Re: 706 806 gas vs diesel- cheap horsepower?

Posted by Jim Allen on November 23, 2006 at 04:56:04 from (209.173.160.22):

In Reply to: 706 806 gas vs diesel- cheap horsepower? posted by gdorsey on November 22, 2006 at 16:21:27:

I came close to buying a gasser with the thought in mind to
make some improvements. Diesel fuel is still more expensive
than gas, so the running economy advantage for a diesel is
somewhat negated by that.

I considered converting a gas tractor to propane because
propane is even cheaper than gas or diesel, though they tend to
burn more gallons. I also considerfed converting it to a fuel
injection system (a throttle body EFI system) to increase
efficiency by 5-10 perrcent by most estimations. In theory, you
could convert a gas tractor to run on E85 fuel, which is 85
percent ethanol (burn what you grow!).

For the small farmer that runs few hours per year, a gasser
makes more sense. On average a gas engine will use 30 percent
more fuel than a diesel. Let's say you use the tractor 50 hours
per year. A diesel using 4 GPH for 50 hour would use 200
gallons. The average price around here is $2.55/gallon, so that's
$510.

An equivalent power gas tractor would use about 5.5 GPH, so
that's 275 gallons. Right now the average proice for gas is $2.20
a gallon so that's $605. a year, an increase of $95.

Lets say the average price of the diesel tractor you want is
$6500 for a decent but high hours unit. Looking around you can
find find similar HP gassers for about $4500, usually in better
shape and with lower hours, a difference of $2000.

How many years at a savings of $95 a year will it take to pay off
the higher cost of the diesel by fuel economy alone? My
calculator says 21 years for the 50 hour a year farmer.

FWIW, these are the numbers I played with when I made up my
mind that I would accept a gasser.I had been looking at diesel
tractors and in the HP I wanted, they were in the $6-7000 range
for a decent unit locally. In the search, I found a pristine 90hp
(green) 4020 gasser with 2500 hours for $4500 (at a dealer no
less) and if one of their sales guys hadn't been a total bozo, I'd
be runnning it now. A week later, I was driving my very tired
826. It was pretty cheap and it's very economical even by diesel
standards, but I've also had to put a fair bit of money and time
into it. Objectively, that 2500 hour unit was the better tractor
mechanically and it probably wouldn't have had as many (or any)
problems. 'Course I wouldn't have met all you wunnerful red
tractors guys either!! And how can you put a price on that!

Replies:

• Re: 706 806 gas vs diesel- cheap horsepower? Jim Allen 16:03:52 11/23/06 (0)
• Re: 706 806 gas vs diesel- cheap horsepower? Doc Larry 15:46:10 11/23/06 (0)
• Re: 706 806 gas vs diesel- cheap horsepower? Hugh MacKay 13:35:19 11/23/06 (0)

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