What gas to run

Best thing to do is to turn the petcock valve at the fuel bowl off, and let the tractor run out of gas at the carb(for long term storage).  That way whatever gas you use isn't in the carb to go bad...

Illinois switched to 10% ethanol prior to 1989... I bought a new F250 that year.. EVERYTHING i have, truc, car, mower, weedeater, chainsaw, several tractors ,  4 wheelers have all been running 10% for 35 years..

Others will definitely disagree, but here's my own opinion (reply copied from one I wrote a few days ago on another forum):

I used to drain and run dry all my tractors and small engines. I then found that I had better luck just putting a good dose of stabilizer in the tank, running it for a bit to get some stabilizer through the system, and keeping the tank full to prevent condensation. Back when I ran them dry, it seemed like one out of every 10 engines or so would need a carb cleaning and/or float un-sticking the next year. I think probably more so with tractors that have cast carb bowls and bare steel lines, where running them dry means the steel/cast is exposed to air and might rust. Better to keep them full of fuel in my opinion. Never had a problem since I started keeping them full. I just fired up a gasser Fordson yesterday that hadn't been ran since November 2023. It fired up instantly, and went to work on the chipper just dandy. Nothing but regular E10 fuel and a good dose of stabilizer in the tank.

I also now use regular fuel and don't worry about the ethanol content. I've completely flip-flopped on this one. I used to be obsessive about buying premium with no ethanol content. But now I just buy whatever regular gas is closest, and put a good dose of that Lucas upper cylinder lubricant & stabilizer combo in all of my fuel. If I know I'm going to be adding more fuel before winter, I use a shot of two-stroke oil rather than the Lucas stuff, because I just want the lubricity and don't need the stabilizer. Haven't noticed any difference from premium - Neither with my old gassers that get the heck worked out of them (Allis 180 on the round-baler and Ford logging units) nor with the gasser toys (Fordsons, Cockshutts, W6, etc.) that see minimal use and sit for months at a time.

If you let a lot of moisture accumulate in your tanks there is a 'slight' concern about fuels with ethanol in them separating/stratifying if they sit for an extended period. But you have to have a heck of a lot of condensation/moisture accumulate for that to happen, and also have them sit for a heck of a long time. Even at our Southern farm in the Great Lakes region with constant high humidity and heavy condensation on every surface every morning for most of the year, it's never been a concern. Marine engines would be about the only time I'd be concerned about it.

I've also flip-flopped in my beliefs and I'm now a fan of ethanol fuel: Commodity crop prices are so low that we need all the help/markets we can get for our crops. And ethanol/bio production is a huge part of that market. Without it, the price of corn/beans would tank even more than it already has.

Edited by DanielW - 05 Nov 2025 at 7:26am

Short story; I've had bad luck with ethanol.

I run no ethanol premium and put some stabil in the tank for all my gas equipment an haven't had any issues.  Some of them don't get started very often, and zero issues.

I run E10 with Sta Bil 360.

I run Sta-bil in all my ractor and garden tractor year around and they start up without any problems

first non ethanlol  and e 10 dont get along use one or the other  ,  second  octaine and compression go hand in hand   low compression low octaine  that will make the most power   the higher the compression  the higher the octain so  it does not detionate   7 or 8 to one compression  85 or 88 is plenty   i use  e10 85 in about everything execpt my snowmobiles get 91 non ethonal   pulling tractor gets 110 

In discussions  about ethanol in gasoline it usually the folks from corn growing areas that don't have any problems running ethanol but almost all from other areas have problems

Gary Burnett wrote: In discussions  about ethanol in gasoline it usually the folks from corn growing areas that don't have any problems running ethanol but almost all from other areas have problems

Gary, I'm from the heart of corn country and grow some too. No fan of ethanol!

A while back, I bought a Terra-Tiger. Somewhere along the way, the engine had been changed to a (Chinese) Duromax 4 stroke engine.