curved exhaust stacks

karl f

ps ot: was looking at pipe organ images today, and some pipes look like exhaust pipes, even with band clamps! which is what reminded me to ask this question. so far the closest link i've found to music and tractors is steam... :-D

BUT,,,,, My portable welder with a two cylinder Wisconsin engine had a straight stack and was always left with a pop (lets be realistic, it was a beer can) over the exhaust stack. When I went to start it a while ago the crankcase was full of water. Turns out there was a hole in the top of the muffler which created a funnel with much larger area than the open stack. Tractor mufflers are the same construction so do not think your pop can will give you security if your muffler is more than a couple of years old.

Gordo

I'd still cover any stack if tractor is being parked more than a few days. If stack is tight, no tractor ever got enough water in the engine overnight, to harm anything unless there was something deflecting water down the stack. One of the worst items to deflect water down a stack is one of those exhaust caps held open by wind. Tractors parked near trees or higher buildings can take in a lot of water, but there again it's deflected water.

A tractor parked in the middle of an open field with tight exhaust, will take in very little water even in a 6" rain fall. I once got caught with Farmalls 560 and 300 in the middle of a field, 9" of rain in 24 hours, we couldn't easily get to those tractors other than by boat, and didn't get to them for 3 days. When we started them, very little black wet soot blew from the stacks. I'd be willing to bet most of it was trapped right in the mufler.

For close to 60 years I've been around tractors, and in a one night rainfall, yes even 9", the only time I ever saw a hydraulic lock up in pistons was my Farmall 300 with exhaust pipe loose in manifold, and that was less than 2" of rain. The operator had put a can on the stack, but didn't bother to tell me pipe was loose. The can was still in place and one cylinder was full. The water ran along the sheet metal and down the pipe. The same tractor with a tight exhaust, along with 560 also tight exhaust, sat in the middle of a 100 acre field in a 9" rainfall in 24 hours, nothing over the stacks. There wasn't enough water in the two of them to fill a thimble.

A tractor with a tight exhaust, uncovered, in an open field, over night, and full of water is something I've yet to see.

I quite heartily agree, if you suspect water, best to just leave the switch off and go for the hand crank. Starter could hit it hard enough to do damage, even without ign. I'd be tempted to remove spark plugs or glow plugs, which ever the case may be, crank the engine, watching which cylinder water came from, put all the plugs back but the one with water and start the engine. That is how I handled my 300 over 40 years ago.

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