154 fuel bowl assembly troubles

[david44]

Greetings,

LoBoy - 1968, or so. Fuel shut-off is not living up to its name and no longer will shut off fuel to the carb. I’ve picked up a new one from Amazon but, like so many knock offs, it looks great but won’t actually accept the output fuel line. I’ve tried dressing the seat on the old one and I’ve slowed down the flow, but I have more of a COMPLETE stop in mind. There is one pictured on Hamilton Bob’s site but it looks like the exact same fuel bowl assembly.

1 - Do any of ya’ll know a source for a complete fuel bowl assembly?

2 - As another option, I may just use a rubber fuel line with a filter and shut off valve. I then need a tank barb with whatever size the thread-in portion of the filter is. I don’t have any big nuts to try on the filter to determine the size. What is the size of the thread-in portion?

Thanks for your help

Cheers

David

[Don McCombs]

TM Tractor Parts. One of our site sponsors. See link at the bottom of this page.

[Eugene]

I quite purchasing fuel bowl assemblies/sediment bowls and parts years ago. Junk. Waste of money. Yup. JUNK.

When one starts leaking it's converted to a ball valve and a gravity fed in line fuel filter.

Positive shut off. No more fuel drips, saves gasoline and money.

[staninlowerAL]

Fuel system parts threads are 1/2 x 20 bolt thread on the fuel shutoff and carb. 5/16 brake line has the right size/thread nut, 5/16 brass tubing fittings can be rethreaded with 1/2 x 20 bolt die. I used a 1/4 quick open, pipe valve with adapters in the fuel line, under the tank and left the OEM fuel shutoff/strainer in place. PM me if you want more info.
EDIT: Here's what it looks like with the parts needed:

[Gary Dotson]

The thread, where the sediment bowl screws into the tank, is 3/8 taper pipe thread. Some folks will eliminate the bowl assy. by using a combination of 3/8 pipe nipples, maybe a street el, 3/8 ball valve and 3/8 x 5/16 hose barb connected to a gravity flow filter. From there to the carb. will vary with what is on the tractor.

[SONNY]

use lapping compound on the needle and seat. --- takes a lot of time but you can eventually get them to work. ---- they will leak around the nut also and I did as John said----wrap string around the shaft, screw up the nut til leak stops and later if needed tighten up nut a bit. Works like a charm.

[BigBill]

Do they sell new packing for under the nut?

[Don McCombs]

Any hardware store will have string packing that will work.

[Dale Finch]

I have success with this product from Lowe's:
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Danco-Ptfe-Foam-String-Assorted/1085897
DO NOT use the graphite version...it turns to mush & makes a real mess!! BTDT !!

[david44]

Gents, I REALLY appreciate all of your responses!!! Plan A - I went to the Depot and got all the brass fittings staninloweral suggested, but, unfortunately, the whole assembly is too big to fit safely, far enough away from the exhaust manifold. Plan B - I tried again to fix the seat on the old strainer that sonny suggested, to no avail. Plan C - I emailed TM Tractor parts 3 days ago asking about their strainer, per Don, but have not heard back. Plan D - fix the new strainer I bought to accept the original hard gas line. The pictures show the issue: the gas line can't be put directly into the strainer body, so there is this extra brass connector & "nut" that have flare fittings. The old hard line tubing fits into the indentation in the fitting and the original gas line nut appears to begin to thread in, but I only get 1/4 turn before it stops turning. How about if I cut off the end of the old line so it will, hopefully, snug down? If that won't work, as you can see from the pictures, the new strainer "nut" the one you put on the gas line to compress the compression fitting, is not the type to do the compression!

I hope this makes a wee bit of sense and one of ya'll can suggest Plan E

Cheers

David

[Jim Becker]

Does the nut stop after 1/4 turn because the old tubing is bottoming out in the indentation? I would not cut off the entire end of the tubing. Would cutting off part of it solve the problem?

Have you verified that the threads on the old nut match the threads on the new nut?

[Don McCombs]

You are better off calling TM Tractor Parts rather than emailing them.

[staninlowerAL]

FYI, the pic that I posted above is as installed on my 57 LoBoy. It is a close fit but works for me.

[mozer71]

I like the original bowl. You can stop the flow while almost sitting there. The glass bowl shows the level of water or rusty biz before it goes to the carb. The screen at the glass bowl gasket is very fine . A tiny lever. 1/4 turn and it is open or shut. It may leak while open dormant but not a drip when the engine is running. Further down, another filter, depending upon the tank condition.