Back saving tractor fueling

mjncad · Dec 8, 2006

DieselPower said:
You could alway's buy a portable gas station on a pallet.

Self Contained, Movable Service Fueling Station

I buy almost all of my petroleum pumping, storage and dispensing equipment from this company. Nice people to deal with. John M. Ellsworth Co., Inc.

Cool unit...will you buy me one for Christmas?

mrutkaus · Dec 8, 2006

Here's an idea:

55 gal drum or smaller on its side with some brackets to keep it from rolling.

Fill the drum or get it filled from the side, you can't fill it all the way.

Hose goes from bottom side of drum, is kept over the drum with clip.

To fuel, pick up drum with FEL, place hose in tractor tank, slowly lift drum so fuel flows into tractor tank from drum by gravity.

As tractor tank becomes full, lower drum in FEL back to original spot, hose remains in tractor tank to be moved back to clip on drum!!

Mike

LBrown59 · Dec 8, 2006

mrutkaus said:
Here's an idea:

55 gal drum or smaller on its side with some brackets to keep it from rolling.

Fill the drum or get it filled from the side, you can't fill it all the way.

Hose goes from bottom side of drum, is kept over the drum with clip.

1*To fuel, pick up drum with FEL, place hose in tractor tank, slowly lift drum so fuel flows into tractor tank from drum by gravity.

As tractor tank becomes full, lower drum in FEL back to original spot, hose remains in tractor tank to be moved back to clip on drum!!

Mike

1* How do you get the drum in the loader bucket so you can lift it up?

mrutkaus · Dec 8, 2006

I haven't really done this, just thought of it while reading this thread!

If you had forks already on, that would be pretty easy, but I'd have to think a bit without forks, maybe some kind of cradle or brackets on the drum, I guess it wouldn't have to actually be in the bucket if you could lift it some way...

Easy way might be just nylon straps around the drum and lift it with the bucket.

What do you think?

Mike

patrick_g · Dec 8, 2006

Mike, All this lifting and gyrations with a full drum of diesel when it is totally not needed is a waaste of time and an opportunity to spill or worse.

You could make a platform (drum full of gravel or whatever for ballast with cradle to hold a drum of diesel. You should have put a spigot or a hose and nozzle in the bung destined to be on the bottom. A little fussing with plumbing and or ingenuity and you would have a filler funnel for the top bung. Your capacity will not be 55 gal but maybe safely around 50 oe maybe a bit less. The bottom of the drum needs to be at or above the height of the top of the diesel tank in the unit being fueled.

Now you have a miniature overhead fuel tank that works by gravity. Uhnless you are fueling really tall tractors the tank will not have to be supported so high that filling it with 5 gal cans would be too difficult if you can't get a delivery of fuel.

To gild the lilly, you can put a filter with water stopper qualities between the bung plumbing and the hose or spigot. You could save $ by using a length of garden hose and a ball valve instead of fuel hose and filler nozzle.

Pat

mrutkaus · Dec 8, 2006

Then you could use the FEL to lift the 5 gallon cans to fill the drum!

Mike

patrick_g · Dec 8, 2006

Mike, I would be tempted to fab a fixture (holder) to support a diesel can in an upside down configuration so I would only have to lift (fel is a good assist) the cans and invert them into the holder with the extension nozzle hose thingy thrust into the drums funnel thingy mentioined before.

I originally spent way too much time holding fuel cans upside down dumping diesel into my tractor. Now that I am thoroughly spoiled by the overhead tank with hose and filler nozzle, I already regret saving a few bucks and buying the plain nozzle instead of the more expensive auto shutoff version. Even handling less than 10 gal in a shot gets boring and tedious. You have to remain alert as the warning you get about the tank filing comes when you can see the fuel which is about 10-20 miliseconds before it overflows.

Shucks, it is Christmas... I may some day expect my wife to fuel the tractor (not in 5 years, so far) maybe I should buy --H E R-- an auto shutoff nozzle!

Pat

Dusty · Dec 17, 2006

A 55 gallon drum with a pipe that goes to within one inch of the bottom, through the top bung, and at the top part of the pipe, the part that will be sticking out, will have a ball valve on it. Then connect a rubber hose and nozzle to the ball valve. On the other side of the barrel, there is another smaller bung hole, you install a Schrader valve. Slightly pressurize the barrel, and the liquid will flow out the hose into your fuel tank. If you have a air drier on your compressor, you don't even have to worry about any moisture that will be in the air. If you don't, there will be so little moisture, that it won't matter. This isn't rocket science, and even a novice should be able to make this up with basic parts available at HD or Lowe's.
Final detail... remove the pipe from the large bung hole to fill at your local fueling station. Diesel is about 6 or 7 pounds per gallon, so just don't buy more than your tractor can lift.
Dusty

Dusty · Dec 17, 2006

patrick_g said:
Mike, I would be tempted to fab a fixture (holder) to support a diesel can in an upside down configuration so I would only have to lift (fel is a good assist) the cans and invert them into the holder with the extension nozzle hose thingy thrust into the drums funnel thingy mentioined before.

I originally spent way too much time holding fuel cans upside down dumping diesel into my tractor. Now that I am thoroughly spoiled by the overhead tank with hose and filler nozzle, I already regret saving a few bucks and buying the plain nozzle instead of the more expensive auto shutoff version. Even handling less than 10 gal in a shot gets boring and tedious. You have to remain alert as the warning you get about the tank filing comes when you can see the fuel which is about 10-20 miliseconds before it overflows.

Shucks, it is Christmas... I may some day expect my wife to fuel the tractor (not in 5 years, so far) maybe I should buy --H E R-- an auto shutoff nozzle!

Pat

The auto shut off valve usually requires more pressure than your gravity feed system will provide, so it is just as well that you didn't purchase a nozzle that wouldn't work properly with you system.
Dusty