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lp gas tractors

S

swindave

Member
what was the story on lp gas tractors?
it looks like every tractor company made them in the 50s and 60.
i think ad on kits to convert regular gas to lp?

did the idea just not catch on? to much trouble to fuel?
price to much?
i always thought lp burned very clean, maybe not good for pulling?

who sold the first lp tractors? the most sold? any certian model really popular?
any one has any experiences with one? thanks for your help!
 
Many were used here in wheat country in the 40's thru the 60's, mostly factory made. Uncle had two Case LAs on LP, neighbor I went to work for out of high school had two MM U. Other neighbors had case and MM mostly. Only a few JD on LP that I remember. LP was cheap; stories of being 4-6 cents a gallon. But, LP wasn't as efficient as gasoline or diesel (less BTU per gallon) and eventually the diesels won out. I presently have a JD 730 and 70 on LP. Doesn't bother me in the least working with LP as I have been doing it for more than 50 years.
 
Two problems that could be a reason they didn't "catch on". 1. Fueling the tractor:
Unless you had a relatively expensive "nurse tank", they always had to come "home" to fuel. With a high horsepower tractor, you could not put in a "big day" because you would run out of fuel. 2. You could not "squeeze" more HP: Unlike a diesel, you cannot "turn up the pump". You can't turbo it. You can't put larger jets in the carb.

There were advantages. Fuel was inexpensive. One could buy a gallon of fuel for $0.10, but it only had about 80% of the BTU's of gasoline. Farm delivered gasoline was selling for around $0.30 per gallon during that time in SD. Oil stayed clean. The '53 LPG SM that my dad had got its oil changed in the spring and fall only. He was farming about 450 acres of row crops with it.
 
Dad farmed with propane tractors from the 40's to the early 60's. there were a lot of propane tractors on the west coast. I still have a couple A/C Model M crawler propane tractors, I don't use anymore. It's easier to use gas than propane. stan
 
Back in the 1990's I drove a 3000 gallon propane bobtail delivery truck for a living that was powered by LP. It was a GMC with a Tonawonda built 427 engine. It had more than adequate torque to pull that load.

I'm guessing the lp gas tractors weren't as common because of the extra complexity and expense of an lp system. In the case of the propane company I worked for it made sense for them to pay the extra expense up front for a propane powered fleet because they were getting the fuel so cheap.
 
Here in Texas 50's-60's almost all tractor were LP. Also farmer had their pickup and trucks on LP. I used it on my trucks until middle 80's. Most Propane company's would supply you the add equipment(if your tractor wasn't factory) at no cost just to be able to sell you gas. Also supply you with nurse tank which was just a house tank on a trailer. I still have one LP tractor and use a wet line on my house tank to fill. Also I'm able to fill grill tanks from this tank. I even use LP on my cutting torch since the 60's.Your engine ran very clean with no carbon which made the engine last very long. Oil stay almost clear when you did change it. You did lose very little HP on LP. Really you didn't notice it. Diesel tractors began to get popular early 60's here. Propane was a by product of gasoline and refinery's gave the LP gas free just to get rid of it. This is why you could buy it for .10 cent. Texas Hwy Dept. used it on state pickup's until just a few years ago. When trucks began to have a lot of computer's on the truck they stopped using it. You had to add a computer to tell the other factory computer it was getting gasoline so it would run. Had a lot of problems. A lot of bigger city's still use natural gas on there vehicle in Texas. You can buy it set up from factory. It's a lot like LP.
 
Lp engines are still in use but most are stationary. I was messing with a 4000hp gas engine e this morning.
 
When I was a kid I used to hang around the local Allis dealer's shop and bug the old mechanics, while trying to learn. One of the guys was overhauling a WD on LP. He showed me the valves,plugs,and underside of the head. everything looked clean and new. I asked why it needed an overhaul and he said because it started out as a gas tractor,
 
I wouldn't want one. Have to change a bottle every time you wanted to gas it up. Then what would you do if you had a job that needed a full tank and it already had a tank 75% full on it, change it out before you start. Wouldn't be long before you had a dozen bottles sitting around partially full.
 
I've seen on tractordata that the compression ratio is different when it's being built for lp. Propane has a really high octane rating compared to gasoline. Even premium fuel. Actually higher than racing gas.
 
(quoted from post at 22:17:44 10/21/20) I've seen on tractordata that the compression ratio is different when it's being built for lp. Propane has a really high octane rating compared to gasoline. Even premium fuel. Actually higher than racing gas.
Click to expand...
take back that propane is higher than racing gas. It's 110 research and 104 pump octane.
 
They are not changable tanks, they are fixed to unit with capasitys of 25-125 gallons. Depending on how they were being worked they could be ran on vapor if lite load or if heavy work change over to liquid by opening one valve and closing other. It was cheap fuel, cotton farmers used in Tx for years They still being made in early 70s by JD. Every major mfg had LP units. MM was popular here. I have 3 2 cyl JD with LP conversions as parts units and SM factory LP as parts unit.Some are still used around here.
 
Propane parts story. When my dad quit farming his tractors just sat for years. After Dad died I started using his tractors in my newly started disking business. I needed parts for the Ensign brand propane regulators, and related parts. I contacted one Allis Chalmers dealer. They told me they threw all that old Ensign stuff away years ago. Another dealer told me they gave the stuff to a guy named Art who lived on in the next town. I said that's my Dad. I went home and started looking for the parts. I found several boxes of the parts buried under some stuff. All kinds of gaskets, seals, and special parts. Stan
 
Propane was cheap and pretty efficient when using a factory setup. While there were conversions with all brands before 1940, Minneapolis Moline was the first to offer a factory built tractor specifically equipped to burn propane, in 1940. They became very popular in some areas of the Country. Refueling is no problem at all when working the typical acres of the day, when farms were much smaller. In most cases, when a tractor was offered in gasoline, diesel, or LP versions, the LP version produced the most horsepower.

As farmers began farming remote farms, and as diesel technology improved, diesel gradually took over.

7 of my 12 tractors are LP. They still run cheap. I'm running on 85 cent gas right now. Diesel would have to be $1.50 to $1.70 to get the same operating cost.
 
(quoted from post at 18:47:53 10/21/20) I wouldn't want one. Have to change a bottle every time you wanted to gas it up. Then what would you do if you had a job that needed a full tank and it already had a tank 75% full on it, change it out before you start. Wouldn't be long before you had a dozen bottles sitting around partially full.
Click to expand...

You ever seen an LP tractor? You don't "change a bottle" you "fill the tank."

They're not like forklifts.
 
I have a factory Oliver propane Super 88. To fill it, I had my supplier add a hose and a valve to my propane tank that heats my house. IIRC, the cost was about $150 to put it on. As noted, you don't change propane tanks on a tractor, just hook the hose to it and fill it. One advantage of propane for the pullers is that you could put some high compressioned pistons in your engine, as some of the manufactured did on their tractors. Decades ago, I remember a racer by the name of Ak Miller who used propane. I remember in a magazine article where he said your engine oil actually gets thicker as you drive as there is no gasoline getting into the oil to thin it down. I know of a local farmer who has a parked Ford F700 grain truck with a 429 engine in it that ran on propane. It is parked in the weeds and he no longer uses it.
Years ago, I was a mechanic at a factory that had about 20 propane powered forklifts. In the winter, when they were parked outside, it was always a trick to keep the things running after a cold start. The vaporizers were heated with engine coolant and they always wanted to freeze up before the engine coolant got hot. It took five minutes of babying the things, but once the coolant got warm enough, the frozen vaporizer would quickly melt and it was good to run after that.
 

Back when propane was widely utilized it was cheap fuel. I remember driving/fueling a mid to late 70's 1 ton Ford dually that was utilized to pull a hyd operated GN trailer to haul tractors/equipment for equipment dealership.

I seriously doubt tractors with "factory LPG systems" rolled off the assembly line in early 1940's maybe late 40's-early 50's. 1st JD's with factory LPG fuel system were the 1st numbered series in 1953
 
Friend of mine was a BTO in the Abilene, Tx. area. Back in the day the local Red supplier decided to flood the area with LP. He did and per the friend, the next thing you know Diesel was hot and he came around wanting to re-equip everybody with new Diesel tractors. By then he said he had enough fooling around with the propane and was glad to convert to Diesel. Said he never looked back.

I had "ONE" LP, a '69 year model as I recall, JD 4020 and had the nurse tank. Worst decision on equipment I ever made.
 
I used a 3020lp until this hay season (retired). It was a great baling tractor and always started even on the coldest days moving hay. I had an old 100 gallon tank for a pickup to haul to the fields from my home tank. Fueling them is not bad, just different.
 

I have a John Deere 50 LP. It is a 1955, which I believe was the first year they offered it. Haven't used it much in recent years because it needs a few things done on it that I haven't gotten to yet, but I did have it out this summer.
In 2015 I had it at Le Sueur. The Tractor Data guy was apparently there, as there are several pictures of it on his web site.


mvphoto63733.jpg
 

Texasmark
There's nothing wrong with a LPG powered tractor if the ign timing & clearances on ign points/sparkplugs were set correctly. Back in the LPG heyday many acres of crops were planted/harvested & livestock fed with LPG powered equipment.
 
Like David said there were tons of them in wheat country in the 50s and 60s. We had the same custom combiners every year thrugh the 60s and they ran two pickups, four trucks and four combines on LP. Large nrse tank was on a wagon that went to the field just like gasoline did. The drivers would get to fooing around with the nurse tank and using the big ball valve on the hose they would freeze flies in flight for fun.
 
(quoted from post at 13:15:16 10/22/20)
Back when propane was widely utilized it was cheap fuel. I remember driving/fueling a mid to late 70's 1 ton Ford dually that was utilized to pull a hyd operated GN trailer to haul tractors/equipment for equipment dealership.

I seriously doubt tractors with "factory LPG systems" rolled off the assembly line in early 1940's maybe late 40's-early 50's. 1st JD's with factory LPG fuel system were the 1st numbered series in 1953
Click to expand...

Minneapolis Moline Sales Letter #267, dated December 11, 1940 informed the dealer network that factory built tractors equipped for running on LP would be available for shipment on April 1, 1941. The first models to be so equipped were the UTS and UTU.
 
It was common to see some of the D's converted to LP in the rice area of the Tx. coast.
Even more common to see Case LA's, Oliver 99's & W9's.
 
Case was not the first for sure on offering LP factory but they did start in 1949 or 50 offering it,, last ones was the 30 Series that ended in 1969,, in certain areas LP was CHEAP fuel,, they ran so clean on it you changed oil maybe once a year no matter the hours,, if you were setup to handle it is was not bad, I always preferred a dsl engine myself but have owned a few LP units also
 
If they were so good about starting in cold weather. Then why do the forklifts start so terrible in cold weather in northern climates like the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes.
 
(quoted from post at 22:22:09 10/21/20)
(quoted from post at 22:17:44 10/21/20) I've seen on tractordata that the compression ratio is different when it's being built for lp. Propane has a really high octane rating compared to gasoline. Even premium fuel. Actually higher than racing gas.
Click to expand...
take back that propane is higher than racing gas. It's 110 research and 104 pump octane.
Click to expand...

This is why a stationary Diesel engine can have fuel costs reduced by blending some LP with the intake air and reducing the diesel injection rate.
. The ideal ratio for LP is 4.18% . However a ratio of above 2.2% into a Diesel engine will cause knocking .
 
I had an LP Deere 2010. It was just - ok. Cold starting wasn't fun. Filling it was a hassle, and due to the lower power of the LP offset any savings on fuel cost.

I sold it for what I paid for it. I have a gas 860 now, and it's so much easier to use.
 
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