Oil & Fuel farm or road diesel?

SantasForest · Jul 23, 2012

I'll be honest, I know the 2 fuels used to have different refining properties in the past, but I'm not sure they do anymore. I know our newer equipment calls for ULSD. On a side note, in the summer I work for Thompson Harvesting in KS, doing custom cutting. He owns 4 new JD combines every year and runs On-Road diesel in all of them...2 years ago, his fuel bill was just shy of $250,000.......

PhilY · Jul 23, 2012

My dad did it in Turbotax last year. Said there was a section in it. So, I haven't tried yet. With getting the tractor earlier this year though, I definitely plan on doing it myself.

tractorshopper · Jul 23, 2012

My owners manual says ultra low sulfur fuel only for my L3800. I use on road fuel only right now. I know everyone keeps saying that the two are the same except for dye, but the places I've been to that sell off-road have stickers on the pumps with much higher PPM's than on road. They are all old stickers, so maybe they were never changed, but I'm not willing to take the risk at this time. I asked the local feed and seed owners about thier diesel whether it was high or ultra low and they couldn't tell me with certainty, so I'm not taking the chance.

crazyal · Jul 23, 2012

What I will say is keep an eye on what you buy. I've bought off road diesel from a local station that sell it. Because at the time I was using 5 gallon cans (the round race ones with the large caps). After a few fill ups I noticed that there was junk collecting in the bottom of them. Because of their size there was always a small amount of fuel left in the can after filling up. I don't know if it was the station adding something like old motor oil tot he fuel, junk in their tank, or what but once I switched to buying in bulk from a dealer I've never seen the problem again. The dye was also a dark red while the dealer stuff is a light red.

PhilY · Jul 23, 2012

The sulfur in the diesel helps as a lubricant in older engines. So, if the owners manual doesn't say it was designed for use with ULSD, then I wouldn't use it.

94BULLITT · Jul 23, 2012

Bluegill2 said:
Your owner's manual is out dated, all off road diesel today is supposed to be ULSD.

The store I get my fuel from sells more off road diesel than gas, they have a huge farming operation and also sell to all the farmers around here. The lady there told me the other day "nobody around here runs on-road fuel in tractors"...

There is only 1 place around here and its says low sulfur on the pump, maybe they did not put a new sticker on it. I just found out it has been that way since 2010.

Bluegill2 · Jul 23, 2012

tractorshopper said:
My owners manual says ultra low sulfur fuel only for my L3800. I use on road fuel only right now. I know everyone keeps saying that the two are the same except for dye, but the places I've been to that sell off-road have stickers on the pumps with much higher PPM's than on road. They are all old stickers, so maybe they were never changed, but I'm not willing to take the risk at this time. I asked the local feed and seed owners about thier diesel whether it was high or ultra low and they couldn't tell me with certainty, so I'm not taking the chance.

94BULLITT said:
There is only 1 place around here and its says low sulfur on the pump, maybe they did not put a new sticker on it. I just found out it has been that way since 2010.

Lot of old stickers out there.

My place here has no sticker, so I asked. She did not know so she called the distributor, they said all off road is ultra low sulfur and is the same as their on road, except for the dye added.

Buckgnarly · Jul 23, 2012

Most if not all off highway is now ULSD.....

Locomotive, marine and non-road diesel fuel standards begin at later dates. - Clean Diesel Fuel Alliance

WayneJessie · Jul 24, 2012

Mud Mechanik said:
Not trying to start a war here but the two fuels are not the same.....they have similar specs as far as distillation curves, gel temps. and the like but, on road diesel is distilled as a product, cleaned of water and filtered down to less than 25 micron particulates. Off road diesel is a blend of on road diesel that did not make spec. and whatever distilled product it will take to get it on spec., it is then filtered down to less than 70 micron particulates and of course red die is added. Now...these products will do very similar jobs in a tractor, older tractors will benefit from the higher sulfur content of off road diesel while newer tractors have mostly viton seals in the fuel system and they really don't care what type fuel they drink. With the filtering systems on todays machines, I would not be afraid to run off road fuel in one but would not travel too far out of my way to get it either. If it is readily available in your area I say go for it but be sure and change your fuel filters on schedule.

That's true if you're getting what you pay for. The store where I buy my off-road says buying fuel now is like the old west. You have no idea what you may be getting. He said he buys his fuel from a big-name oil company and sometimes it's lousy, smells like kero and full of goo. You are definitely right about keeping filters changed out. I cut one of the spin-on filters from my M6800 open and could not believe the sludge that was in it in only 150hrs and I run the best fuel additives I can get. I buy the off-road and keep plenty of filters on hand and fuel additive.

Monster5601 · Jul 24, 2012

Mud Mechanik said:
Off road diesel is a blend of on road diesel that did not make spec. and whatever distilled product it will take to get it on spec., it is then filtered down to less than 70 micron particulates and of course red die is added.

WayneJessie said:
He said he buys his fuel from a big-name oil company and sometimes it's lousy, smells like kero and full of goo. You are definitely right about keeping filters changed out. I cut one of the spin-on filters from my M6800 open and could not believe the sludge that was in it in only 150hrs and I run the best fuel additives I can get. I buy the off-road and keep plenty of filters on hand and fuel additive.

Where do you guys come up with this crap, do you lay awake at night thinking of up controversy?

Mud - Post an authoritative source to support your claim or recant.

Wanye - Pictures or it didn't happen. How can you consider the gas station clerk an authority on fuels.

It is just not right to propagate incorrect information. If you are going to make a claim like the two above, then support your claim or don't say anything.