There's a lot of discussion of the fact that diesels are generally more efficient than gas engines, but not much about why this is the case. Diesels derive their high efficiency from their high compression ratios. If you could run a spark ignition engine at 14:1 compression, it would be pretty efficient. Which is one reason why automakers are starting to make direct-injection gas engines: they can achieve much higher compression ratios than earlier fuel-injection designs. Most gasoline tractors have modest compression ratios; typically less than 9:1, making equivalent diesel tractors much more efficient.
Diesels also derive a small efficiency gain because they don't have to throttle their intake air, eliminating throttling losses.
jdemaris mentioned the fact that when you compare fuel consumption by weight rather than volume, gas engines don't look so bad. But for much of the history of diesel farm tractors, gasoline was more expensive than diesel fuel. Farmers couldn't care less about the Btu content of their fuel, but they definitely care what it costs.
So efficiency was the main thing that killed gas tractors. But maintenance played a role, too. Most diesel engines go to major overhaul with little or no maintenance other than oil and filter changes.
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Today's Featured Article - A Cautionary Tale - by Ian Minshull. In the early 1950s my father bought an Allis Chalmers B and I used it for all the row crop work with the mangolds and potatoes, rolling and the haymaking on our farm. The farm and the Allis were sold and I have spent a lifetime working on farms throughout the country. I promised myself that one day I would own an Allis. That time event
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