Temp Guage on B Farmall

Morris Krodle · Jul 10, 2012

I"m currently rebuilding a 1945 "B" and wonder if there"s some way to install a temp guage. I noticed a blank place on the bottom water jacket that looks like it might have been thought of but not bored and tapped.

Bouncer · Jul 10, 2012

Anything is possible, but thousands of A/B/C tractors have ran for 60-70 years without needing them. The Thermo-Syphon system is tried and true, and a pretty dang good design.

Bouncer · Jul 10, 2012

I should also add,that if you do install one. It needs to be as high up and as close to the exit of the engine into the radiator as possible. That way you can get the most accurate reading before it starts it's journey of being cooled. Being on the entrance or bottom side of the engine is going to provide inaccurate readings.

CNKS · Jul 10, 2012

There is no good way, you can put on the one for a distillate/kerosene engine, but it attaches to the fitting for the lower hose, and will always be cold. I fitted a modified upper Super C outlet (which has a water pump) on my Super A and mounted the gauge to a bolt on the governor so I could see it. It doesn't work right with thermosiphon, and generally reads high, temp drops rapidly at idle. Probably has to do with the non-uniform flow of the water due to thermosiphon. Usually runs on the lower side of the red, or about 212 degrees. If I put on a water pump, IMO it would be more accurate, but those engines usually don't run hot anyway so it really isn't needed.

fixerupper · Jul 11, 2012

I installed one on our B but I took it off after a couple of years. It always read hot even when I knew it wasn't. I drilled the hole in the side of the head up front but I'll have to go look at it to see exactly where it is. This B has had a Woods 5' belly mower on it since 1975 and has a couple thousand hours on it in hot summer weather, and it has never boiled, that I know of. You just have to make sure the rad is clean.

I equate the B to the Model A Ford. The Model A and T, for that matter, didn't have a temp gauge. When they boiled over they were hot, and that was the temp gauge. Jim

gene bender · Jul 11, 2012

Originaly thats where the sender was on the A and B. When you had a dual fuel engine you would close the shutters after starting on gas when the guage read warm enough you would switch to distillate and open the shutters. Your tractor with the sender in that location will never get5 hot enou8gh to even get a reading. If you want you could make a fitting and locate the sender in the upper radiator hose. Some have soldered a fitting in the upper outlet of the radiator to place the sender. Later heads did have a plug in the head towards the front for a sender.

Temp Guage on B Farmall

Morris Krodle

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Bouncer

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Bouncer

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CNKS

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fixerupper

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gene bender

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