1 at your local airport is what you want . Smells better than the gasoline and diesel mix too.

Jet fuel, Wikipedia

Jet B[edit]
Jet B is a fuel in the naphtha-kerosene region that is used for its enhanced cold-weather performance. However, Jet B's lighter composition makes it more dangerous to handle.[7] For this reason, it is rarely used, except in very cold climates. A blend of approximately 30% kerosene and 70% gasoline, it is known as wide-cut fuel. It has a very low freezing point of −60 ?C (−76 ?F), and a low flash point as well. It is primarily used in some military aircraft. It is also used in Northern Canada, Alaska, and sometimes Russia, because of its low freezing point.

Additives[edit]

There are several blends of Jet-B fuel. (more research was convincing) It varies from kerosene with naptha (charcoal lighter fluid) to very low temp blends of gasoline composition stock, used in the arctic and antarctic zones. (not blended pump gas). Fun stuff to learn.

Just run gas in it. A lot of older 2 cylinder Deere's ran on gas in there later years instead of tractor fuel. When dad was still using an Oil Pull it ran on kerosene and so did the John Deere.