Propane power

Hay hay hay · Mar 4, 2012

I notice that quite a few propane powered antique tractors exist. I'm not sure if you could buy one today. I also remember lots of school busses and delivery trucks and forklifts that run/ran on propane.

Questions? Why were they propane powered? Cost? safety? Access to propane? How was it transfered to the vehicle? How did they perform?

Question 2? Would that work with natural gas if the structure to transport it and refill locally was available?

Jon Hagen · Mar 4, 2012

Cost was a large part of it, propane was very cheap a few cents per gallon in summer.

It is also a clean dry burning fuel that makes for long engine life.
I still run two tractors and two pickups on propane.

rrlund · Mar 4, 2012

The biggest selling point was the cost of the fuel. When my Dad was trasnportation supervisor at the school,they changed all the busses over to propane when gas prices went sky high. This was early 80s if I remember right since he retired in 86 I believe. I can tell you one problem he had. In extreme cold weather,they wouldn't start. Something in the regulator or some part of the system would freeze up. He would have to go in real early in the morning in extreme weather and heat all of them,one at a time,with a hair dryer to get them all started.
Another problem they had at that time was accessing gas when they sent the busses on long trips. I think they ended up with 2 gas or diesel busses for just such ocasions.

As far as tractors,back in the short lived boom in agriculture in the mid 70s,used tractors were hard to get. A guy that we knew wanted more power and all he could find was a Case 930 LP. He ended up having the fuel supplier mount a tank on a trailer for them so they could haul gas to the tractor instead of having to drive the tractor home to get fuel all the time. The way he put it,they were leading that old horse to water an awful lot.

Jon Hagen · Mar 4, 2012

Propane is transfered by a pump motor driven or hand pump. It also works to bleed off vapor pressure in the tractor tank which allows pressure in the storage tank to push fuel into the tractor tank. In most places it is illegal to vent propane vapor to the air.

Performance was a little less than gasoline, as they were a propane vapor system. The propane vapor displaced some of the air that would normally feed the engine.

BrianJasper co. Ia · Mar 4, 2012

Propane was popular in the 50's and 60's for tractors and other industrial engines because it was very cheap and it burned very clean. Downfalls were hard to start in cold weather, storage and handling is not as convienient as gasoline/diesel, propane has fewer BTU's than gasoline or diesel. All things being equal, a propane fueled engine will produce less HP than an identical gasoline engine. The fewer BTU's can be offset somewhat by increasing the engine's compression ratio. Propane has a typical octane rating of about 100 compared to 87-89 for regular grades of unleaded gasoline of today. Natural gas is similar to propane except it has fewer BTU's than propane and it will not change state to liquid under high pressures. Compressed natural gas (CNG) is possible and both Ford and GM have produced vehicles designed to use CNG. The main downfall is since CNG won't liquify under high pressures, driving range is less than conventional fuels and the time required to fully fill a CNG cylinder is significantly longer than filling a Propane cylinder.

hd6gtom · Mar 4, 2012

Natural gas will work, but it takes a different fuel system on the vehical to make it work. We converted several John Deere tractors to LP gas. The fuel was quite a bit cheeper and if you had the storage tanks and pump it made sense to use it. With the propane price thieves ripping us off today, it would not pay to do it today

heavyhaulertoo · Mar 4, 2012

We had a 560 that was lp, the one good thing it would do is run have speed for a long time. You would never run out, It would pick corn for at least an hour at have speed, another good thing when picking it was very good with heat with fire. The motor oil would stay clean for a long time. If you had a pump to fill it was a lot faster to refull.

PJH · Mar 4, 2012

I think the Schwanns ice cream trucks are propane fueled. I've seen a couple here in Southern Illinois.

I used to work for a farmer who had a propane fueled Allis. Did a lot of discing with it. The exhaust fumes always gave me a splitting headache. The tractor was hard to start, starter would barely roll it over, but it had every hop-up kit you could put in it, so can't blame it on the fuel. As for performance - it was a powerhouse for it's size, but then - it was hopped up.

Tx Jim · Mar 4, 2012

(quoted from post at 11:26:55 03/04/12) I notice that quite a few propane powered antique tractors exist.

Questions? Why were they propane powered? Cost?

As was stated price of Propane was about 1/3-1/2 of gasoline. Many tractors in Texas were converted and also sold new as propane fueled in the 50's through the late 60's. Dealer I worked for had a Ford one ton converted to propane that pulled better on LPG than gasoline.

Tx Jim · Mar 4, 2012

(quoted from post at 11:44:11 03/04/12) I can tell you one problem he had. In extreme cold weather,they wouldn't start. Something in the regulator or some part of the system would freeze up. He would have to go in real early in the morning in extreme weather and heat all of them,one at a time,with a hair dryer to get them all started.

On start up it's better to start engine on vapor and then after coolant is warm switch over to liquid then regulator won't freeze up. All LPG tanks I've seen on conversions have liquid & vapor valves.

casecollectorsc · Mar 4, 2012

Have a 930 CK on propane that we use alot. Last winter it was run about every other day on snow blower. Cold as 20 below no heater, start on vapor switch to liquid after warmup,no problems! Thirsty though!!

LJD · Mar 4, 2012

Companies with the newest highest tech propane school buses keep trying to sell to our school district. Thank heavens it keeps getting voted down -so far. The propane buses with the newest tech get 4 MPG. The new diesels get 8 MPG.
Propane is $3 per gallon and diesel is $4 per gallon here in the northeast. The math isn't too hard to figure out.
Propane bus uses 75 cents per mile and the diesel bus uses 50 cents per mile.

Seems all the "educated" school admins see is the dollar less per gallon for propane and think it's a great deal. Seems they think "BTU" stand for "Best Truck Uncontested" instead of "British Thermal Units."

Now - maybe out in the southwest where propane is much cheaper it makes sense. Not here.

Anonymous-0 · Mar 4, 2012

The greatest thing about a propane engine is they are clean running. When they are ready for oil change the oil looks like it had just been changed.

Icuby · Mar 4, 2012

I remember back in the early sixty's when I worked for a local IH dealer a farmer purchased 2 new IH 560 D tractors and added propane to them and burned both fuels at the same time when in the field. Claimed to increase HP.

rrlund · Mar 4, 2012

Tractor pullers used to do that around here.

guido · Mar 4, 2012

Hello Edd in Ky,
One story I heard is that propane was very cheap, even cheaper then gas, that was why some farm tractors were build running on propane.With to-day's cost it is not cheaper anymore. On the plus side, it burns very clean, so the engine oil stay cleaner then other gas powered engines.
I have a friend that runs one on the tractor pulls, it runs pretty good! He usually comes in first at the end of the pulling season.
Guido.

omahagreg · Mar 4, 2012

This propane tractor was found at the Iowa State Fair 3 or 4 years ago. It was restored by a high schooler. They said it had come from the Oklahoma oil fields, and the propane was free at the well, as they just released it in the air if not used otherwise.

kendak · Mar 4, 2012

everything we farmed with back in the 60's ran on LP trucks tractors & the lawn mower...reason?...burns clean engine will last a lifetime & cost $.06 a gallon back then ...most important the hired hands couldn't steal it to put in their cars!!!...most of my 2cyl. Deeres are LP...they start quick & smell good running..

Eldon (WA) · Mar 4, 2012

An fellow that had collected a bunch of LP tractors told me that they were popular in the south because the "help" couldn't steal propane as easy as gas.....kinda made sense.

Eldon (WA) · Mar 4, 2012

Kendak you beat me too it!

Bodyman · Mar 5, 2012

Edd, in 1955 my brother bought a NEW John Deere 60 LP tractor, if I remember correctly Lp was 4 cents per gallon then. That tractor had guts and was a treat to run with power steering, live power & hyd. As to the wear factor, he has the tractor yet today and around three years ago he took it in to JD for some work, when the tech took it apart he said "this tractor doesn't have many hours on an overhaul does it" The guy about fell over when my brother told him "you are the first one to have it torn down" found a cracked head, put on a NOS head and his son still uses it today. I have owned a 720LP and a 730LP both WF fenders 3pt etc. and wish I had never sold them.

Propane power

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