Farmall M MPG?

[CKB]

Hello everyone, I'm wondering how many miles would a 1947 M get on a full tank in 5th gear before she runs dry? my manual says its a 21 gallon tank and it does have a model 30 loader installed. Any thoughts? just curious. Thank you.

 

[leon]

What gear? What engine speed? Fast as she will go or best mpg, regardless of speed?

 

[Tom Dowling]

Wide open throttle I'd figure about 4 gallons an hr @ 15 mph +/- in 5th gear. Maybe 75 miles on 20 gallons level ground.

 

[CKB]

5th/road gear, wide open throttle. As fast as she'll fly until she runs out of fuel. thanks

 

[CKB]

thank you Mr. Dowling

 

[David G]

I would guess

2.5 GAL/HR DIVIDED BY 16 MI/HR * 21 GAL = 52 MI.

My guess

 

[CKB]

thank you David

 

[LA in WI]

While driving my 1950 "H" Farmall in the Great Eastern Iowa Tractorcade I averaged 10 mpg. The speeds were pretty slow and the engine never got over 3/4 open. We drove 165 miles in 3 days according to a GPS I had with me.
LA in WI

 

[notjustair]

Now, it's been years, but I recall driving a "new" M five hours to the farm on a tank of gas. I stopped about 30 minutes in and filled it. I stopped
to clear fouled plugs every 45 minutes but fuel was ok. It was mainly flat ground. My M now can grind feed for two half days on 2/3 of a tank, so
they can be miserly. As an M goes, that it.

 

[rustred]

i would think should get 5 hrs. of driving easy, as you are not working the engine or lugging it. it wont be all that terrible on fuel.should burn less than 2 gallons. in high gear they roll right along with ease. it will burn less fuel than plowing or discing with it.

 

[the tractor vet]

Well really can't say for sure as even at wide open throttle you are not really at wide open throttle you are at maximum engine RPM and are really only running with the butterfly only open a little ways , whole lot of difference here . Now place that same old M under a two row mounted picker in really good corn in hill country ya fill it up and start picking a 8 AM and when runs out of gas it is lunch time , you dump 20 gal. in after lunch and when it runs out it is supper time , after supper ya dump 20 gal. in and when it runs out it is bed time . BUT she is working hard and the butterfly is standing wide open most of the time > same as pulling three 16's at 8-10 inches deep in second gear she will eat five and hour . Now running down the road at max engine RPM i would say she will eat about 2-2.5 and hour because she is not working , might even be less.

 

[S2710]

I have a 47 M that I use on tractor rides and on a two day ride at about 65 miles a day I will not burn a full tank.

Bob

 

[CKB]

Thank you everyone for your input, that makes me much more at ease. I've always wanted to take her to work which is about 22 miles away but Ive always wondered if I should fill a 5 gallon can and strap it in the bucket. Now I feel confident I wont even have to stop and fill up before I head home. I'll have to bring my chunk of re bar with and see where the level is when I park it at work. Thanks guys!

 

[WellWorn]

Rebar dipstick?
I pull the LED Mini-Maglight out of my pocket, shine it in the tank and just look. No possible dirt going in, nor dripping gas coming out.

 

[rustred]

i use a cutdown yard stick as my fuel guage.

 

[CKB]

never thought of a yardstick, You can use the graduations to help gauge the level in relation the length of time its been running, now that's thinking with your dipstick! I'll make sure to find one in inches only, I don't want anything metric coming into contact with my Farmall putting a rift in the space time continuum and causing a premature end to the universe.

 

[Janicholson]

Just so you are not stunned in the future (preemptive warning) all the ball bearings in the tractor (and there are a lot of them)
are metric. IH saw the future!! Jim

 

[CKB]

well........dang

 

[JDEM]

16 MPH, 21 gallon tank, and around 2 gallons per hour on flat ground.

 

[The Dukester]

I used to use a Super M a lot....I found plowing if I ran the throttle about 2 notches less than wide open pulling 3-16's I could get about 3
gallons an hour, but if I ran wide open "Old Emmy" used 4 gallons an hour and honestly it must have been mostly wheel slip because I plowed
very little more. So I would bet if you don't run quite wide open, bare tractor in 5th gear it won't use 2 gallons an hour unless the carburetor is
set too rich.