Oil & Fuel Fuel Transfer Strategies

[nosualc]

I've recently bought a new JD 3320, which is the first piece of diesel equipment I have owned. My primary purpose for the tractor is mowing and FEL work around my 6 acre property.

I do not expect to use a tremendous amount of fuel (my tank holds 13.5 gallons), but I've been wrestling with how I should store and transfer fuel for it.

My options seem to be:

1) Buy a stationary storage tank, and have a fuel service deliver. At least one service that delivers to me has a 100 gallon minimum. This is really a lot more fuel than I expect to use in a reasonable amount of time. Stale fuel would be a problem.

2) Buy a transfer tank for my pickup. My truck has a short bed (6'), and a topper. A bed tank takes up a bunch of space, and because of the topper, access is pretty inconvenient. Also, I don't want to be hauling around a bunch of diesel fuel all the time.

3) Buy a "fuel caddy" (38 gallons). These things are expensive (around $360 plus a pump, and nozzle), plus I'd still have to get a full fuel caddy unloaded from my truck bad. Doable, but inconvenient.

4) 5 gallon fuel cans. PITA to constantly get filled, and messy. I really don't want to do this long term.

Some of you must have dealt with this same problem. What do you do?

-nosualc

 

[chatcher]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( ...Some of you must have dealt with this same problem. What do you do?

-nosualc )</font>

I just bought a NH TC35DA which also has a 13 gallon tank. During the first 30 hours, I have used about 15 gallons of fuel. I bought two yellow 5-gallon plastic cans and I can't imagine that filling them every 20 hours of tractor use will be much of an inconvenience. If fuel was not available close to me, or if I used the tractor full time every day, or if I had other diesel equipment to keep fueled, I might look for an alternative. But for all the other options you listed, the drawbacks (and cost) rule them out (for me).

 

[oliver28472]

I have a couple of 30 gallon plastic drums. I take one and strap it in the pickup, have it filled. Make sure the bungs are tight. It is small enough to handle even filled. I can lay it down when I get the truck backed up to the barn and roll it to the tailgate, then tilt it off to the ground. Then twist it around into the place I want it. I just use a barrel pump for oil which was cheap for me since I already had it. Slipped a piece of garden hose over the spout so it could reach my tractor. It will only pump about a pint per stroke. Faster hand pumps are available at TSC or parts stores. The plastic barrels are widely available. Mine had pesticides in them. Washed out good and dried completely. When one gets low I take the other and fill it. Sure beats the heck out of the 5 gallon jobs.

 

[dliston]

I agree with Chuck - I have two yellow plastic diesel cans that I fill. Tractor (TC40DA) uses about 15 gallons per day if I run it constantly at PTO speed for 8+ hours (I think that's according to the manual, which I don't have in front of me). Used it Saturday and Sunday for about 4-5 hours per day and used less than 7 gallons of fuel. Those little yellow cans should satisfy my needs for quite a while.

Doug /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[normde2001]

With a 6 acre property, I doubt that you will average more than 5 gals. a month, (10 hours), over the long haul. You don't want to keep fuel around for a long time, so 2 - 5 gal. cans should be sufficient

 

[JackIL]

I used a combination of 2 of your ideas. Two yellow Diesel fuel cans hauled in my truck to get the fuel from the fuel supplier to my shop. But then I found that lifting those cans up high, holding them steady without spilling, and not not losing my footing on the platform was more than I really had the strength to do. So I purchased a roll-around 30 gallon fuel transfer caddie with hand cranked pump from Northern. First I used the hand pump cranked backwards to fill the caddie tank from the yellow cans. Then as required I hand pumped the fuel into the tractor. I know it sounds like pumping twice is a lot of work. However, the pump didn't turn very hard at all and required less physical effort than lifting the cans. Furthermore it was a lot easier to monitor the fuel tank level and minimize the amount of overflows.

JackIL

 

[jmc]

3) Buy a "fuel caddy" (38 gallons). These things are expensive (around $360 plus a pump, and nozzle), plus I'd still have to get a full fuel caddy unloaded from my truck bad. Doable, but inconvenient.


Wow! $360 for a small metal box with wheels on it? If they sell many, the knock-off artists will won't be far behind.

 

[Scrounger]

The caddy's are nice, I have one for race fuel in the snowmobiles, BUT they are heavy and can be a PITA if the fuel sits around alot.

I'd go for two or three 6 gallon jugs for it. JP or any off-road shop has some real nice ones. Ask to see the Tucker Rocky catalog at any local ATV or motorcycle shop.

 

[Highbeam]

I use 3-5 gallon cans. The dozer uses one gallon per hour of use and since many of us only run our machines all day on the weekend it is hard to imagine needing more fuel. It means that one day during the week I need to fill up the cans. I do it the same time that I fill up the truck, whether the truck needs it or not.

The next step is a 55-gallon drum of fuel with a pump on top. These can be filled while in the bed of the truck and then lifted out with the FEL. Now that you have a tractor there is no reason to do all of this back breaking lifting yourself, use your tools.

If you go through lots of fuel at home then have it delivered to a home heating oil type of tank. If you need lots of fuel remotely then the standard 110 gallon tank in the pickup is the ticket.

 

[beenthere]

I had the same dilema, as you are contemplating. I rigged up a 30 gal barrel, trailer'd it to town to fill, and then when home, lifted it up with the FEL. Then with a hose and nozzle attached (before lifting), I would just use gravity to fill the tractor. Mine takes about 7.5 gal, or thereabouts.

After a couple times of wrestling with the 30 gal barrel, I decided that buying about 3-4 gal in a 5 gal container was
1) good for a month or so
2) easily lifted up by hand (the 3320 is easier than the 4300)
3) kept fuel more 'season' related (such as now, I will get the next 4 gal from the summer fuel