Converting Farmall M from propane to gasoline...

3500sport · Mar 2, 2010

I picked up this Farmall M for a good price, the only downside is that it is propane! The guy I bought it from threw in a carburetor but has anyone made the conversion one way or the other?

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2043621&id=1338223932&l=9c3f1a3e37

Theres some photos if it lets you guys view them

Andrew Z · Mar 2, 2010

not to hard to bring it back to gas, just need a the gas tank and a gas carb out side of that your good to go.

btw: i was able to view the photos but i have a facebook im not sure if others who dont have one will be able to view them that way.

you can post photos on this site under tractor photos and then past the link into the image url on the post

Andrew

Coax · Mar 2, 2010

The Photos show up okay, but I'm unbearably forced to ask .... Why would you want to????? That thing is in excellent shape and there aren't that many of them still rolling around IN that good of shape!!!!! Don't mess with Perfection I say. :?

3500sport · Mar 2, 2010

Its just that I don't really know how I'd go about keeping it fueled up and I think the propane tank looks really silly...

sflem849 · Mar 2, 2010

You can fuel it off your big tank for the house. That part is really easy. As for the tank looking silly, that is part of the fun.
I would venture to say you could sell that one and buy one just as good or better for the money you made. By the looks of things you are in need of a new hood in addition to the carb and gas tank. I looks like it was notched out for the lp tank.
I didn't see an lp manifold on the tractor. Are you guessing this has a reg head and manifold? I was all ready to trade him

Coax · Mar 2, 2010

....Room Spinning......Feeling faint.......Eyeballs glazing over! :shock: :shock: :shock:

3500sport · Mar 2, 2010

I live down here in Arkansas so I don't even have a tank. I haven't checked the SN yet to check the options but I'm pretty sure it has the gas manifold and head. The guy told me all you have to do is run a regulator and plumb your LP to the bottom of the carb and they work.

He said he didn't even have to adjust the carb.

Coax · Mar 2, 2010

That sure looks like a LP manifold and regulator to me...

Andrew Z · Mar 2, 2010

it does, the neck on the intake looks pretty long
for it to be just a gasser manifold.

Andrew

3500sport · Mar 2, 2010

That's kind of disappointing. I mean the tractor runs great but I might have to let it go.

It's like a 100lb propane tank and supposedly it will run for 12 hours straight on it wide open, but how inconvenient would it be for a guy with no propane tank and not really a whole lot of support in this area.

I wasn't aware that they had a different manifold for LP. I heard they didn't make production LP M's, just distillate gasoline and diesel...

Coax · Mar 2, 2010

Its seems like IH liked to make 5 versions of everything.Gotta cater to every taste Right? Don't you have a Cenex or Dixie Harvest or something around there??? Somebody HAS to deliver LP in Arkansas! they'd just drive up to the old Girl plug her in and vio`la, gas to go! and Probably for less than I pay for Propane. (currently 2.40 a Gal. LP)....

DeltaRed · Mar 2, 2010

how do get there from here?post'em here

3500sport · Mar 2, 2010

Thats what the guy's said that I bought her from, to just get a truck out to service it.

The guy couldn't figure out how to work the gauge on the side to figure out how much LP you got in the tank either! Ha, ha!

Coax · Mar 2, 2010

Hogwash!. Working on that machine is no harder than working on a Gasoline unit. Just a Few different procedures. everything on that tractor is a regular Tractor EXCEPT for the Tank,Regulator and some piping..Get yourself a Manual and start tinkering!!!!

Coax · Mar 2, 2010

Alredy checked .... Lookup Ferellgas online ..They have aleast 15 locations in your state...

karl f · Mar 2, 2010

from the pto shaft view it looks like an earlier M and you have a C farmall seat.
karl f

Randy in NE · Mar 3, 2010

Why convert it? If you don't like the propane set up sell it to someone who appreciates it and get yourself a strait gasser M. A gasser is very common and usually not too expensive. By the time you buy the gas tank, hood, manifold, and maybe a head you are talking a few dollars. There are not that many propane M's around any more. My $0.02 worth. Randy

3500sport · Mar 3, 2010

Yeah they deliver for like $4. Which honestly isn't that bad.

sflem849 · Mar 3, 2010

it does, the neck on the intake looks pretty long
for it to be just a gasser manifold.

Andrew

Good call. It would have to be a later manifold to be a divorced setup.

I live down here in Arkansas so I don't even have a tank.

I would have to ask, how does one heat their house in AR? You say it like nobody has lp in AR.

mkirsch · Mar 3, 2010

One fill-up will last you at least a year, and the cool thing is propane doesn't go "sour" like gasoline!

Plus if you run out you can run the tractor off your grill tank!

If you have a place that can fill grill tanks within a mile or two, you could drive the tractor there and have them fill it up for you. It's gotta be a place that knows how to deal with various-size tanks, though.

NDS · Mar 3, 2010

I have converted M back to gasoline and it is not a big deal. You will need tank, sediment bowl, gasoline line, carb. and probaly different hood. LP manifold will work with gasoline but I prefer gasoline manifold. I have burned MANY thousand gallons of LP in tractors, cotton pickers. trucks and forklifts and the only advantages I saw were longer engine life and lower fuel cost but now the cost advantage is not there engine will burn about 20% more LP than gasoline. If compression has been raised you might need to burn high octane gasoline but I have never needed to.

3500sport · Mar 3, 2010

I have a heat pump for 80% of the winter but if it is too cold for that then we use the fireplace.

This winter is the first in a while where I actually had to go get quite a bit of wood to keep it warm.

If I was going to keep it LP I'd have to go out and buy a used tank and then get a plan to keep it filled.

KEB1 · Mar 3, 2010

If you go ahead with the conversion, I'd be interested in the propane regulator and carburetor.

Thanks,

Keith

NDS · Mar 3, 2010

Filling from home tank does not work very well (have done that hundreds of times)if you do not have pump (very expensive) first you will lose abount 10% of gas from venting and you have fire/explosion hazard from vented gas.

Gene Stevens · Mar 3, 2010

Does $150 sound high for a 15" propane fill line? There was one on craigs list and that sure sounds high to me because I need one or have the truck service mine when I get mu "H" rumming.

3500sport · Mar 3, 2010

(quoted from post at 14:02:22 03/03/10) Does $150 sound high for a 15" propane fill line? There was one on craigs list and that sure sounds high to me because I need one or have the truck service mine when I get mu "H" rumming.

Seems awfully high to me

sflem849 · Mar 3, 2010

(quoted from post at 10:59:18 03/03/10) Filling from home tank does not work very well (have done that hundreds of times)if you do not have pump (very expensive) first you will lose abount 10% of gas from venting and you have fire/explosion hazard from vented gas.

That 10% number seems a little high. I would also like to negate your fire/explosion hazard theory. I assume you have filled tanks both ways in the past? Therefore you would know that vapor is being vented to atmosphere either way you are filling. You have the turn the fixed liquid level valve open on either to vent and to know when the tank is full. W/o doing this you are just nuts with a pump and you won't fill (depending on big tank setup) with a no pump system.
I agree, w/o a pump it is a little slow especially in winter but it beats buying a pump.

Yes, $150 seems high. We were just talking about getting a setup to fill the forktruck tanks at the farm and it wasn't that high for a brand new setup. (If that is what you are talking about. I find that hard to believe bc 15" is worthless short and the price is pretty high. If you had a pump for that price I would nab it)

AND So I don't contradict myself in the same post...I filled MANY tanks at an ag retailer with a pump system. At my buddies farm we would fill 20# tanks on a "gravity" setup. Therefore; I have experiance on both setups. I figured somebody would call me out about pricing a new setup when I said I had already used one

NDS · Mar 3, 2010

My 10% number comes from checking mileage on my truck from 400 gallon tanks compared with mileage when filling at dealer. When you fill with pump you only have to vent from small bleed valve and yes I have done this hundreds of times. When you fill without pump you have to vent much larger amount or you will never get tractor tank full. You can just hook up and let pressure equalize in tanks but tractor will not be full. Venting large amount cools tractor tank down from heat of vaporization (tank will often frost over) causing presssure to drop and higher pressure in warm supply tank will push fuel over. The line from supply tank has to feed liquid from bottom of tank where home heating system feeds vapor from top of tank. Have seen vapor drift over 100 feet to open spark causing flash back that caused second degree burns and setting picker on fire. I was around in the day when LP tractors were at there peak in cotton country and have been instruted on fueling by several different LP dealers.

3500sport · Mar 3, 2010

Interesting discussion

sflem849 · Mar 3, 2010

I'll buy that. I don't believe that risk of fire is greater either way. I have never seen vapor flash in real life, only on saftey videos for both work and the FD.
Either way you would fill you have to feed liquid hence the advantage of a pump. I guess I would do it either way and feel comfortable, but I certainly wouldn't turn down a cheap pump!

To the OP. It just wouldn't be practical for you to get a tank at home just to fill your tractor, but as said you would probably only need to fill it once a year. AND If you run out you can always use a 20# tank to keep it moving.

Wasn't that you that posted about $200 tires? Where did you get those?

NDS · Mar 3, 2010

For whatever it is worth I looked up propane vapor pressures at various temperatures and found it rather interesting.
@-55 F pressure is 0 psi
@+32 F pressure is 52 psi
@+80 F pressure is 130 psi
@+110 F pressure is 205 psi

KenB_Texas · Mar 4, 2010

I am looking for more propane tractors, I love my 300 on LP. It is an original tractor used on a small farm from day one. She starts easy and runs great. When I change the oil it is as clean as the day I put it in.
When I got my 300 about 2 years ago I rented a 250 gal "farm tank" from my local LP dealer for $60 a year. This past year I decided to purchase the tank. I got the tank with hoses and all for $200.

3500sport · Mar 4, 2010

How do you go about servicing it?

And if you look at the pictures of mine can you explain how to use the gauge on the side to figure out what you got left in the tank.

Also, my regulator is mounted on the side of the tractor along with the battery...how would I ever put a loader on it like that?

Converting Farmall M from propane to gasoline...

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