Tractor setting areas on fire?

[Jchonline]

Who knows how a fire starts? Could be sparks from tiller hitting rocks? Maybe exhaust...maybe run tractor on a dark night looking for sparks. Maybe neighbors side apparently really dry, flammable "something" (dry grass, something dumped there). Tractor operators stogie?

Chili for dinner and a puff on a cigarette at just the right time can light a field on fire. Relaying this from a friend.

 

[UrbannGuerilla]

So nothing going wrong inside the engine would cause that? (and the engine show no signs, sounds, smells of any issue, no vibrations - as in this example) Just carbon build up and releasing when worked hard? I'll have to try it at night sometime and see what ours looks like.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

Was neighbor's side where it burned very dry grass, leaves, pine needles? Curious what caught on fire & I assume you put it out?

 

[UrbannGuerilla]

Was neighbor's side where it burned very dry grass, leaves, pine needles? Curious what caught on fire & I assume you put it out?

The fires were put out and brown grass about 4" high

 

[DJ54]

Sparks are extremely common but you are not going to notice unless you are driving at night and working it hard. You might see a stray just running around but not as likely.

Staging hay equipment went over one of our steep hills at night. The amount of sparks coming out of the exhaust was impressive. Even my wife following could see it. It had been awhile since it worked that hard.

Another one of our tractors hauling manure over said hill at night would shoot flames from working hard. Really neat to see.

Unless you've ever had one of those babies land on your arm in the Spring plowing, or Summer bush hogging..!! BTDT..!!

 

[CH4Ohio]

DITTO about sparks from exhaust. I had an old Kubota that I bought used that was only driven to church on Sundays. It would throw sparks out the exhaust as soon as you got it under a load at full throttle. Not constant like a sparkler, but very noticeable.

 

[LHF2019]

Unless you've ever had one of those babies land on your arm in the Spring plowing, or Summer bush hogging..!! BTDT..!!

Over 40 years have yet to have that happen. If I didn't use the tractors at night I probably wouldn't believe the amount of sparks possible

 

[LouNY]

I've seen a lot of them at night and must have had them during the day, don't recall ever getting burnt by one.
I can recall the discussions in the day of the Fords with the rear exhausts going to catch hayfields on fire raking hay. Don't recall ever hearing of one that it happened with.
Have seen windrows smoldering but that was with smokers driving tractor while raking.
And that was very rare considering the numbers of smokers back then.

 

[52wej]

Years ago we had a Ford 3000 that was seldom pulled extremely hard except when it was hooked up to a silage blower to fill silos. Each year it was part of the farm routine to run the first load into the silo at night to watch the excess carbon in the exhaust stem go up the exhaust pipe as sparks. After the first load, no more sparks and the tractor ran much better. As has been said many times diesels like to be run at high rpm with a good load. W Jones

 

[MadJack]

If a tractor was 'spewing' hot diesel fuel out there would be something wrong with it that needed immediate attention. Neither of mine have ever done that.

I'd say it would be more likely that a flake of red hot carbon from the exhaust started the fire. Diesels do make carbon in the exhaust tract at least pre 4 units do. The EPA addressed that with their T4 final mandate sort of involuntarily as the carbon is trapped in the SCR cannister and incinerated.

Take your hard stack off (between the exhaust manifold and the muffler-4 bolts) and run a brush thru it. You'd be surprised how much crap comes out.

 

[MapleLeafFarmer]

What do you consider high hours? One of mine has 6K on the meter and the other has 4500 on the meter and the 6K unit just happens to have a down exhaust outlet. I cut, rake and bale dry hay all the time and never have had any issues with fires. I actually prefer the down exhaust over a stack in the middle of the hood.

I would consider both having enough hrs and well past broken in that there is chance sparks past the valves are possible.


If say 500 hrs like a lot of people here seem to have on small acreage lots, worn valves on good quality tractor unlikely.
At 6,000 hrs though it is possible so something I would put some consideration on.
Could be one of a few causes of why sparks getting out of the engine into the exhaust.

Cheers

 

[lexluther]

Where I live you don't dare touch the ground with equipment all summer for the fire risk, especially not mowing ot tilling...absolutely he started it, should know better and should have an extinguisher on board.

 

[BillP618]

I've seen sparks coming out of an exhaust. I never delved into it to find out but I always presumed it might have needed a valve job (ran ok though) or maybe it was buildup on the exhaust side and glowed red hot then released and flew out the pipe.

Don't know. None the less, ever heard of a spark arrestor for a string trimmer, blower or something like that? Now you might know why!

I know chain saws have spark arrestors.

 

[Tinhack]

My first guess would be a rusted-out muffler. The iron oxide that forms as well as the carbon can ignite and throw sparks. As already mentioned, running a test at night with a hot engine should show if there's any sparks generated. Fires don't start on their own.

 

[TinkerToyz]

My Kubota RTVs which are diesel engines have spark arrestors on the exhaust to prevent exactly this type of "setting the woods on fire" incidents.

 

[Risingsea]

Driving under trees and a dead twig drops into the exhaust, catches fire and blows out the exhaust pipe is one that I have experienced causing a fire.

 

[Bentrim]

Back in the time well past truckers used to have a "stack mirror", it was used to watch the amount of fire out of the exhaust.
As a farm machinery tech I repaired burned combines often did not know what caused them but years later learned most were caused by a leaking exhaust pipe. It would leak a hot spark into the accumulation of dust and dirt and start a fire. It could have been a gasket out of the manifold, a poorly fitting connection or a bad flex pipe.
As a young man helping dad and while plowing at night with a 520 JD Gasser I observed the manifold and exhaust pipe glowing red with a short flame out the muffler. When pulling a load of hay home and going up a hill with the JD 70 diesel I watched a small red flame out of the muffler.
While working at a dealer noticed the manufacturers offered either spark arrestors or spark arresting mufflers as optional equipment. Eventually most tractors were equipped with spark arresting mufflers.
As for wet stacking "slobbering" have found some engines are more prone to it as others, especially in cold climates. Most of the time putting the tractor to use would dry up the slobber.
Vertical mufflers usually present less chance of a fire than horizontal "under the floorboard" mufflers.

 

[Al Kramer]

I’ve been mowing and seen sparks fly from hitting a piece of field fence or barbed wire on the ground. If it’s dry enough, it could definitely start a grass fire. Not to mention if it’s big enough, it could wrap around the mower. Ask me how I know this. Lol.

 

[beenthere]

Sparks from a diesel are likely hot carbon from buildup in the exhaust system. Not likely fuel, as mentioned earlier in this thread.

Work it hard doing something at night and you will see what is happening.

 

[redman135]

LouNY on p1 has the most likely cause. Years ago I had exactly this happen in a hay paddock being swept. The fire was put out quickly and by then the sweep tractor had cleaned its exhaust out, so it carried on. There was nothing wrong with the engine, just accumulated soot caused by light load and cool running.