fuel filters on old tractors

Charlie M

Well-known Member
Whats the advantage, if any of putting a fuel filter on an old tractor and removing the sediment bowl? Seems to me the ability of a sediment bowl to settle water and the fine screen that belongs in them for dirt should be plenty good enough on the old guys. I like being able to see what has accumulated in them. Maybe this an age thing asking.
 
Fine rust particles can get past the screen. The inline catches them.A lot of guys don't like inlines because they "wont flow". BS I say to that.Never had an issue.However you get an air bubble when you first install. Simply get a good flow to fill and purge the air before you hook it up.The inline catches a lot of water too. So if you want,you can eliminate the sediment bowl and just use the filter. But the sediment bowl/water trap is still good to have.It will catch the water before it gets to the filter.
 

The sediment bowl with the screen in place is as good as, if not better than any inline filter. Rust particles settle to the bottom of the bowl and can be removed with periodic cleaning of the bowl.
 
If you check the inside of the tank at the top you do sometimes find it is rusty and when you fill the tank and drive it the gas will slush around enough to settle that rust to the bottom and there are fines that will pass thru the screen. So will add the fram see thru filters rite before the carb and they will get plugged so change them and go
 
ON OLD tractors with gravity feed fuel systems the sediment bopw WITH THE SCREEN is all that is needed due top the fact that what ever goes thru the screen will also pass thur the smallest hole in the carb . I have seen way tomany times that guys will cut the line and install a can style fuel filter and soon after complain that something is wrong , lack of power , tractor stops running but will fire back only to quit again under full load due to lack of fuel flow . Then by cutting the STEEL LINE and placing two pieces of rubber hose between the filter and line you also increase the risk of FIRE if the hose comes off or spring a leak or you have a fire as oh guess what that rubber hose will go up so fast and really burns well along with the now running fuel add to the mix . Back in the day of mounted corn pickers FIRE was the NORM due to the fodder getting up around the manifold . Back then it was vary wise to remove the GLASS sediment bowl and replace with a Steel bowl . Yep making up a rubber hose fuel line is fast and easy adding in a fuel filter is fast and easy along with CHEAP and stuffen in a plain old shutoff valve is easy you will find you created more problems . By doing this you no longer have that 1 -1 1/2 inches of stand pipe standing up in the bottom of the tank and any crud in the bottom of the tank will now be going thru the valve and line and can and will plug the system before your inline fuel filter .
 
When my sediment bowl started leaking i went with a ball valve instead, mainly because I heard several times its not easy to find a new sediment bowl of quality. Valve works slick. I like it. I use the fram inline no issues.
 
Don't forget the screen in the connection to the Carb. They can clog also. Especially after you first use gasohol!
 
I've drank 30 plus case of beer due to in line fuel filters and not working . I'll never recommend an in line fuel filter due to that and can be a fire hazard.
 
i use the inline filter's and ball valves on my tanks, never had one problem , always had problems with sediment bowls , probably inferior quality today, you dont need rubber lines if you get the right inline filter that accepts hard fuel line connections, never had any problems with water in my fuel either .
 
(quoted from post at 09:55:29 12/23/19) If you check the inside of the tank at the top you do sometimes find it is rusty and when you fill the tank and drive it the gas will slush around enough to settle that rust to the bottom and there are fines that will pass thru the screen. So will add the fram see thru filters rite before the carb and they will get plugged so change them and go

The gasoline flows into the bowl first, where the fines can settle to the bottom, and then the gasoline flows through that screen on its way to the carburetor. The screen in the top of the bowl very rarely catches any of the fines, because the fines have already settled to the bottom and will stay there until the bowl is removed and cleaned.
 
I have always got rid of the fuel filters and relied totally on the bowl. I also get rid of the rubber fuel lines since it can be hard to keep the flow down hill from the tank to the carb. Steel break lines available at the local parts store can be made up into replacement gasoline lines if needed. I have had problems with inline fuel filters and rubber fuel lines with cutting out and loss of power. That might not make any difference if you do not intend to put the unit under load.
 

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