Ford 540 vs 445... Now 545 D

[Andries]

John, I'll echo what chevytahoe recommends with the circulation type heater. They do a great job of heating up the whole engine block and cooling system. My 545 is out in the open all winter for snow clearing and I keep insulated tarp handy so that when I plug in, the tarp will keep the heat in around the motor.
Those Ford Thermostart preheaters are such a cool idea, (yikes, a flamethrower in the intake manifold!) but the igniter seems to be the finicky part that sometimes does, or mostly doesn't want to work. I won't get my Ford hooked on diesel crack (ether) and if it's too cold for the block heater and the thermostat and the tarp not to work, then I'll do something else that day. There's always a bit of warmer weather coming.
It seems so odd that cold weather diesel starting advice from us 'glaciated' guys like chevyTahoe and barbender and myself, would be going to a guy that's working in California. I have to remember that you're working at an altitude where there not might be much oxygen.
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I'd go with a high wattage tank type recirculating block heater, a full tank of gas in a quiet Honda generator.
Alternately, there's propane pancake heaters that plug into the coolant system on the skidders up here. That works at -35°C but a bit rough'an tough because of a really really fast warmup. Save that no love lost option for the Detroit353 as bbender says.  😬
The elegant and 'need-to-work in-the-cold-all-the-time' solution is a Webasto heater that burns diesel from your main fuel supply and 12 or 24v from the machine's battery. Programmed to start at five am, so that you can turn the key and go at first light. Vevor sells them for much less than the original European prices. IceRoad trucker stuff, works very very well.
Options galore!

[barbender]

 Some diesels just do not start well in the cold, unassisted. For instance, the Cummins in my Dodge pickups start awesome in any weather if you cycle the intake grid heater first. Same thing in all of the Ponsse machines I've ran, let that grid heater cycle and they will start cold at -20°F. 

 Now my 3.9 Cummins in my Case skid steer? It has no intake heater, and below 40° and it very quickly loses the ability to start without plugging in the block heater. I've thought about finding a junk 5.9 Cummins from a Dodge and stealing the intake grid heater for the 3.9, it makes a world of difference.

[chevytaHOE5674]

Valve height could change the compression ratio slightly. 

Did you put each injector back in the same hole it came out of? 

[Andries]

Burt, are those intake heaters electrical?
 My mind's eye goes to something like a fine mesh that gets really hot which heats up the intake air, helping the diesel to pop off. 
A pair of healthy batteries needed for that . .  .

[beenthere]

This thread reminds me of a channel I subscribed to of Mike McCoy (may he rest in peace). While looking for the video of how he pulled a plug out of the intake manifold and used a hand held gas torch in that hole to preheat the intake, I ran across this other video of "mother" (as he affectionately called his wife who was offbearer, forklift driver, and do everything) showing her starting the John Deere front end loader. The trick she was using to relieve load on the system was to move the steering wheel so hyd. fluid wasn't dead-headed in the system. I've used it before and it seems to help to turn the engine over easier with the starter. I'll look some more for the video showing him heating the intake of the Deere.
Cold John Deere 544 - YouTube

[barbender]

 Andries, yes they are electrical, and they pull enough amps to dim your headlights (the Dodges will continue to cycle the grid even after the engine is started). Probably part of the reason they do run dual batteries in the diesel pickups. But I don't see any reason a battery that can crank a diesel wouldn't have what it takes. The glow plugs on my Lombardini diesel on the Woodmizer draw some amps too, and the single battery is more than up to the task.

 It's a lot less amps drawn overall, let the grid heater cycle (usually 20-30 seconds) and touch the key and it's running, vs my skid steer where I'm afraid I'm going to damage my starter by cranking too long.

 Beenthere, I do believe that wiggling the steering wheel trick is particular to the John Deeres, someone like Kiko would know way better than me but I was told they are designed that way. It causes the pump to bypass somehow.

 Ponsses, which have variable displacement pumps, put the swash plate at the minimum angle/displacement when they are being cranked. I'm sure others are similar.

[chevytaHOE5674]

Wiggling the steering wheel helps the hydraulic pressure in a closed center system have a place to go instead of using the starter to build hydraulic pressure.

On most tractors lowering the 3pt hitch to the ground can often increase cranking speed. If the hitch settles at all then the starter is spinning the hydraulic pump and trying to lift the hitch and implement.

[Ljohnsaw]

Yes, the injectors went back in their respective holes.

Thanks for jogging my memory. I have a couple of those Webasto clone heaters I got at auction super cheap. I'll mount one up with a line pointing at the base of the engine to heat it up! I'll need to fab up some sort of cab on the 545D when I get around to having to do snow removal at the cabin.

It was 35° this morning and the "flame thrower" got me started pretty quickly.

[Ljohnsaw]

I went up the Wednesday before Thanksgiving to retrieve my quick attach off the Ford. I had the bucket slip off one side and tweak it. I straightened it as best I could with the hydraulics but it was difficult to change attachments.

I tried to straighten it better at home with chains and a jack, no joy. I have another tool plate so I set it in that. I sawsall'd one end of the connecting tube. It moved an inch in two directions as it dropped into the plate!  So I cut the other side. I slipped in a short piece of 2" square in each end to align it for welding back in place. I was already planning on adding a piece of 3" sch 40 pipe as a cross piece. After seeing the square tube was at best 1/8", I added a second pipe and you see both here.


 


Slapped some paint on it and back up the hill Wednesday day to install.



Works great. Should hold up now.

[stavebuyer]

Great job. The "standard" SSQA really isn't up to handling the load larger machines dish out. The euro-global style works out much better on heavier machines. 

[chevytaHOE5674]

I have standard ssqa on a couple 200 horsepower tractors and a 100hp skid steer and have never had any issues. Good heavy duty quick attaches that are properly braced and your good to go.

[Andries]

John, clever repair - using a spare mounting plate to register the new cross tubes. I'm thinking the same thing, your 1/8" wall thickness on that square cross tube won't handle the loads that a 5000 lb. rated fel will generate.
Do you have a high amp rated welder for working with really thick metal?
I've been abusing my loader and grapple with some big rocks.
So far, the ATI brand of ssqa has held up with no problems. 
I do need a bigger ballast box though - I'm up on the front tires too often. 😉

[Ljohnsaw]

I have a 50amp Lincoln tombstone welder. I was running 105 or 120 burning 1/8" 7018.