2cyl. vs. 3cyl.

[Crog]

What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? If you had to chose which would you prefer?

 

[Anonymous Poster]

2 cylinder engines fire 180 degrees apart, 3 cyl fire 120* apart. 3 cyl runs with less vibration, and is a slight bit easier to start, especially when cold.
Supposedly a 3 cyl has a smoother power curve.
All that said, my 2 cylinder puke green 240D will be celebrating it's 22nd birthday this year, and other than that nasty little incident of taking the teeth out of a final drive gear when it was 13 months old has only cost me 1 starter solonoid, and a few filters plus grease, oil and fuel in all those years. It is a cold blooded SOB to start in winter though, and always was.

 

[rockyridgefarm]

My 3 cyl. is smooth running and always starts right up, no matter how cold I have never had a moments trouble with the engine.

 

[EFC]

I went to a "farm" tractor pull this summer. Only actual farm tractors were allowed and they could only use engines that were built for tractors. I didn’t see one tractor that was anything other than a 2cyl diesel. Nothing cooler than 800hp 2cylnder diesels wide open!! If I needed to run a high load PTO implement I would go 2cyl. If I wanted something zippy and easy on the ears I would get a 3 or 4cyl. maintenance wise...2cyl, one less injector, one less piston, one less valve set.....cheaper to fix when things go wrong.

 

[rdbrumfield]

I would have to go with 3+ cyl. They are much smoother on the drivetrain.

 

[mah]

The 3cyl is quiter and smoother but the 2cyl cost much less.

mike

 

[clifst2310]

The 2 vs 3 cylinder discussion also sort of includes the differences between the powershift transmission vs straight gear transmission. The only 2 cyl engine that is also a powershift transmission is the 2210, to the best of my knowledge. I would be much more interested in the powershift transmission, because what it allows me to do with the tractor. Right now my clutch is not functioningh and I have to split the tractor to fix it. I can drive the tractor because it has a powershift. As stated above the powershift costs more than the straight gear transmision.

 

[EFC]

What is wrong with your clutch?

 

[gbirky]

Other than the 2210, the 1110 is the only other 2 cyl powershift tractor.

 

[BrettW]

Greg, is that machine you have pictured the one we unloaded?
Sure looks like you are having fun with it. bw