distillate

[thomas moseley]

I suppose asking this will show me up as a rookie, but I have often wondered what the composition of "distillate" is that older tractors were supposed to run on. Kerosene? Run with a carburetor, or as a diesel? what brands and years? How did they switch fuels, if "dual fuel?" and anything else about it that you know. Thanks

 

[4020deereboy]

I"d like to know the answer to that as well and what is tractor fuel?

 

[willys53allis]

i work in the oil field as a commercial diver and i know first hand distillate is nasty !@#$. melts rubber on our dive helmets, and will (chemical) burn the hell out of you even underwater. Now i could be wrong but i beleive when you drill into a "zone" where the oil is. you have natural gas on top, distillate, and oil in layers. distillate is basically super high octane right out of the ground. i know theres other oil field guy on here maybe they can tell you more.

 

[Jon Hagen]

Distilate was a heavy fuel about like low grade kerosene. It was not a good user friendly fuel, but it was very cheap to use and produced good power.

The engine had to be started and warmed up on gasoline, then the fuel supply to the carb switched to distalate.
You need an operator controlled shutter system in front of the radiator to keep the engine coolant as hot as possible, plus an intake manifold that preheated the air distilate mix very hot to get it to vaporize and burn correctly.
Even so, the stuff did not burn very well in a spark ignition engine.
The recommendation in the operators manual was to drain 1/8 to 1/4 of the engine oil every day and replace it with new oil, as fuel dilution of the engine oil was very bad when burning distilate.
The fuel dilluted engine oil could be mixed with the distilate fuel and burned as fuel.
Some dual fuel tractors like the JD model D had a crude water injection system to help kill detonation knock when burning low octane fuel like distilate.

 

[gene bender]

You can compare it to kerosene it was awful similar. Last tractor i drove would have been an old unstyled JD i think it wa s 38 A or there abouts. He traded it in for a 1951 B which i drove on the Case Wire tie baler. Started in 50 and got a penny a bale fro driving.They charged 10 cents a bale for hay and 12 for straw. Made so pretty good money over the summer Those Case wire tie made good 90 or better lb bales and there was always a use for the wire.

 

[BCnT]

you pretty much covered it...distillate used to be free just so the oil co didnt have to dispose of it...would sure clog filters and carbs...i had the misfortune of trying to straighten up some engines that were run on it.

 

[Coloken]

Wasn't as bad as some make it sound. It is like the next heavier than kerosene and was cheaper than gasoline.. Most old tractors had a hot manifold and a small gasoline "starter" tank. Once in a while you can still see that little, about 3 quart, gas tank on an old tractor.

 

[agpilot]

Hi THomas: I'll post a link. I read a while back that refining had changed due to WW2 needs so distillate isn't quite the same and there is less or none just like pre WW2 which old tractors depended on.. Fair to say that it was fuel nobody wanted. Real crap. Link below: ag

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distillate_fuel
distillate and similar fuel

 

[Tim in OR]

I remember My Grandfather telling me about running his Rumley on Distillate because it was cheaper.
I was too young to understand the difference.
Tim in OR

 

[RN]

Tractor fuel? Depends some on states laws- the term sometimes used as untaxed gasoline base fuel for agriculture use. A rough mix of 1/2 gasoline and 1/2 kerosene was noted by poster as sold for farm use in 1950s as "power kerosene/tractor fuel"- was good for distillate burning tractor and gas JDs (this was JD board post?) and not taxed, use in car resulted in noticable smoke. British had a fuel called TVO- Tractor Volatizing Oil- that need hot manifold chambers, air preheat- was a mix of about 10/15% gasoline(taxed), 10/15% diesel(taxed) and about 75% heating oil(untaxed). Hesselmann engine design used spark plugs and diesel like direct fuel injection to run on basic kerosene after initial start on gasoline. Waukesaw engine builders made them for multi fuel use for generators and some trucks, military vehicles, Swedes used them in Scania trucks and utility use- gas mix would run in winter and start better than straight diesels. IHC had their start on gas, 3 valve head with fuel injection and starting carb manifolds, spark plugs. 1940/1941(?) MD, 400D, WD6, WD9, EK40(?) until the 560D came out. This started on gasoline with 3rd head valve open to a spark combustion chamber, when engine warmed after say 5 minutes the switch to diesel was done- 3rd valve closed, gasoline shutoff to carb and diesel injection started into now warmed head chambers that had about 14/15 to 1 compression instead of about 6 to 1 compression when gas combustion spark ignition chamber valve was open. Advantage was no seperate starting motor for diesel, direct heating of head. Lots of different engine designs from 1920s to 1950s that you younguns don"t get taught about. RN

 

[Pops1532]

Some oil companies,including Standard Oil Company of Indiana (now part of BP) marketed Naptha tractor fuel back in the 30's.
I believe the distillate fuel the OP asked about was a refining by product of gasoline.