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Fuel Consumption

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retcol
Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 109 Barron,wi
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2009-09-13          165613


I am concerned about fuel consumption in my L4330. I primarily use my tractor for mowing with a 72" finishing mower. it seems that I am using 1 1/2 - 2 gallons of fuel per hour and I think that is excessive in comparison to some of my friends with John Deere tractors. One guy has a John Deere 5055 and he used about a tank of fuel in 31 hours. Am I expecting too much?



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Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999
Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2009-09-13          165616


As a general rule of thumb, a modern diesel will use about 1/3 of a pound of fuel, per horsepower, per hour, at peak power. A gallon of Diesel fuel is 7.3 pounds.

By that then a 44hp engine will use about 14.5 pounds per hour. That is roughly 2 gallons per hour.

I think your friend has a very special JD though. Those same numbers say that a 55hp will burn 18.5 pounds an hour, or 2.5 gallons per hour. In 31 hours then it would use about 78.5 gallons.

It's either a very thrifty machine, or it has one heck of a fuel tank on it!

Best of luck. ....


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earthwrks
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 3853 Home Office in Flat Rock, Michigan
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2009-09-13          165618


Have you checked the obvious: air filters, using the right gear, using the right engine RPM?

My New Holland 33hp requires 2,600 - 2,800 RPM. I have no idea what it consumes since I'm never really doing the same job for very long under the same conditions.

For comparison my skid steer with a 78 hp 3-cyl turbo uses about 3 gallons per hour under full load at full throttle which is what is recommended. The Owner Manual says to expect 2.9 gallons per hour. ....


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earthwrks
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 3853 Home Office in Flat Rock, Michigan
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2009-09-13          165619


Murf using your formula I come up with 3.5 GPH for my skid steer. Since I'm getting .6 of a GPH better, is it likely due to the turbo giving me better consumption?

And this formula really doesn't apply to motor vehicles, right? ....


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auerbach
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 2168 West of Toronto
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2009-09-13          165620


Hard to tell because you don't know how much load the driving and mowing puts on the tractor. Someone with a 40-HP JD reports 5 gal in 7 hrs of routine work. My 22-HP with the same tank lasts 12 hrs. ....


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kthompson
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 5275 South Carolina
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2009-09-13          165621


I have a 27 hp CUT Kubota with HST. The fuel tank is about 7 gallons. The other day I ran about 6 gallons of fuel through it in about 6 hours. It was pulling a landscape rake running near full throttle working hard moving dirt. Then on the following Monday (Labor Day) did the same job but at about 2,000 rpms and dirt was easier to move and the fuel used was about 4 gallons. At same time had a 68 hp Kubota with Manual Trans. On each of those days it was used to pull about 6 to 8,000 trailer loads of dirt with it running about 1500 rpms when moving and then ideling for a while to be loaded. It probably used about 6 gallons each day while over twice the hp. But oh the load difference. On the tractor I have run it at least 20 hours on the 18 gallon of fuel and then with real heavy work had to refill to finish a 10 hour day. Many people miss the load on a engine when telling how great they are at fuel.

But do be sure filters are good. ....


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hardwood
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 3583 iowa
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2009-09-14          165625


On old carbureted gasoline tractor engines fuel consumption could vary quite a bit from brand to brand with like loads. On todays modern diesels and even the fuel injected gsaoline engines in pickups the fuel consumption rates are about 98% controled by engine size compared to the the load, operator habits, working conditions, etc. I think the fuel consumption rates from brand to brand under like conditions are so close that it wouldn't be much of a factor in brand choice. ....


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hardwood
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 3583 iowa
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2009-09-14          165626



On the other end of the scale, I once owned a gasoline powered combine with a 90 HP engine that used a gallon of gas every eight minutes under full load. ....


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Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999
Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2009-09-14          165633


Quote:
Originally Posted by earthwrks | view 165619
Murf using your formula I come up with 3.5 GPH for my skid steer. Since I'm getting .6 of a GPH better, is it likely due to the turbo giving me better consumption?And this formula really doesn't apply to motor vehicles, right?


Jeff, it's possible that the turbo is responsible, but that's about a 17% gain and I doubt it would have that much effect, I'd be thinking more along the lines of half of that.

I suspect it's more likely due to a combination of the turbo and that NH doesn't set the throttle handle on the SSL to give you WOT but more likely at about 80% power for engine longevity.

The formula applies to all 'modern' diesel engines, but the over-riding part of it is "at peak power", It's rare that you'd be running a pickup for instance at WOT for very long.

Best of luck. ....


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DRankin
Join Date: Jan 2000
Posts: 5116 Northern Nevada
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2009-09-17          165730


Quote:
Originally Posted by hardwood | view 165626
On the other end of the scale, I once owned a gasoline powered combine with a 90 HP engine that used a gallon of gas every eight minutes under full load.


Wow..... that sounds a lot like my motorhome........ ....


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Art White
Join Date: Jan 2000
Posts: 6898 Waterville New York
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2009-09-22          165849



Murf's measure is a good overall average I've seen it before but there are a lot of variables to it.

What is being done the way it is operated as well as the weight of the unit.

....


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