No H Farmall was ever a diesel. A diesel is a compression ignition engine with between 16 and 18:1 compression ratio. Farmall has made Diesel powered tractors and crawlers for years before the 2nd WW. Those True Diesels were Started on gasoline and switched to Diesel. They are equipped with a compression relief and sparkplugs to allow real gasoline operation to warm the cylinders, and spin the engine. (never designed to be used in the Gasoline mode (Though I Have moved Mine around in Gasoline mode in low gear) Your H was designed to operate on Distillate fuel Which was a near waste product from producing gasoline and higher viscosity lubricating oils. This ""tractor fuel"" was cheap and available for somewhere near 1/2 the price of gasoline. It had terrible Octane rating, and required low compression to avoid knock. It also smoked like a fiend,and smelled bad. It worked and was cheap. The total power was about 80% or less compared to a higher compression gasoline only tractor. There were also Kerosine burning Farmalls which were also similar but needed additional changes to use that fuel (which is far more like the #1 and #2 fuel oil we call Diesel. In both configurations the intake system had two tanks to allow starting on Gasoline and getting the tractor up to hot operation (not overheated) this allowed the fuel to vaporize in the intake manifold and thus burn in the combustion chamber when the spark plug ignited it. Heat control was mandatory with radiator shutters in front of the radiator to assist and control engine heat, and exhaust flow diverters in the manifold to concentrate heat on the intake to assure vaporization. Because the fuel is no longer available, and because they were a pain to start and run, almost all tractors so equipped were setrofitted with higher compression pistons, and the heat controls were removed. Those remaining with fully operational distillate equipment are usually show queens. You sure can put yours into that category, but unless you intend to deal with the limitations I would avoid it. New distillate manifolds and radiator shutters are not even a little common. If your starting tank is not rusted through (miricle) it is worth a little change. Were it mine, and I intended to use it, I would put a gasoline only head from a 350 Farmall, and a big bore kit for added displacement, and run it on gasoline. Jim
We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today. [ About Us ]
Today's Featured Article - Third Brush Generators - by Chris Pratt. While I love straightening sheet metal, cleaning, and painting old tractors, I use every excuse to avoid working on the on the electrics. I find the whole process sheer mystery. I have picked up and attempted to read every auto and farm electrics book with no improvement in the situation. They all seem to start with a chapter entitled "Theory of Electricity". After a few paragraphs I usually close the book and go back to banging out dents. A good friend and I were recently discussing our tractor electrical systems when he stated "I figure it all comes back to applying Ohms Law". At this point
... [Read Article]
All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of any part of this website, including design and content, without written permission is strictly prohibited. Trade Marks and Trade Names contained and used in this Website are those of others, and are used in this Website in a descriptive sense to refer to the products of others. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy
TRADEMARK DISCLAIMER: Tradenames and Trademarks referred to within Yesterday's Tractor Co. products and within the Yesterday's Tractor Co. websites are the property of their respective trademark holders. None of these trademark holders are affiliated with Yesterday's Tractor Co., our products, or our website nor are we sponsored by them. John Deere and its logos are the registered trademarks of the John Deere Corporation. Agco, Agco Allis, White, Massey Ferguson and their logos are the registered trademarks of AGCO Corporation. Case, Case-IH, Farmall, International Harvester, New Holland and their logos are registered trademarks of CNH Global N.V.
