Farmall M Kerosene Manifolds

Here in Australia Farmall M and AM tractors were available with the kerosene manifold or… the kerosene manifold. As most people are aware, neither this manifold (6775 DBX/Y) nor the heat shield (49 046 DX) nor the exhaust pipe (6776 DA) are available today. As a pig headed person who likes to keep tractors as they were made this irritates me considerably. I am going to see if I can get new ones made at a foundry not far from here. They will make new moulds, so that I can get further manifolds cast later if required. If the manifold, pipe and heat shield were available, would there be any market for them at all? It might be worth having two made for my tractors and stop there, or perhaps half a dozen or twenty? Would there be any demand for a kerosene manifold to suit Farmall H tractors? If it works out OK I would happily put people in touch direct with the foundry so that they are sure of getting the right price etc.
SadFarmall

We talked about this a little while back when I was looking for a hot manifold to put on an M. I don't know what It would cost to make molds and cores for a new one but I would think you could eventually sell at least 100 of them to help offset the cost. The heat shield would be fairly simple to copy. Would you make new shutters and operating rods as well?

It's just hard to say how many people are that intent on putting a tractor back to full original kerosene (or distillate) status. My gut feeling is that we are in the minority and that there are probably enough complete tractors out there to satisfy demand.

i am quite sure that will cost more than the tractor is worth.its a dead horse thing. tractors have been run on kerosene and its just not the answer. thats why there is petcocks on the oil pan , to drain off unburned kerosene daily. i dont think there is demand for kerosene unless just the novilty of it at a plowing show.

Hard to say really. I have found Farmall H manifold exhaust pipes for sale, but not Farmall M, so perhaps I should get a few of the pipes made? I run my Farmall M tractor all the time. It's OK to run it on petrol when the work isn't too heavy. When ploughing with five 28" discs you really need to run the motor on power-kerosene otherwise it just doesn't have the pull. The radiator shutter questions interests me, because here all Farmall H and M tractors came with the shutters as standard on account of them all being designed to run on kero. I'll see what the cost for getting the moulds made will be. I presume the foundry will have to cut my original manifold in half to make the centre mould? I'll also need to fine a sample heat control set-up.
SadFarmall

The fuel is another issue and I haven't experimented since I don't have my distillate setup complete as of yet. Here in the states kerosene is quite a bit more expensive than gas or diesel and that would be a sticking point for widespread appeal.

I don't think it would be necessary to destroy your original to make a new mold. Some careful measuring and inspection should be more than enough to generate the needed dimensions. I think the trickier part would be getting the right kind of cast iron to take the heating and temperature differential without cracking. As to the heat valve perhaps using stainless parts would be the most cost effective on a low volume run.

m's take use 2" piece of threaded black pipe for exhuast. when the work is heavy thats when you run on kerosene.shutters are for closing so engine runs hotter to burn kerosene.

I have a 1941 W-4 and a 1948 Farmall Super A both of which have the kerosene manifolds, shutters and starter gasoline tanks. I have a spare cast iron chimney (exhaust pipe) for the W-4 (same as Farmall H) but have been unable to find a similar chimney for the Super A. OEM some years ago had one in their catalogue but not anymore, I may have to fabricate one from steel plate and pipe. I do not, however, intend to burn kerosene when the tractors are restored.
In New Zealand in the late 1940s kerosene was about a third of the price per gallon of that of petrol (gasoline). Hence the popularity of kerosene burning tractors. However, when the 1950s brought in the use of rebate (no road tax in the price) petrol for farmers the use of kerosene stopped almost overnight. The shutters disappeared from the tractors, usually to get damaged in the tractor shed and so are now harder to find. The extra oil required daily to top up the sump after draining the top pint of kerosene diluted oil plus the more frequent required changes of oil increased running costs of kerosene tractors. The Nebraska tractor tests show gasoline tractors to have more available horsepower than their kerosene burning equivalents. That may be because the kerosene tractors had a much lower compression ratio (4.4 to 1) than the gasoline engines which had between 5.6 to1 and 6.0 to 1 compression ratios. There could be a problem with the low compression ratios the as the lowest grade gasoline we can get here is 91 octane but then my 1937 O-12 does not seem to mind even though the standard gasoline grade at the time it was built was about 60 octane. It was a gasoline tractor with again about a 4.4 to 1 compression ratio. The current price of kerosene, at least in small quantities, is about twice the price of gasoline.

I should have no trouble with the cast iron quality as the foundry I spoke to say they have made various manifolds in the past and had no problems at all. I'll see what happens when I take in an original…
SadFarmall

I support your suggestion of using stainless steel for the heat valve (and the adjustment lever that goes to the outside of the manifold). The heat valve that I have is probably not stainless since it is magnetic. Do you know which material the original heat valves are?
Thanks in advance, Hendrik

i would really like to get a new kero manifold for my m,but price would definately be the major factor

Well, the foundry re-opens next week after a loooong Christmas break. I'll see what the prices are like. If anyone can find a heat valve and adjustment lever in good condition as a sample, it would be wonderful. I feel sure that removing the ones in either one of my tractors will be a little tiresome at best.
SadFarmall

The flapper part is some kind of cast iron and the rod is steel. Both the manifolds I have are froze but the flapper part appears to be welded onto the rod.

Thanks for your reply. The flapper in the manifold of my Super A is loose (lots of penetrating oil and careful prying and tapping for a loooong time) and moves through nearly its full hot-cold range. I will examine it more closely and see how the flapper is joined to the shaft/rod.