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Bucket or rain flap?

T

TractorTucker

Member
A question for the people on this forum. How do you prefer to cover the muffler on your tractor? A rain flap or a bucket? What is the reasoning behind your method of covering the muffler?
Personally I prefer a rain flap because I can't forget to put it on the muffler when I shut the tractor off.
 
Rain flap because it makes sense.I never understand why people mess around with buckets when the rain flaps are so cheap.What really gets me is when I see a diesel truck,big or small,but the stacks are 12 feet tall and there's a couple buckets all the way up there.

Rock
 
Rain flap, last thing i want to do at the end of the day is dick around going back to get a bucket, or carrying it on the tractor have fall off get run over ect, my other tractor has a curved stack pipe so no need for either.
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Guy i bought my H from used a can, i got a rain flap for it first week i had it.
 
I use a big tin can . I don't forget to put it on but do forget to take it off and launch it 30 feet or more in the air.
 
Rain cap. The only exception is if the tractor is to be outside not started for quite a while. Too much wind driven rain and snow that will lift a flap so the bucket goes on. Nice to go out to a tractor not concerned about water having gotten deep into an engine to create rust or hydro-lock an engine.
 
True story that happened when I was a kid:
My dad's "go-to" tractor was a John Deere G. We had several of them growing up. (Wish we could have kept them, but you know how it goes....)
Dad didn't like rain caps on a G and I guess I agree with him, there's just not a steady stream of exhaust coming out. So his method was a vegetable/fruit can over the exhaust.
Now on those early John Deere tractors, the distributor stuck out the side and it was easy to get the distributor cap wet after a rain shower.
So one time it was wet and wouldn't start so my brother and my dad pulled the G to get it started. Well, the tractor popped and took off, except somebody forgot to take the can off the exhaust. Now there are going to be some doubters here and there's NO WAY you could ever get this to happen again, but the can flew off the exhaust, came down the side of the tractor, bounced off the frame and got caught between the fan and the radiator. When the engine was running, of course. Yes, it took out the radiator.
That fruit can was a pretty expensive exhaust cover.
 
These are for the folks with pretty chrome stacks. My wife makes them out of marine grade vinyl and lines them with felt so as not to scratch the chrome. They have velcro strip at the bottom to secure them to the pipe.
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I have flaps except on the ol 1938 G and it spends most of the time indoors these days, still put can over it. My dad told a story about when he was running a threshing machine. Forgot to take can off the exhaust and got a good pop the first time over. Can flew into the air and came down directly on one of the crew's head. Didn't hurt him but definitely woke him up. My can is an old Edwards Coffee can. It rests nicely in tool box on the front when not in use. Have had people try to talk me out of the old can at tractor shows
 
I use "tinks". When I get my WD restored, I'm going to use a Contadina Tomato Paste can. It's what we used when I was young. Pretty common to forget to take it off, so I would try to catch it. Succeded a few times.
 
Rain cap. Pretty much used for just in case scenarios. If I can't put a tractor in, the muffler gets pulled & a can gets placed over the pipe before tarping. Air cleaners get the same treatment. A wafer cookie can lid with neodymium magnet goes on the gas cap to keep water out. Really need to start saving for more storage buildings. Stuff really shouldn't be sitting out.

Mike
 
Rain flaps will seep over time. I put a bucket over my rain flaps if the tractor is sitting outside for long periods of time.
 
We never had rain caps when I was growing up. Main reason was we had exclusively two banger Deeres. Rain caps are very annoying on an old Deere. Also, dad would never waste money on a rain cap. And we always kept the tractors inside out of the rain. Today I have two tractors out of nine that have a rain cap but all tractors are stored inside.
 
Depends.. most of ours have rain caps..

But If its going to be outside and not get used all winter it gets a bucket or an old 5 buckle overshoe.. After the buckles tear off... I do get a few real strange looks and comments about the Freightliner having overshoes on the stacks during the winter..
 
Most of our tractors have rain flaps, the Ford 6610 has a bucket now because of a crack in the top of the muffler and the 1950 John Deere A gets a bucket too because it shot the flapper part off.
 
I have IH tractors, with rain caps,dad had a JD 70 and an A. On the farm dad said the tree limbs were hard caps and we used cans,the trick was catching the can from the seat so you didn't have to get down and find it when it started.
 
I like a shed best, but I do keep rain caps on tractors. Because you might park the tractor in the shed, but if there just happen to be a leak dripping water. And it just happened to fall into a open exhaust pipe over winter, that could be a good drink of water down the spout by spring. I did know a fell that left his MF tractor out all winter with a drip cap only. But during stormy weather the cap must have lifted enough to let snow in, by spring it had a crankcase with lots of water in it and a stuck engine. So if the tractor had to sit out over winter, maybe a drip cap and a bucket would be a good idea
 
IH 656 gas, I have a 3" stub pipe at the manifold that my muffler and pipe slip over. When I store it I remove the muffler and pipe, and cut the top out of a plastic Mountain Dew bottle to slip over the stub. One time I put the plastic bottle over the stub pipe while it was still very warm. The next time I went to remove it had shrunk and turned hard as a rock. I had a h*** of a time removing it, working up under the engine cover. Now I make sure the engine is cooled down.
 
I use a rain cap on my 7700. The only time it might sit out would be a pop up rain shower I wasn’t prepared for if it was running the auger. The newer tractors we plant and harvest with all have curved pipes I have a very vivid memory of my grandpa putting a small Folgers can over his exhaust but for the most part I just use pole barns as rain caps. I can’t stand anything sitting outside. Luckily everywhere we farm we are close enough to some kind of shed you can at least nose the tractor in
 
How about this story. Neighbor did a very nice restoration on his JD. B. He did not like rain flap and he didn't want soup can to come down on his new paint so he made heavy duty "can". Used a thick wall 4" pipe with a heavy top welded on it. It must have weighed 5#. If you forgot to take it off it just stayed up there dancing around. He brought it over here one evening with his all-crop so me and my bil could play in some oats next day. Bil forgot to take can off when started next morning so it was dancing around. He wondered what that noise was. When I came out it must have been running for 10 minutes like that. When I showed him the can he went and grabbed it with his bare hand. By that time it was red hot and he dropped it causing some dings in the new paint. Everyone felt real bad but there was nothing we could do except say--sorry.
 
I really prefer a rain cap with the hinged part toward the front of the tractor. That way I don't break a manifold or tear up a muffler if it goes under a low hanging tree limb. I had one the other way and broke the manifold and trashed the exhaust pipe. Once was enough for me but you guys do them however you want. My tractors only sit out when we're putting up hay away from home and the drive is too far to transport back and forth'
 
I have a spark arrester on one of my tractors, a large bucket is all that fits. The other tractor has a bucket. The stack broke off flush with the muffler. If I fix it will just get broken off again. Stan
 
Bucket if it has a rain cap that doesn't look good or a heck of a storm coming, a soup can for the 630 JD and the canisters from a 4010 diesel fuel filters on the A jd's they fit perfectly.
 


I have some flaps, one horizontal, but my two pullers are open because flaps are against the rules at pulls. The pullers are almost always kept inside but often you load the day before in order to get an early start in the AM, or when you get home late they stay on the trailer overnight. If rain is expected of course I put a can on and remove it before heading out. At least twice though there was an unexpected rain either before or after the pull. So as I sit on my Ford 9000 with my fingers on the key I look up at that stack and think about how much black water there down inside there. I try to feel the air movement to see if it is going to help me or make it worse, and try to figure if I can dodge the worst of it. But ultimately I twist the key and take my punishment.
 

A cap is okay on a tractor that gets used fairly often. But I have had the wind open a cap and had ice form and keep it open while rain and snow got down the pipe. I also have one machine with a rain cap that gets a lot of rain water down into the exhaust no matter what I do, so it gets both!
 
All a rain flap does is give you a false sense of security. They don't seal off and a hard driving rain will allow water to get in. I would never put my tractor at risk. Your tractor, your choice.
 
Best would be a tall enough bucket to come down to the hood. Some tractors will get water inside from the water running down the outside of the muffler. Sometimes I remove the muffler and put a can over the stub. Then put a floor mat over the hole in the hood.
 
Also, an aluminum coke can. Cut off about 1/2 " down from the top put on pipe then pinch the excess slack and fold over. Keeps it from blowing off.
 
Back when I used to haul tractors to the bridge for the drive. I had a couple guys use 2 liter pop bottles with the top cut off to slide over the deere pipes with a nice snug fit to hold them in place. On those deeres you have to cover the intake also or water can get in there too. I used to use some paper with electrical tape to not mess up the paint on the intakes and a tarp strap to hold the exhaust on without marring the shinny pipes. Or i would use a narrow strip of duct tpe to hold the cover over the exhaust. On ours we keep them inside except during planting or harvesting. Most nights it still sleeps inside. WE have buildings at all but one place and it's only a half mile to there from the one with buildings.
 
(quoted from post at 07:44:41 11/03/20) All a rain flap does is give you a false sense of security. They don't seal off and a hard driving rain will allow water to get in. I would never put my tractor at risk. Your tractor, your choice.
Click to expand...

Drawbar, it doesn't need to seal unless it becomes submerged. Water will drip off the flap and not go down the pipe unless you have one that is badly bent. Watch one some time, :). No one is putting their tractor at risk using a flap that is in working condition.
 
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