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.