Is it necessary to shut the gas off on our old Farmall M tractor when we park it?

Posted by admin in farmall tractors on March 4th, 2010

My grandpa(age86) always shuts the gas off on his old tractors, and my dad was taught the same thing. Now me & my dad are wondering do we really need to do that. Where does this idea come from?

do you need to? maybe not.
should you ? yes.
it can make starting very hard if the gas has flooded the carb.
trust your old grandpa!

4 Responses to “Is it necessary to shut the gas off on our old Farmall M tractor when we park it?”

  1. Comment by Tess

    Hmm, my dad told me to do it because it can self start if on a hill. Never seen one self start down a hill, always parked it in the shed.
    References :
    Out in the orchard

  2. Comment by SLA

    Prevents all the gas leaking out. I never met one of these things that didn’t have at least a drip!
    References :

  3. Comment by Zeke's Dad

    I think fuel leakage is the big reason. A dirty carburetor float valve will let fuel seep, and any carb equipped vehicle with a gravity feed will loose fuel through evaporation. The float bowl is vented to atmosphere, and gas will evaporate at room temp. As gas evaporates, the float will drop, and let more gas back into the carb. A car didn’t have this problem because a fuel pump was required to suppy gas to the carb, since the tank was lower. My riding lawn mower will loose half a tank over 2 weeks if I don’t shut it off.
    References :
    life

  4. Comment by free

    do you need to? maybe not.
    should you ? yes.
    it can make starting very hard if the gas has flooded the carb.
    trust your old grandpa!
    References :

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