Where can you buy "off-road" diesel?

[hoytp]

I started buying highway diesel for my tractor (and house heat) maybe 10 years ago when I realized the sulfur content of off-road diesel was something like 10-50 times higher. Now there's not much difference I hear but I still use highway diesel in my tractor.

In NC I'm able to deduct the sales tax from my state income tax. I keep track of my fuel cost anyway so it's a 5 minute job to work out the numbers.

 

[Flockmaster1972]

I don't reckon you have an Indian reservation near you? The ones that sell gas just about always have off-road.

 

[LBrown59]

I started buying highway diesel for my tractor (and house heat) maybe 10 years ago when I realized the sulfur content of off-road diesel was something like 10-50 times higher. Now there's not much difference I hear but I still use highway diesel in my tractor.

In NC I'm able to deduct the sales tax from my state income tax. I keep track of my fuel cost anyway so it's a 5 minute job to work out the numbers.

There is no difference now .
I would go back to off road.

 

[hoytp]

Like the OP, the nearest source of off-road diesel is off my beaten track.

A Whizzer! My dream 50 years ago.

 

[LBrown59]

A Whizzer! My dream 50 years ago. [/QUOTE]

Me too but I'm a little older so it would more be like 55 to 60 years ago for me.

 

[hoytp]

I was rounding off. I'm off to my 60th high school reunion next month.

I lived in Calgary for 23 years and worked among other things on the proposed gas pipeline from Prudhoe Bay up the Mackenzie River to, eventually, Chicago. That must have been big news where you live back then.

 

[megotatractor]

Here's a good one; There is a local co-op that sells "off road" diesel out of a pump/tank in the back lot.... it costs MORE than the on-road diesel!!!!! (because it is "bio-diesel")
Pisses me off that I have to pay road tax to mow my lawn! The co-op did tell me however that they can deliver a few gallons to me IF they happen to be in the area.
I have been buying on-road for 11 years but every time I think about it I want to puke. There is the back of my mind to find a farming neighbor and fill up my can and hand him some cash... but I never get around to it.

 

[Old Junk Man]

I buy the road tax diesel. The farm diesel has a dye in it. and the quality and cetane rating can be pretty poor. the off road around here clogs filters pretty fast. and it doesn't have winter additive. A neighbors diesel tractor the off road fuel gelled last winter when we had the cold polar vortex that settled in here for a week. My dad bought a new Terrraplane Dong Feng 354 diesel it wouldn't start even in warm weather without starting fluid. I changed the filters and put in road tax fuel and it started in cold weather without starting fluid. My opinion its false economy to buy off road fuel. Buy taxed fuel and keep track and recoup the road tax.

 

[JerryK]

The majority of diesel sold now days is all the same, with just red dye added at the distributor. If you do buy the off road, and if you don't spend the time/effort to keep your bulk diesel storage fuel clean/moisture free/etc.. you will probably spend more in the future on plug'd filters and other problems than you saved on the tax. Most folks would be better off to keep their tank and storage cans as full as possible with fresh clean road taxed non-bio fuel from a well used truck stop. You should just about never have to change your fuel filter much, or drain water out of it... If you are getting water into your system, or plug'd filters.... time to change your fueling habits.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I buy the road tax diesel. The farm diesel has a dye in it. and the quality and cetane rating can be pretty poor. the off road around here clogs filters pretty fast. and it doesn't have winter additive. A neighbors diesel tractor the off road fuel gelled last winter when we had the cold polar vortex that settled in here for a week. My dad bought a new Terrraplane Dong Feng 354 diesel it wouldn't start even in warm weather without starting fluid. I changed the filters and put in road tax fuel and it started in cold weather without starting fluid. My opinion its false economy to buy off road fuel. Buy taxed fuel and keep track and recoup the road tax.

Not that I doubt your filters clogged but it sure wasn't from the dye used in off road. The dye is just too small micron to stop in a filter. On road (taxed) and off road diesel can be summer or winter grade depending on when it was bought and stored. If you buy from a bulk supplier, you could specify that you want winter grade fuel and then you could use it year round. Winter grade wont have the same energy per gallon as summer grade though but you shouldn't really notice that unless you are pushing the limit on horsepower with your tractor. It may burn an extra liter per tank of fuel doing the same amount of work when using winter blend during the summer but it wont gell as fast in the winter.

There is absolutely no difference in cetane rating from off road to on road. I don't know where you got your erroneous info at but I would avoid quoting that guy if I were you.