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Cold Weather Starts

Started by Greenedive, February 04, 2007, 09:51:47 PM

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jokers

Quote from: a old timberjack on February 05, 2007, 08:15:52 PM
I have my old Timberjack "chained up" backwards
Yes I noticed that from your avitar picture.  ;D

jokers

Quote from: Greenedive on February 06, 2007, 06:04:05 PM
Well...I was prepared this AM....
Loaded up my:
Generator
Battery Charger
Torpedo Space Heater
and the new Kat's Block Heater I bought last night.....

Got up to the job....feeling a little smug....gonna beat this thing today....

and the da...arn generator wouldn't start ... >:(
LOL....still took almost 2 hours jumping it to get it going
ah well....tomorrow I'm gonna try the flexible exhaust thing....
It is sure to work.....  ::)

This is a good argument for a power inverter run off of your truck`s electrics, one less engine to putz with...........or count on. I have a cheapie Invertec or something like that that you can buy anywhere. 2500w and it will power a circulating block heater and my trusty Milwaukee heat gun for spot heating or blowing hot air into the intake.

I`ve used machines that needed ether and I do believe the old maxim that machines get addicted to the stuff if used too much.  Yes I know that some machines have come from the factory set up for ether but I think there are better alternatives if your engine is healthy. If the engine is a little tired already then I guess it doesn`t matter quite as much, just DON`T use ether in conjunction with glow plugs, I`d be worried about using it with a manifold heater as well.

The best cold weather diesel start advice that I can give is to use only clean winter grade fuel, clean fuel filters, good batteries, and a fuel conditioner/anti-gel such as the stuff from Power Service. I use the Power Service product year round to keep my injector pumps lubed, especially now that all the fuel here is ultra low sulphur. I have no financial interest in Power Service and assume that there are other products just as good, just that PS is available everywhere around here so why bother taking a chance on something different?

I also want to apologize in advance to those of you who already know and think of this, but heating the engine oil is also a good method, whether with an on board system or dipstick or magnetic pan heater......or a small campfire.  ;D And once you have the beast running, ease into the work by cycling your hydraulics and letting the oil flow which also gently loads the engine and keep in mind that your axles, gears and bearings are also cold and may also like a little foreplay before being expected to perform. Also keep your hydraulic oil clean and dry for obvious reasons that may become even more obvious at temps below freezing.

I rarely have any diesel starting trouble and also rarely break any machines without pushing something too hard, spinning a wheel that suddenly catches hard, or smashing it.  :o  All avoidable situations and something that my grandfather instilled in everyone in my family, including the women.

Sorry for the book, but then those of you who know me would expect nothing less!  :D

Jeff

Stephen Alford, its about time you said something so we could welcome you to the Forestry Forum. :D

Welcome to the Forestry Forum. ;)
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

Stephen Alford

Thanks ! You fellars do to a topic what a good sawyer with a sharp eye does to a log. Love to watch it go through sometimes with a lot of noise and hoopin over what the best cut is but in the end the kurf slabs and lumber are all sorted proper and a good job done. Still a bit cold here as well ,earlier this morning saw a seagull towing another seagull  with a frenchfry trying to jump-start him !!
logon

sawguy21

Now that would have been a sight. :D Welcome. LT40HDD51 asked about diesel fired heaters. The indirect fired ones work best, they are like a portable oil furnace. There is no flame in the warmed air. The direct fired such as the Reddy heaters are a lot cheaper but there is a risk of fire. A lot of truckers and equipment operators use a tiger torch in a length of stove pipe with an elbow to direct the warm air upwards under the oil pan. Not a good idea to put open flame directly under an engine, dripping oil or diesel can warm things up a little too much.
old age and treachery will always overcome youth and enthusiasm

LT40HDD51

Dad was telling me that when he used to do seismic work in northern Alberta in the 70s, they used to change the oil in the diesel nodwell drill rigs without shutting them off  ;D. Pull the plug and start dumping fresh oil in the top, when it comes clean out the bottom put the plug back in and change the filter right quick  :). They had a sight guage on the crankcase so you could check the oil level when its running, they ran at least 1000 rpm 24/7 all winter long. Shut em off for half an hour and they'd need tiger torches to get em goin. Pull a parachute over the whole rig and turn the torches up on the underside. They were all hydraulic, so everything had to be warm...

Way up north they dont run any diesels, they dont make enough heat to keep themselves up to temperature  :o. Go far enough up and they run kerosene in the place of antifreeze...
The name's Ian. Been a sawyer for 6 years professionally, Dad bought his first mill in '84, I was 2 years old :). Factory trained service tech. as well... Happy to help any way I can...

leweee

Quote from: Stephen Alford on February 07, 2007, 10:12:25 AM
Still a bit cold here as well ,earlier this morning saw a seagull towing another seagull  with a frenchfry trying to jump-start him !!
:D  :D  :D heck ofva visual. :D  :D  :D

Big Forestry Forum Welcome to  Stephen Alford ;D



PS  when Bar- B- Qen Skidder over wood fire lightly sautee not flomba. ;D
just another beaver with a chainsaw &  it's never so bad that it couldn't get worse.

Greenedive

Well...thanks to you guys I now have a better and MUCH faster way to start my skidder in the AM. I didn't get to try all the suggestions (though I have copied them all down for future reference), but I'm using a take off from one of the ideas on this post. I took about 15 feet of the 3" flexible exhaust pipe and slid it over my truck's tailpipe (just fit) and then took the other end and put it down on the lower part of my skidder engine. I also have jumper cables running from my truck to the skidder batteries with my truck engine revved up to about 2500 rpms. After about 5 minutes the frost starts coming out of the engine block and after 10-15 minutes she is off and running. What a difference from the 1-2 hours it was taking before....and the best part of it is...it is a super cheap solution.
LOL....just wish I'd started doing this about 30 years ago.... ::)

Thanks again for all the suggestions!!!

arojay

I have been pre-heating by exchanging coolant from pick-up or other warm engine for many years.  I preheat my engines from the heater hoses on the  Ford work truck with 300-6.  I have never damaged an engine from transferring cold AF to warm engine.  I have heard of guys having this problem transferring directly from block to block.  If you tap into heater hoses and leave the heater core flowing then the transfer is slower and only a small amount of cold AF is introduced at a time.  When transferring from block to block on larger engines the size of the hose or orfice in the quick coupler limits the volume and engine idling at a slow speed also helps.  Using this method I can have the engine in a D-6 at about 140 F  in about 20 minutes to a half hour.  A very civilized start at an ambient temp of -30C.  Webastos, Pro heats etc. work great.  I've worked for bigger operators who used them but my old Ford is always on the job anyway.   
440B skidder, JD350 dozer, Husqvarnas from 335 to 394. All spruced up

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