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jdemaris
02-22-2006 12:28:39
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Re: The Deal with Diesel vs. Gas in reply to rboulware, 02-22-2006 12:00:10
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Things are sometimes equal, sometimes not. Some tractors use a fairly light duty gas engine as compared to a heavier diesel, whereas with others, the gas engine is almost identical to its diesel counterpart, e.g same number of main bearings, same crank journal sizes, same cubic inch displacement, etc. Cletrac/Oliver, Ford, Allis Chalmer, etc. often used the same engine blocks for gas or diesel versions. Deere usually did not. All depends on who made it and when. Diesels tend to have considerably less horsepower per cubic inch than gas engines, so with many makes, the gas engine will be smaller than its diesel counterpart for the same tractor - to keep the horsepower ratings equal. In regard to the Ford 8N an 9N tractors, the engines are adaptations from Ford Model A car engines. With expenses - diesel fuel weighs more than gasoline, i.e. it has more engergy value per pound or gallon. Also, if you have a diesel tractor you can easily get fuel with no highway tax on it. Several downsides include the extra batteries and heavier starters needed, cold weather starting issues, and the high price of diesel injection parts. Take a pickup truck for example. With a gas engine, you might want to change the spark plugs once or twice every 100,000 miles (or an old truck every 20,000 miles). A diesel truck with IDI pintle injectors, they ought to be changed every 100,000 miles. The injectors can cost $25-$100 apiece - that's a bit more costly than spark plugs. I just bought brand new injectors (not rebuilt) for my 87 Chevy diesel at $22 each, and for my 94 Ford turbo-diesel at $37 each. I just got done rebuilding the fuel injectors in my Allis Chalmers HD4 bulldozer, and including new tips, it cost me $200 to do four injectors.
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