Propane Conversion

[bowcoffin]

Hey guys,

Anyone have any knowledge about pros or cons of converting to propane? What all would I have to do to my "Inners"? Would you recommend it? Seems like the more efficient way to buy fuel...

Thanks!

[Moline_Puller]

There are a lot of good things about running propane...your engine will love it...very little carbon in the fuel (less need for oil changes), 105-110 octane, easy cold starting (well, down to -40 degrees, at least). The only bad thing is having a good source of propane...well, your fuel efficiency will drop about 10% too!

I've thought a lot about switching to propane...I used to compete with a pulling tractor that ran on propane and I loved it! And I'm still planning on switching my truck over at some time!

Here is a link that will answer further questions...

http://www.gotpropane.com/p4.html


Good luck!

[imjeff]

Shorter range, less power. You don't need to change internals, but you can get better performance by purpose building a propane motor (it's still less btu/gallon) if you want to run only propane.

[68gmcdually]

We have a '93 Silverado 1500 with a 350 and a '96 3500HD with a 454 both on propane since new at work. We've had great success with them. My '68 motor was on propane and I wish I had of kept it that way.

[Mike C]

Propane is only down slightly on BTU compared to gasoline. I have a '61 John Deere 4010 on LP and love propane as a motor fuel. The gasoline tractor and propane tractor had almost identical power outputs, the concession was the LP motor had a full point higher compression to make up the difference.

The 4010 has a 60 gallon tank and I use a 250 gallon with a siphon installed to refuel. Like an air tank, you can only get a full refill the first 3 times or so then need the gas company to refill. But on the road you won't have to worry about that.

[imjeff]

The actual btu numbers per gallon are 125,000 for gasoline and 90,000 for propane. We had a dual fuel truck in 1976. I'm sure the systems are way better today, but where do you fill up? When I had my camper we had a heck of a time finding propane stations that were open. Lots of "that guy is off today", etc. Not a huge deal for cooking gas, but it could be a giant pain on the road.