Oil & Fuel 4 cylinder vs. 3 cylinder diesel

[willy1947]

Is there any important differences between a 4 cylinder vs. 3 cylinder diesel? I am looking at buying a Kubota L3830 and a NH TC40D. I believe the NH has a 4 cyl. and the Kubota is a 3 cyl. There is a little bit of hp difference too, but do you think it is enough to notice? How about fuel consumption? Torque? Longevity?

The tractor will see light work (as tractors go). With some bush hogging and light FEL work. No hard all day plowing or anything like that.

Thanks,
Dave

 

[SteveH_CT]

My experience boils down to owning a 3cyl and having test driven a 4 cyl. This is far from a definitive answer, just my experience. On an ice cold day in February I test drove a 3cyl Deere 4310 and a 4 cyl DK40 Kioti... did I say it was cold /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif it was frigid! Both started well, warmed up decently, although I noticed the 3cyl warmed up faster. In the end having driven both and used the FEL and BH on both I couldn't discern a significant difference. I expected the 4 cyl to be much smoother, it wasn't - did I mention it was cold /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

Other thoughts - I've never driven a Bota or Deere 4cyl. They may be smoother - it's worth looking into. I"ve heard Bota makes the smoothest engines out there - if so the Yanmar in the Deere is no slouch.

Lastly, I can't speak to fuel economy on anyone else's tractor, but my 3cyl. goes a real long time on a fill-up - I'm amazed how little fuel it uses. I rarely, if ever, go much over 2000rpm.

Hope this helps. Good Luck Shopping, I know it's fun!

 

[_RaT_]

I sold my Kubota L48, it had a 4 cylinder. My L3830 has a 3 cylinder. It is perhaps the smoothest, quietest diesel I have owned yet. It is actually exactly the same diesel as the L48 except with 3 instead of 4 cylinders. Each piston has the same diameter and stroke. I'm certainly not sure about this, but on many 4 stroke 4 cylinder engines, two cylinders are going up while two are going down. Each one will have a power stroke out of sequence with the others. The two going down will have one in power the other filling the cylinder with air having followed an exhaust stroke. On a three, I believe all three are in 1/3 configuration around the 360 degree revolution. Perhaps this helps to account for the smootheness. At any rate, both are very smooth configurations. There are many very large pieces of construction equipment that operate on 3 cylinders. My International is a 3 cylinder with a 179 cu in diesel in it. I frequently use a Kubota L4850 with 5 cylinders.
On fuel consumption, my L48 used 15 gallons (the size of its tank) in the same amount of time my L3830 uses 10 gallons (the size of it's tank). Mark

 

[Bird]

I've used 2, 3, 4, & 6 cylinder tractors (can't remember ever using a 5 cylinder one), don't have the technical knowledge to discuss the differences intelligently, but I can tell you that the number of cylinders would not be a major factor in my selecting a tractor.

 

[Soundguy]

Owning a 2cyl, and a 4cyl deisel.. and also driving a 3 cyl diesel at work compaired to my 4 cyl diesel.. here is what I have observed.. and 'think'.

4 cyl is much smoother than 2.. 3 cyl is much smoother than 2... 4 cyl is barely noticeably smoother than 3..

4 cyls has more parts to wear out.. but a 3 or 2 cyl has each aprt doing more work.. under more stress .. thus making it waer out faster... I think if they are good engine designs.. ( well balanced ).. all the pluses and minus' will wash. Look at johny poppers...

Now if it is the issue of 2 engines rated for the same hp.. one being 4 cyl.. and larger cid.. and the other being 3 cyl.. and lower cid.. and the manufacturer gets 'equal' hp numbers by upping hte injector flow and rpm to the smaller engine.. well.. I think I'll take the 4 cyl..
( compair nh tc33 and Nh 1920 )
Soundguy

Soundguy

 

[_RaT_]

Must be unique to NH. The Kubota 3 cylinders easily are as smooth/quiet as the 4 cylinders.

 

[TNCHRIS]

the perkins used in the massey fergusons (35 and 135) are some of the longest lasting most repected engines ever built. they are 3 cylinder. the four cylinder kubotas (don't know about the others have balancing shafts the dampen the vibrations whereas i have never heard of one on any three cylinder.

 

[AndyMA]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Must be unique to NH. The Kubota 3 cylinders easily are as smooth/quiet as the 4 cylinders. )</font>

My Ford/NH 2120 43 hp 4 cylinder and NH 75 hp turbo 3 cylinder are equally as smooth. I also don't expect any difference in longevity based on number of cylinders. If anything I would expect the 3 cylinder TN to last longer based on much lower operating rpm's.

Andy

 

[Chuck_Lind]

With modern technology and engine design, I would surmise the 3 cylinder vs. 4 cylinder would be equal in peformance and longevity.

Look at modern-day automobiles...who'd ever think a little 2.0 litre (122 cubic inch) 4 cylinder engine would put out over 200 horsepower without a turbocharger. Same theory applies to tractor engines as well.

 

[_RaT_]

Andy, I tend to agree with that.