Wood burning truck!

[Archive retrieving test bunny]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Re: Paul's wood burning truck
Post by: Norm on September 30, 2007, 12:19:44 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Quote from: Noble on September 30, 2007, 10:56:38 AM
Paul,  your neighbors and I are really curious as to what your next project will be.  They may be a little nervous too :D :D :D


Especially if they've got some cast iron frying pans. ;D


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Re: Paul's wood burning truck
Post by: Furby on September 30, 2007, 12:37:47 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here ya go Noble!



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Re: Paul's wood burning truck
Post by: Paul_H on October 12, 2007, 09:34:37 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I insured the truck for 3 days and took it for a spin out on the road.My truck is high geared so I have to take a little run at the incline to the road.I was a little nervouse because there are narrow shoulders and deep ditches for the most part around here so there isn't a lot of room to pull over if there is a failure. roll_eyes





http://www.youtube.com/v/6hcThg51bng




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Re: Paul's wood burning truck
Post by: Mooseherder on October 12, 2007, 09:40:23 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Too DanG Cool! ;)



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Re: Paul's wood burning truck
Post by: Paul_H on October 12, 2007, 09:41:52 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here's another on that Carla filmed in the Industrial park near us.It's a good spot to test because the traffic is light and anything goes  8)

Yes,she realises her windshield needs cleaning ;D

http://www.youtube.com/v/ZNMQ62qbT7g


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Re: Paul's wood burning truck
Post by: TexasTimbers on October 12, 2007, 09:48:38 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I love it!  8) 8) 8)

In the second video she hardly keep up with you!  And on that last turn I heard her make a little sound of exasperation . . . "Uh!" when she though you were going to keep going I think.  :D

Too cool. Man that truck is just way to cool!!!


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Re: Paul's wood burning truck
Post by: Furby on October 12, 2007, 09:49:29 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:D :D :D :D :D
8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

Way to go! 8)


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Re: Paul's wood burning truck
Post by: Paul_H on October 12, 2007, 09:58:01 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------




Quote from: TexasTimbers on October 12, 2007, 09:48:38 PM
And on that last turn I heard her make a little sound of exasperation . . . "Uh!" when she though you were going to keep going I think.  :D



That's exactly what happened  :D 8)




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Re: Paul's wood burning truck
Post by: Fla._Deadheader on October 12, 2007, 10:44:47 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Can't view the video's, but, LOOKS GOOD. Congrats, Paul  8) 8)


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Re: Paul's wood burning truck
Post by: SwampDonkey on October 13, 2007, 04:50:19 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Looks like some good fun. I couldn't view the video, but I can just imagine.  ;D


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Re: Paul's wood burning truck
Post by: Norm on October 13, 2007, 09:02:03 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cool!

Way to go Paul.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Re: Paul's wood burning truck
Post by: TRanger on October 13, 2007, 09:36:49 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Makes a whole new meaning to "go out and warm up the truck".


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Re: Paul's wood burning truck
Post by: Don P on October 13, 2007, 01:08:26 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Waaay Cool !!  8) 8)

It was worth the wait for the video just so I could play it back for the wife  :D. Is there any way to save those? I saw there were several others that looked interesting.

When are you starting production  ???.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Re: Paul's wood burning truck
Post by: beenthere on October 13, 2007, 01:24:28 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Don P
I just add them to my favorites (Ms IE).  They save that way.

I'd like to bug Paul H to take the camera with him on a drive, and then we could hear the truck run, and his commentary goin down the road...accelerating, and getting excited.   :D :D

(I'm sure by now he has taken care of the windshield for his wife.. ;D )


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Re: Paul's wood burning truck
Post by: Paul_H on October 13, 2007, 11:44:57 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I wish you guys lived a little closer 8)

I cut up a bunch of dry 1x2 Birch stickers into 3" lengths today for the gasifier.The stickers have been stacked under cover of the mill shed from a floor we milled a year and a half ago.

I put on 20 kilometres(12 miles) on the highway North of me and it climbed the hills pretty well.There is a 30% power loss with woodgas and it is noticable but the 302 has power enough for putting around here.My top speed was 45 mph,not because of powering out with the engine but on account of a haywire frontend on the truck.
I described the symptoms to Marcel at the Pig roast and he figures the tie rod ends have had the biscuit.When cornering,it wants to break free and it's a bit of work to bring it back into line.Almost takes the fun out of it. ???

It'll go into the shop this week while I'm at work and get sorted out because I want to drive it a few more times before snowfall.

Beenthere,

I'll plan on getting somebody to ride along with the camera as soon as possible.We had no babysitter today or else Carla would have been game

The gasifier runs much better on Birch that it does on Douglas Fir.

[Archive retrieving test bunny]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Re: Paul's wood burning truck
Post by: stonebroke on October 14, 2007, 02:58:16 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Has anybody ever built a woodgas electrical generator or is it not practical?

Stonebroke


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Re: Paul's wood burning truck
Post by: TexasTimbers on October 14, 2007, 01:16:35 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

i don't know but notable accomplishments like Pauls often start with a question like you have proffered. I imagine him seeing one for the first time and saying "Hmm. Why can't I build one of those?"

Well you have taken the first step stonebroke. Keep us posted on your progress. 
Quote from: Paul_H on October 13, 2007, 11:44:57 PM
I wish you guys lived a little closer 8)

We ain't gonna move north of the Red River but a visit might be in ordr after we move into the house. I am beginning to plot a getaway to the NW with some heavy cargo. That way you would get a log worth putting on that MD. If I shipp it, it's gotta be small.

I have to break it to the boss at the right time. She loves to travel but it's a 4 day drive I think. She might balk unless I planned out some nice stops alomg the way. I bet I can sell it to her. I am liking the idea pretty good.
I bet you didn't think your passing comment would have such an effect on anyone eh?   

But two conditions. We get a ride in the truck and you can't use the osage for fuel!  :D


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Re: Paul's wood burning truck
Post by: Roy M on October 14, 2007, 01:37:01 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

8) 8) That is way too much fun. Looking really good Paul.Did you get brave enough to try the hill out of Mt Currie? ;)


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Re: Paul's wood burning truck
Post by: Paul_H on October 14, 2007, 01:48:21 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

stonebroke,

Mother Earth News built a woodgas system for electrical power generation in the early 1980's.The problem with stationary units is the fuel can bridge and gas production suffers so the rub is designing a shaker to keep the fuel moving.
Greg Manning from Manitoba,Canada is working on a CHP(combined heat and power) for his farm using woodgas.The engine will run the generator and the coolant from the engine will heat his home.Greg is pretty innovative and I don't doubt he'll succeed at it.

He designs and builds his own systems and knows the numbers.

Link (http://www.inetlink.ca/a31ford/cgcmb/)


Kevin,

come on up,there is a place here for the both of you while you stay and there is a resident Texan with a 57 Chevy 4 door with 4wd just down the road if you get homesick . ;)

Roy,

it was the hill towards Anderson Lake not the Joffre switchbacks towards Lillooet although that is my ultimate goal.The little Ford is high geared,even for gasoline so I'd like to change out the gears in the rear end.
The truck has a manual 3 spd with OD with no granny gear like 1st.

Anybody got some ideas?





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Re: Paul's wood burning truck
Post by: Roy M on October 14, 2007, 01:59:38 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Is there a tag on the diff indicating the current ratio? With the o.d. it might be 3.23 or 3.36:1. A lot of newer trucks with over drive automatics run 3.55:1 so a recycling yard replacement should be readily available.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Re: Paul's wood burning truck
Post by: Paul_H on October 14, 2007, 02:02:33 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I looked and the tag reads like this,

DM   CJ   8MA

75    9    3 56A


Is that a high geared ratio?I'm not too familiar with diff ratios.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Re: Paul's wood burning truck
Post by: SwampDonkey on October 14, 2007, 02:55:32 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Quote from: Paul_H on October 13, 2007, 11:44:57 PM
I wish you guys lived a little closer 8)



Quote from: TexasTimbers on October 14, 2007, 01:16:35 PM

We ain't gonna move north of the Red River but a visit might be in ordr after we move into the house.



You can go a little ways north then, as it flows into Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba way to the north.


[Tidbit] Interestingly enough the 49th parallel was the dividing line of the red river basin and the border. ;) ;D

Just having some fun. 



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Re: Paul's wood burning truck
Post by: olyman on October 14, 2007, 06:10:58 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

paul---3.56 gears arent real tall--but a set of 3.73---or 3.92's would do better for you--had a truck i was going to put a posi in--but it was 31--not 28 spline--and lower gears also--and he had a trans just like you--didint take off real quick!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Paul_H]

Here is a little recap video I did on Sunday because it was too wet and miserable outside to work on the truck.It was fun putting it together,turn up your volume 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBL3BMpA6ek



Edit : I changed the video music because of a copyright issue with Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire

[sawguy21]

Something is lost in the translation, all I get is a white square.

[Jeff]

I like it!

[sawguy21]

Now it works, that was good.

[TexasTimbers]

 8)

I bet Mr. Cash had no idea he wrote that song just for your video. Perfect fit. 

Can't wait for part two. Got the music picked out yet?

P.S. I can't believe you were out there in sub-arctic conditions building that thing. You are one tough hombre.

[OneWithWood]

Nice work, Paul.

I enjoyed the video very much and the music too  8)

[sawguy21]

Kev, if Paul hibernated during the snow season he would not get nearly as much done. :D

[farmerdoug]

Paul H,

How the truck coming?  Do you have it driving around yet or is it too cold for wood gas up your way this time of year?

Farmerdoug

[jpgreen]

Too cool- Paul and Johnny..  8)

[sprucebunny]

Great  video, Paul  8)

Thanks !!

[solidwoods]

http://www.gengas.nu/byggbes/index.shtml

int. combustion engine runs a generator = your off the grid with elec. and hot water.
jim

[twobears]

DEL PATS PAUL ON THE BACK and says "way to gitter done.PAUL:thats one very cool project and you did a great job of building it.

delbert

[isawlogs]

  Paul , you know I got one of the fastessss  internet connections   Oh , just woke up ..  :  I dont go see too many video's cause of the snail connection that I have here , Acftualy a snail is quite fast if compared to my connection ...  :-\
But for you mon ami , I have made an exeption , I went and took a look at your  you tub adventures ...  8) 8) 8)

   Took over three hours to look at those four video's , but man where they worth it   

  I have two more to have a looks see .. gonna wait till tomorow , supose to snow some ,
I got the making of , the test ride in da yard , the sawing of da log , and the on da road test with Carla . Uh !!!!   

  Hats off to you , ya did a great job there Paul ..... smiley_clapping smiley_clapping smiley_clapping

[SwampDonkey]

I to saw the videos a while back when I was over at the marketing board looking up some maps. I took a detour and had a watch. ;D

[twobears]

my dad has gotten mother earth news for years.over the last few weeks i,ve been looking up there storys on woodgas..so,far i,ve found three diffrent uses.of course they made a woodgas truck.they also powered there sawmill with woodgas and they made a genset.from what i,ve read and seen all three woodgas genarators where made diffrent.
the issue numbers are 69 for the truck and 78 for the sawmill and 70 for the genset.that would put them in 1981 and 1982.
i,am thinking a woodgas powered genset would be handy to have around a sawmill.  ;D

delbert

[Paul_H]

Thanks again for the encouragement and enthusiasum for my woodgas project.

Marcel,I appreciate your patience in downloading the videos.It might be faster next time to fly from Kwebec and come see it in person :D

I've been puttering with the truck the past couple of months when I can but the daylight is short so I couldn't do anything on the truck after work but now we are shutdown for a few weeks,I have got a couple of things done.

The pics below show the 1½" hose delivering the gas to the woodgas side of the carb.I'm going to re-plumb things a bit and add a paper filter inline and also hook up another blower up front so I can start the engine without the need to use gasoline to aid in drawing the initial woodgas(am I clear  ??? )

The following pic shows the gasoline cut off switch that I use after the engine is running on woodgas so that I know it is only woodgas that is fuelling the engine.






I added this idle solenoid recently and what it has done is to allow the primary side(gasoline) butterfly to shut off completly at the flick of a switch inside the cab so I won't really need the gasoline shut off valve and I'll have gasoline ready if the gasifier bridges and the engine stalls.It is stock Ford adapted to the Quadrajet.



A wider view of the carb and throttle hook ups. The woodgas throttle lever in the middle right hand side of the pic allows for a regular pedal linkage as well as another linkage to set the idle with a lever in the cab.I plan on having a aux lever for the gasoline throttle and the normal foot pedal will be for woodgas only(exept in an emergency,then the cable changeover from woodgas to gasoline is a 30 second swap)



Black is the woodgas idle lever,Red is gasoline throttle.There is another dual lever panel that controls woodgas air/gas mixture and the choke for the gasoline side.




I had mentioned before that the Mother earth plans called for a monorator to help remove moisture from the fuel.It works as the wood is warmed and the condensation collects on the cool wall of the feed tank and runs down to a holding tank.This next pic shows the condensate collected from a small load of wood,around 25 lbs after a 12 mile drive.The 25 mile trip I took filled the container shown here to 3/4 full.




A couple of weeks ago I got a replacement crown and pinion and swapped the gearing from 3 56 to 4 11's and the difference is noticable and I think it'll be way better for the hills around here,so I thank you all again for the help on this because I wasn't familiar with the diff ratios.The swap over went pretty good and all U joints were changed as well.



While waiting on parts,I got the bug to run the truck so wood was cubed and thrown in the gasifier and I ran the truck for 20 minutes or so.The pic below was taken as the gasifier cooked and the engine ran.It felt great to see the snow melt and the steam rise off of the hot gasifier.



The steering is haywire on the truck too and when I mentioned this to Marcel at the pig roast last summer,he told me it sounded like it was worn out tie rod ends and I'll be DanGed if he wasn't right. ;)
So I'll change the tie rod out in the next week and hopefully drive it again in the new year

[Radar67]

Paul, how is your truck coming? Have you done any extended time or mileage tests yet?

[jpgreen]

I gotts repost here, cause I didn't get an email notifcation.  This is my favorite thread.. 

[Paul_H]

Radar,

I've tinkered with it some in the Winter when I was off work and changed the rear diffs and the tie rod and drag link.I put a 3 day permit on the truck and drove around town and dropped in on a couple of people that helped out with things.One was Tom, a mechanic that solved my float bowl problem and all he wanted for payment was for me to bring the truck by when it was running on woodgas.He was surprised how "normal" it ran and noticed that the exhaust didn't smell.

Then I drove it up the road a 1/4 mile from there to John the machinist's place.John was the fellow that bent the 16 tubes for the gasifier last year.He came out and had a look and then ran off to the house and came back with a camera and started shooting

I also drove up the steepest paved road we have here again and it went much better with the lower geared diffs.There were two problems I had on the drive,

#1 the speedo was off now that the ratio was changed and the odometer was too ,of course.

#2  the truck still steered haywire and I didn't want to drive it very fast.

Can anybody give me a easy math conversion to calculate the speed? The ratio was 3.59 to 1 and now is 4.11 to 1 revoloution(that's my understanding)
So the fastest I drove that day according to the speedo was 70 mph but I figure I was really only doing just over 50-55 mph.

Problem #2 was solved when a young mechanic at work asked if my kingpins were siezing up.The right hand side wouldn't take grease and when I took the caps off,they were packed with hard grease.I cleaned them,Rust Reapered them and applied heat and finally forced grease to the top and bottom!!

Yesterday I hooked up the hoses from the valve covers that were slobbering oil all over the engine and adapted the air cleaner to fit again and today I plan to hook up the tachometer so I can keep as close to 2500 rpm as possible which is what the gasifier was designed for.

Another job out of the way was installing the hardware cloth/screen between the feedtank and the monorator to keep the sawdust and chunks out of the catch basin for the condensate.Now I should be able to easily dump 3, 40 lb sacks of fuel into the feed tank which should last(rough guess)75-85 miles.

The chunks in the bottom are about ¾ of a sack of fuel.




I cleaned the ash out of the bottom of the gasifier and with a Pink handled mirror borrowed from my daughter,I took a picture of the hearth in through the 4" port.



This was the mirror pic looking at the hearth grate(frying pans)



If all goes well,I'll put some more miles on this week.I appreciate any help with the speedometer conversion

[Jeff]

I think the easiest conversion Paul is another vehicle leading you and you both have cell phones. 

[Corley5]

You should be able to get the correct speedometer gear for the new ratio at an auto parts store.  That's quite a system you've built 

[Paul_H]

I subtracted 3.59 from 4.11 and ended up with .79 and then multiplied my speed (70 mph) by .79 and got somewhere around 55 mph but I think that was not the correct way to convert.

My math class had windows and I was easily distracted  ;)

Greg,

the tranny in the truck is a light one.Reverse is towards the driver and up,like a gravel truck and then there are 3 speeds and a OD,someone suggested that it was a car transmission and I might have trouble finding a speedo gear for the 4 11.

When I get back this afternoon I'll crawl under and take a pic where the cable meets the transmission.

[jpgreen]

My math class had windows and I was easily distracted  ;)

Greg,

Oh lordy so did mine and even had girls in thar too..  ;D

The new automobile world conversations are goining to go like...

"So, how many miles per cord are you gettin'?"  .  . ..... :D