Farm Equipment - CA Zenith Carb Cleaning

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CA Zenith Carb Cleaning

Printed From: Unofficial Allis
Category: Allis Chalmers
Forum Name: Farm Equipment
Forum Description: everything about Allis-Chalmers farm equipment
URL: https://www.allischalmers.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=142956
Printed Date: 20 Dec 2025 at 3:18pm
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Topic: CA Zenith Carb Cleaning

Posted By: Ken in Texas
Subject: CA Zenith Carb Cleaning
Date Posted: 29 Sep 2017 at 6:42am

I let my CA puller set to long without starting it and the old gas in the carb turned to ugly crud and black gunk. It would idle OK on fresh clean gas but died at higher RPM. Pulled the carb off split it in two and let it soak overnight in a gallon of carb cleaner. This old Zenith ran this stock CE smooth as silk for years and I didn't want to change any settings. I hoped just a good cleaning in Carb Cleaner and blowing it out with compressed air would make it like new again. After a final soak in MEK and another good blowing out I put it together and bolted it in. With new Ethanol Free Premium the old CA again is as strong as ever if not a bit stronger. This Carb Cleaning stuff is great.

I'm ready now for the Antique Tractor pull at The Louisiana State Fair Shreveport come November. I got her stripped down to pull in the light tractor 2500 lb 3.5 MPH class and weight up with 500 lbs of suitcase weights for the 3000 class this year. If they allow 3 hooks I may try to sneak into the 2500 Farm Stock Class. The Engine after all is bone stock Allis. It's a 2 day pull. Friday & Saturday A full Pulling program both days. 1st,2nd and 3rd place Ribbons on Saturday

Replies:

Posted By: Ted J
Date Posted: 29 Sep 2017 at 7:39am

Glad it worked out so easy for you Ken.
Didn't you write down your settings? I do that after I go through one and get it set just right. That way, I KNOW where it's at.
ANOTHER reason I use ONLY ethanol free gas.

GOOD LUCK on pulling!! Even though it's a little early.......2 more months away...

-------------
"Allis-Express"
19?? WC / 1941 C / 1952 CA / 1956 WD45 / 1957 WD45 / 1958 D-17

Posted By: Ken in Texas
Date Posted: 29 Sep 2017 at 7:55am

Ted

I just checked my calendar , LA State Fair pull is October 27-28 this year. It will be here before you know it.

Now I have a conflict with a great Car Show I haven't missed in years.

Posted By: HoughMade
Date Posted: 29 Sep 2017 at 10:34am

This is a good example showing that a good cleaning is all these old carbs usually need. A rebuild with new parts is only necessary if the parts are actually worn out or otherwise damaged. Save your money for other things.

Posted By: DrAllis
Date Posted: 29 Sep 2017 at 11:05am

I've had six (80-84-88-93-99-03) F-150 Ford pickups and have logged just over a MILLION miles total on all six using ETHANOL fuel..............not one penny spent on fuel system or any engine problems.

Posted By: HoughMade
Date Posted: 29 Sep 2017 at 3:01pm

As I understand it (and I am open to correction), there are 2 main issues with ethanol in gasoline. First, there was an issue with rubber and plastic degrading in the presence of ethanol. I have dealt with my fair share of older, mostly small engines that would develop mushy rubber fuel lines and flake off bits to clog jets, and on the other hand, the clear or translucent fuel lines with get brittle faster, crack and break.

However, once ethanol became very common, the fuel lines were made out of materials that resisted these issues. I know there is a lot of "legacy" equipment out there, but most anything made in the last 20 years (maybe longer) was made to be able to use ethanol laced gas. This goes for recently manufactured fuel lines for sale as replacement parts as well. On-road vehicles have been designed to handle ethanol/gas since the '80s, at least.

The second issue was that the ethanol would absorb moisture and if a machine sat unused for a long time, the water absorbed could settle out to the bottom of the tank and rust (want to see the bottom of my B's tank?). Again, however, in modern vehicles, coatings combat this and it will never be an issue at all unless the machine sits for at least many, many months, possibly years (like my B).

I say all that to say this- in a Zenith carb as used on something like a B, C, etc., there are no internal rubber or plastic parts. Heck, there is no rubber or plastic on my B anywhere between the tank and carb (steel and a little brass). I will use the 10% stuff and make sure that if she is going to sit (with the newly de-rusted tank) I drain the gas. This was the best practice before there was any ethanol in the gas (the drain plug was designed into the carb a long time before ethanol). I did this with my motorcycle too.