Gas is sometimes a better choice now adays for some part-time users. But for a tractor that gets used a lot, a diesel in most cases is a lot cheaper to run. There are a few exceptions, especially if you put a big diesel tractor on a very small load. Some big diesels doing very light work are worse fuel hogs than a correct-sized gas tractor doing the same job.
I got raking hay a few weeks ago with my 300 Deere. Mine is a diesel and the other tractor there was a Deere 300 with the gas engine. My diesel used approx. 1 1/2 gallons of diesel per hour and the gas tractor used 2 1/2 gallons per hour. Right now - here in central New York, diesel is $3.38 per gallon and gasoline is $2.83 per gallon. So, do the math.
Downside to the diesel is the extra costs often involved in repairs and maintenance - and the fact that few "gas engine" mechanics know how to work on injectors and injection pumps. So, they send the stuff out and a $25 repair turns into a $700 repair.
Regardless of the claims that diesels are more simple, they're not. Just happen to have much of the fuel system and ignition system in a cental unit that many do not know how to work on.
A diesel presents more problems to deal with in extreme cold weather. Also needs more battery. As for torque? Many gas engines have exactly the same torque and torque curve when they have the same bore and long stroke. In fact, a gas engine, if equal in bore and stroke to a diesel, will have more power, not less. But, stick a turbo on a diesel and things change.
I'm not trashing diesels. They are by far the best for any serious work. But, for some people and limited useage, they are often more costly overall, not less.
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Today's Featured Article - Old Time Threshing - by Anthony West. A lovely harvest evening late September 1947, I was a school boy, like all school boys I loved harvest time. The golden corn ripens well and early, the stoking, stacking,.... the drawing in with the tractors and trailers and a few buck rakes thrown in, and possibly a heavy horse. It would be a great day for the collies and the terrier dogs, rats and mice would be at the bottom of the stacks so the dogs, would have a busy time hunting and killing, all the corn was gathered and ricked in what we c
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