Cursing The Engineers

[Maine farmer]

Our newest tractor ( a 2010 year model) is having some fuel supply issues.  In the process of diagnosing the problem, I was looking to see if there was an inline screen between the fuel tank and the primary fuel filter.  The fuel tank is underneath the operator's station, and the fuel line comes out on the bottom middle on the right side, then goes towards the back of the tank, and over the top to the left side of the operators station, then back over the engine block to the right side and loops under the filters and transfer pump into the primary filter.   There may or may not be an inline screen somewhere in there.  Our older (almost antique) tractors have the fuel tank up in front of the engine, and the fuel line is a mostly straight line of only about two feet in length to the transfer pump, and the whole thing is visible when standing next to the tractor.  Why did the modern engineers mess up such a simple arrangement?  

 

I don't want anything made after 1992 thanks to them!

[OceanBreeze]

Cursing the Engineers? That’s all I can stand, and I can’t stand no more!

:aggressive: 

Being an engineer myself, I am sure there is a good reason for what they did, although I don’t know what it is.

 

You didn’t give any information about your tractor but I will take a wild guess it is a John Deere or something similar and it uses EFI instead of a carburetor. The EFI system is much less sensitive to pressure loss in the fuel line than a carbureted system, so the lines can be a lot longer.

 

 

The actual length was probably chosen to match the fuel pressure to a desired flow rate for best engine performance, and maybe even to meet some Federal requirement for emissions.

 

 

 

Also, the way the line is looped, the engine will start and run even if the tractor is upside down, so maybe they were taking your driving habits into consideration?

 

 

If the tractor is a carbureted system and you never have turned one over, then please disregard all of the above and I think I may have just the right model for you. Actually, I like this one myself and if I could find one, I would keep it.

 

[Buffy]

I would also guess the tank was moved from the front to minimize the danger of high-speed head on crashes.

 

I thought that might be a funny joke until I saw this:

 

 

 

If I had an hour to solve a problem I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions, :phones:

Buffy

[spartan45]

I read a novel called ‘Flyaway’ by Desmond Bagley in which the lead character is dependent on a 70’s Toyota Land cruiser being able to cope with, amongst other things,  a wheel  change or two in order to traverse the Sahara desert. Now, recently I read the curse of the engineers seems to have struck modern day off road vehicles; see examples below.

Example one tells of a 4x4 system that will not function correctly with one of tyre tread having a different depth to the other three. https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=102173

Also https://www.audiworld.com/forums/q7-discussion-112/must-replace-all-4-tires-once-2819926/

Example two describes how mismatching tires can damage AWD (all-wheel drive) cars.

https://www.lesschwab.com/learn/article/replace-all-4-tires-on-your-awd-vehicle

[Maine farmer]

I would also guess the tank was moved from the front to minimize the danger of high-speed head on crashes.

 

I thought that might be a funny joke until I saw this:

 

 

 

If I had an hour to solve a problem I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions, :phones:

Buffy

One area engineers have exceeded (probably because of lawyers) is safety.  Nowadays tractors are loaded with warning stickers.  Sometimes this can be counter productive.  One morning when I went to start a tractor to feed the cows, the neutral start switch failed. (It won't allow the tractor to start if it is in gear) I noticed a sticker on the starter warning not to bypass start the tractor with a screw driver.  It even showed a nice picture of where to put the screw driver.  It inspired me to grab a screw driver and start up the tractor!  (After making certain that the transmission was in the neutral position, of course.)

 

Cursing the Engineers? That’s all I can stand, and I can’t stand no more!

:aggressive: 

Being an engineer myself, I am sure there is a good reason for what they did, although I don’t know what it is.

 

You didn’t give any information about your tractor but I will take a wild guess it is a John Deere or something similar and it uses EFI instead of a carburetor. The EFI system is much less sensitive to pressure loss in the fuel line than a carbureted system, so the lines can be a lot longer.

 

 

The actual length was probably chosen to match the fuel pressure to a desired flow rate for best engine performance, and maybe even to meet some Federal requirement for emissions.

 

 

 

Also, the way the line is looped, the engine will start and run even if the tractor is upside down, so maybe they were taking your driving habits into consideration?

 

 

If the tractor is a carbureted system and you never have turned one over, then please disregard all of the above and I think I may have just the right model for you. Actually, I like this one myself and if I could find one, I would keep it.

 

All of our tractors have diesel engines, and with some apologies, I think the location of the tank may have been dictated by the marketing department, but I see no logic to the layout of the fuel line.  When it comes time to replace that line, I will run one along the frame rail and right into the primary filter.  It will be so ;much easier.

[Maine farmer]

Another repair, another complaint!

 

Bearings on the power input shaft on the manure spreader wore out.  There were four bolts holding the bearing housing for each bearing, and they put the two bearings close enough together that it is a very tight squeeze for my hands.  Even two more inches would have made my day a whole lot easier!

 

Another complaint about farm equipment is how they make the safety shields so they lift up just high enough to be out of my line of sight, but not quite high enough for me to walk under them without ducking.  When you are in the field trying to get something done, it is very easy to forget to duck!  Also, the edges of the shields are always sharp and pointy, so some bloodshed is virtually guaranteed.