Oil & Fuel Fuel Consumption?

[bnixon]

Fellow TC33D owners.....How long can you go on a tank of fuel?

I am looking at how much fuel I will need for any given day of work. I guesstmated that I used about 3 to 4 gallons last Saturday 6:30 am to 12:00 noon.

Is this what you all have experienced?

Thanks,

 

[Mosey]

That's going to be a hard question to answer because it depends on what you're doing. My TC29D will run almost all day if I'm running it about half throttle using the grader blade, rear scoop, etc. But, if I hook up the rear finish mower and run at 2600 RPM it will use fuel about twice as fast. It will be interesting to see what others say. One thing is for sure, a diesel is much more economical than a gas engine!

 

[bnixon]

Mosey,

You are correct. I failed to mention that I was running a finishing mower at (as you said) 2600 RPM. I can see that the fuel consumption will go way down with a non PTO driven implement.

I am trying to get a handle on fuel costs and the amount of fuel I need to keep on hand for normal work.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Mosey]

OK Brandon, now you've got me curious. I'll have to run a more careful check on this over the next few weeks. All I could do right now is guess. I don't use my tractor much over the winter, since I bought it primarily for mowing. According to my records of how much diesel I bought this year since the mowing season began (April), I have bought 34.8 gal, 6 of which is still in the can, so I've put about 28.8 gal in the tractor. The tractor now has about 225 hours on it. But, what I don't remember is how many hours was on it in April, but I think it was pretty close to 170. So, as a guess I'd say I use about 1/2 gal per hour, with 75% of the hours being used for finish mowing. I'm not sure how the TC33D would compare, but there's probably not a whole lot of difference.

By the way, what part of Houston are you in? I lived in Stafford for 2 years in the early 90's. Are you a kicker? (ie, do you county-western dance?). I used to go to Wild West and The Rose among other places.

 

[bnixon]

I live over in the clear lake area. Don't do much dancing...Too busy with the wife and kids and trying to get every minute of seat time I can.

Thanks for all of the info on the fuel. I will keep close tabs on mine and see how it goes.

 

[Mosey]

Unfortunately, we don't do much dancing anymore either, 6 year old twins take most of our time. I bought the Boomer to "buy time" which has worked out well. It used to take over 6 hours to mow my large yard (over 3 acres), and now I can do it in about 2 hours! We've had Houston like weather for about 2 weeks, 90's and humid, but it finally cooled off here.

 

[bnixon]

We are dying down here. High 90's and 100% humidity and the air in my truck went south....$980 south...ouch/w3tcompact/icons/mad.gif

The one good thing is that we are getting a fare amount of rain for this time of year....not the normal drout!!/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[cstocks]

Brandon,

The rain this summer has been a pleasant change, hasn't it? The past couple of summers were killer.

I haven't paid too much attention to my tractor's fuel consumption but now you have made me curious, too. I was trying to remember the mileage the last couple of times I filled up but I can't remember.

A wild guess would be five gallons every eight hours. I will start watching it and see how it comes out. You have piqued my curiousity, too.

 

[BigDave]

It needs fuel? /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif

Although I live in the middle of a patch of woods, there is a gas station about 1 mile away from the house. I plan to use the high range of the tranny for those trips. I also plan to keep an emergency can of diesel for when I forget to look at the gauge. I WILL FORGET TO LOOK AT THE GAUGE!!! /w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif

 

[Mosey]

I just finished doing a very careful check of how much fuel I used on the last tank of fuel. Here are the results:

bush hog: .6 hrs
changing and adjusting implements and other misc: .7 hrs
finish mower: 3.6 hrs
grader blade: 4 hrs
post hole digger: .7 hrs
rear scoop: .7 hrs
tiller: .3 hrs
trailer: .7 hrs

total hours 11.3, total fuel used 6 gal

So, it works out to .53 gal per hour average, with about 32% of that time doing finish mowing. This time of year I don't do as much finish mowing as I do in the spring and summer. Next spring when I'm doing mostly finish mowing I'll try to remember to check it again to see what the results are for doing mostly finish mowing.