Ledgemere Farm
Veteran Member
I have seen pictures of tractors from the 50's and 60's that ran on LP gas. Does anyone have an LP gas tractor? I would love a history lesson on LP gas tractors. Any takers? Thanks.
LP Gas
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Bird
Rest in Peace
I don't have a tractor running on LP gas, but my nearest neighbor has an old Farmall M that runs on it.
Branch
Silver Member
A good history of using LPG for tractors is in a book by Randy Leffingwell called "Farm Tractors a Living History". If you like tractors you'll love the book.
According to Randy LPG was a nuisance petroleum by product up until the early 1920's when they figured out how to distill and bottle it. Around 1925 a regulator system was devised that would allow farmers, and those living in remote areas, to use it as a cooking fuel. Sales began here in Southern Calif..
In 1928 a carburetor was invented to use LPG and around 1930 a man by the name of McCartney started selling a kit for farm tractors that cost $150-$250.
LPG has a higher octane rating of 125 versus gasoline at the time which was rated at 61. It was recomended that the farmer change over his tractor when it needed an overhaul and shave the heads to raise the compression ratio so it would burn properly. Initially CAT's were the tractor of choice for this modification. Fuel economy went down but power went up. Plus the LPG sold for 4-5 cents per gallon versus 18 cents for gasoline. Oil changes only had to be done half as often because the LPG burned so cleanly.
According to the book "Farmers were advised to be careful. Grinding off too much from the heads meant the valves might hit the pistons. Still, farmers experimented, reasoning that if high-rise pistons were good on Model Thirties and shaved heads worked well on the Sixties (both CAT's), at least one farmer believed that doing both would be better. When he started up the engine, it ran for a few dozen revolutions. It made a huge racket, sounding more like a jackhammer than a tractor engine. And then it blew the crankcase studs-those holding the cylinders to the crankcase casting-out of the block."
In 1941 Minneapolis-Moline introduced the first factory-produced LPG tractor.
Get the book its great. There's quite a few more incidents Randy talks about that make for a good read.
Branch
According to Randy LPG was a nuisance petroleum by product up until the early 1920's when they figured out how to distill and bottle it. Around 1925 a regulator system was devised that would allow farmers, and those living in remote areas, to use it as a cooking fuel. Sales began here in Southern Calif..
In 1928 a carburetor was invented to use LPG and around 1930 a man by the name of McCartney started selling a kit for farm tractors that cost $150-$250.
LPG has a higher octane rating of 125 versus gasoline at the time which was rated at 61. It was recomended that the farmer change over his tractor when it needed an overhaul and shave the heads to raise the compression ratio so it would burn properly. Initially CAT's were the tractor of choice for this modification. Fuel economy went down but power went up. Plus the LPG sold for 4-5 cents per gallon versus 18 cents for gasoline. Oil changes only had to be done half as often because the LPG burned so cleanly.
According to the book "Farmers were advised to be careful. Grinding off too much from the heads meant the valves might hit the pistons. Still, farmers experimented, reasoning that if high-rise pistons were good on Model Thirties and shaved heads worked well on the Sixties (both CAT's), at least one farmer believed that doing both would be better. When he started up the engine, it ran for a few dozen revolutions. It made a huge racket, sounding more like a jackhammer than a tractor engine. And then it blew the crankcase studs-those holding the cylinders to the crankcase casting-out of the block."
In 1941 Minneapolis-Moline introduced the first factory-produced LPG tractor.
Get the book its great. There's quite a few more incidents Randy talks about that make for a good read.
Branch
OP
Ledgemere Farm
Veteran Member
Thanks. My birthday is coming up and I will ask the wife to get it for me!
