Ive owned my 3020 for 12 years or so now.. when I first got it I had problems with fuel gage.. Took tank off to clean it out.. pulled twine string after twine string from the tank and around the regulator gage arm.. Just have to wonder ...why, how..???..just wondered who else has found stuff where??
- Thread starter MSS3020
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I hired a crazy kid one summer as a farm hand on the recommendation of a neighbor. Strong as an ox, and pretty enthusiastic, but I found out later he really was crazy...
A year or so after he left, the Versatile started acting up - every now and then acting like it was starving for fuel. After messing around with it for a few days, I finally cut a door into the tank and found one of his T-shirts... I guess he had put it in the slave tank and it took a while to move through that 3 inch line connecting it to the main tank...
Howard
We had people renting a second house we had when I was a kid. They did not pay for several months and were trashing the house so dad had them evicted. About 8 months later, we had to put a tractor in the barn there when it started raining and we had a load of hay. 2 days later, we moved it to the home place. For several weeks, the tractor would starve for fuel and die. After a few minutes, it would start and run again, for a few minutes. It was a 504 IH diesel. We finally found several partially burned corn shucks in the tank that would pull to the fuel line and plug it. "Someone" knew we left the tractor inside the closed barn and tried to burn it.
Ken Macfarlane
Well-known Member
Fire alarm tech on a hotel job, couldn't fish a wire through a wall in the basement so he tore the wall open.
A cascade of used razor blades flowed out, the balloon framed hotel had a razor blade disposal slot in each of the 4 storeys, and it was 100+ years old.
A cascade of used razor blades flowed out, the balloon framed hotel had a razor blade disposal slot in each of the 4 storeys, and it was 100+ years old.
Dad had an Oliver 66 one time that kept starving for gas and would quit. Finally found a Pop Sycle stick laying on the bottom of the tank. It would slide over the hole from time to time.
As for myself,one of the strangest and most EXPENSIVE things I ever found,the toilet acted up for YEARS. Just couldn't get it to flush right for very long. I had a whole new septic and drain field put in and it still wouldn't work right. Finally took the pipe apart and ran a big drain snake in it up under the house and right where the vent pipe goes up,I hooked into a plastic baseball bat. Somebody had dropped it down the vent and it would stop things up and cause a backup.
Was telling a neighbor that story once when he was having trouble with his. He had a hole drilled in his just before it went out of the basement and had a piece of copper tubing slid in to it for the water softener or something. Over time,that tubing had slid down in and was catching paper and doing the same thing.He said he pulled up on that tubing and instantly heard a rush when it all went down.
As for myself,one of the strangest and most EXPENSIVE things I ever found,the toilet acted up for YEARS. Just couldn't get it to flush right for very long. I had a whole new septic and drain field put in and it still wouldn't work right. Finally took the pipe apart and ran a big drain snake in it up under the house and right where the vent pipe goes up,I hooked into a plastic baseball bat. Somebody had dropped it down the vent and it would stop things up and cause a backup.
Was telling a neighbor that story once when he was having trouble with his. He had a hole drilled in his just before it went out of the basement and had a piece of copper tubing slid in to it for the water softener or something. Over time,that tubing had slid down in and was catching paper and doing the same thing.He said he pulled up on that tubing and instantly heard a rush when it all went down.
Bob M
Well-known Member
Had a kid new from the city running my Super M all day. After gassing it up the next morning he commented how frugal the SM was on gas - the fillup "took less than a gallon" he noted.
A quick check under the radiator cap revealed the radiator was filled to overflowing with gasoline - and the fuel tank was of course nearly empty...
A quick check under the radiator cap revealed the radiator was filled to overflowing with gasoline - and the fuel tank was of course nearly empty...
Motorcraftman
Member
At a House I owned several Yrs ago... the Shingles started to Buckle, foung they had painted underneath the eave vents with black paint,, No Venting,, Larry
larry@stinescorner
Well-known Member
I was doing a side job and digging for a footing with a pick and shovel when I dug up a metal box, I thought finally I dug up burried treasure! Upon further investigation I spotted the name of a pet cremation places name, Ididnt say anything to anybody, Ijust carefully moved the box to a safer spot and dug a hole and reburied it.
As for wild things in the fuel tank I have seen two really good head scratch'n ones. The first my granddad bought a brand new NH TS100 and the second day he had it the thing died and wouldn't start. Pulled it to the house and it started right up. Did the same thing a week later, called dealer to come fix it or take it back. Tech got to looking, pulled tank and poured out a marble. It would roll over the hole in the bottom of the tank and when he pulled it home it bounced over. Another good one like the story below was t-shirt. Buddy bought a 4440 several years ago at a consignment sale. Ran it several hours and it died, couldn't get fuel out of the line but tank was full. He took the line off the bottom of the tank and got to fishing from the bottom with bale'n wire and pulled out a shirt. No idea how or why but after that he ran the tractor for years with no problems.
Dave
Dave
Anonymous-0
Well-known Member
Use to drive redy mix truck, co worker- driver was haveing trouble all day long with side mount water tank on his mixer. one time he would have water next load he woundn't till he flip the air valve 3 or 4 times, end of the day mechanic,driver,boss tore into it, found a 2' black snake in the tank. we used a 3'' hose to fill the tanks with and when we were done just left it lay on the ground, well since he hualed the 1st load of the day he got the snake that crawed up the hose for some reason.
At our plant where I worked in the maint dept. One of the main sewer lines was plugged, a lot of toilets would not flush. A power snake was run up the line, when it was pulled out a pair of shorts were attached to the cutter.Someone flushed their under pants down the toilet. Must have had a accident. Stan
James Howell
Well-known Member
Several years ago I installed a 3-way fuel valve on our 43B.
Decided to inspect the inside and these are the wood pieces that were found.
<a href="http://s200.photobucket.com/albums/aa5/jameslloydhowell/?action=view&current=IMG_0254.jpg" target="_blank">
![IMG_0254.jpg" width="500" height="400" border="0" alt="Photobucket](https://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa5/jameslloydhowell/IMG_0254.jpg" width="500" height="400" border="0" alt="Photobucket)
</a>
Took both of us to get the wood pieces out of the tank.
Decided to inspect the inside and these are the wood pieces that were found.
<a href="http://s200.photobucket.com/albums/aa5/jameslloydhowell/?action=view&current=IMG_0254.jpg" target="_blank">
Took both of us to get the wood pieces out of the tank.
Anonymous-0
Well-known Member
While on the subject of items found in a gas tank, Had an Allis D-14, that was acting up, stalling out, when there was less than 1/2 tank of gas. Got me a little flash light and a mirror, looked around in the tank, there was a carpenter bumble bee, one of the real big ones, floating on the surface, when it got close to the inlet, to the sediment bowl, it would get sucked down, and momentarily block the fuel port off. Got him out with one of those choke cable 4 jawed picker upper thingies you get from the flea market!
When I worked at the local JD dealership I was on call one weekend when the cops called & said that the alarm had gone off & they were waiting on me to come & open up & cut it off ...we checked the building & when we got to the shop area we found the boss's son & his "lady" in a new tractor with the AC & radio wide open & both lets say were very busy...cops & I watched for awhile before interupting...LOL
super99
Well-known Member
Back in the 80's, a neighbor bought a new Case 4 wheel drive. He didn't run it too long before it started acting up, starved for fuel and then die. Wait a couple minutes and start right back up, run a while and same thing. Finally the Case mechanic pulled the fuel tank and dumped it. Somebody had put a cigar butt in the tank and a large leaf of tobacco would float over the fuel outlet and suck it down and stop fuel. No problems after removal. Chris
fixerupper
Well-known Member
I had an intermittent no pressure problem with a field sprayer caused by a floating object in the tank. It turned out to be the little information booklet that was taped to the side of a 2-4D jug. Must have dropped off of a jug when I was pouring the 2-4D in the tank. I lost hours trying to figure it out. I changed the pump, went out and sprayed for a half hour thinking I had the problem solved,and I lost pressure again. Put a new suction hose on, thinking the inner liner had collapsed, no go, checked the shutoff valve, it was OK. Finally I put on long rubber gloves and reached way down in the tank to check the inlet hole and I found the booklet floating around in there. Those of you who have messed with 2-4D know what I smelled like for the rest of the day and all of the next day. Jim
Janicholson
Well-known Member
Our brand new High efficiency furnace would not light. Reset just powered up the vent fan for 5 seconds then all stop. I called (warranty) and the dealer service guy said "take the top air inlet PVC off the top of the furnace" That was it, a small song sparrow had entered the tube at the top of the brick chimney and gone down 18' then left through a different room for 10', then through 3 more 90 degree elbows and 8' of pipe to end up on the air inlet valve blocking it. (it was expired at that point) Jim
We found a piece of cellophane tape in a fuel tank on our irrigation pump. Would float around in tank until it randomly would block off fuel intake port. Especially since the pump was run unattended, it was a dickens of a problem to diagnose.
Same pump had a jumper wire about 4 inches long in the wiring system that would break due to vibration and shut the thing down. Finally replaced with a braded wire that withstood vibration better.
Same pump had a jumper wire about 4 inches long in the wiring system that would break due to vibration and shut the thing down. Finally replaced with a braded wire that withstood vibration better.
Anonymous-0
Well-known Member
That reminds me of another one. Had a military truck, a Dodge 1-ton, from CAP, air horn would just hiss, when you pulled the string. You guessed it, cigar stuffed into it!
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