How'd it go today?

Sea foam in the diesel tank will help immensely, as well as some cetane booster. A magnetic block warmer is also awesome, but then again so is a propane heater and a tarp. I've seen guys here go so far as to lift the wheels of a backhoe off the ground, and leave it in gear and idle, so it warms up the hydraulics as well :lol:
 
Our grapple truck's turret was frozen up (just a thin, thin layer of ice), so no rotation. So we got some of that ribbed landscaping drainage tube and ran the exhaust up under the turret to thaw it out. Worked great in about 15 minutes.

We've been starting our chipper at the lot before we head out and drive down the highway -- 30 minutes to warm up on the way to the job! If the feed wheel hydraulics are cold, we can turn them on in reverse (drum not engaged!) and let them spin, too.
 
Sea foam in the diesel tank will help immensely, as well as some cetane booster. A magnetic block warmer is also awesome, but then again so is a propane heater and a tarp. I've seen guys here go so far as to lift the wheels of a backhoe off the ground, and leave it in gear and idle, so it warms up the hydraulics as well :lol:

I've never used Sea Foam I'll have to try that. Not quite to tarp and propane season yet but it will looms it's ugly head sooner than later. I am actually looking froward to a few days of hard freeze. We kinda need it to get to some gigs.
 
I often think of you guys who blow the snow off the ground a couple of days before the job so the earth freezes, making it easier to get the machines on.

Simple but brilliant.
 
If the feed wheel hydraulics are cold, we can turn them on in reverse (drum not engaged!) and let them spin, too.

Bandit says to prevent excessive wear, never let their chippers run without the clutch engaged . You have a vermeer so idk
 
I just got this new truck, so i was reading up on the oil change interval. They have different tiers, from normal to severe duty. I'm kinda shocked by the engineers not knowing how trucks like this are used, but 4x4 use, towing, and "idling over 10 perfect of the time" is called "severe duty" So i always thought diesels idled forever, no problem. So i start looking into it.

Apparently, when a diesel idles, it forms very little heat. In cold weather this is even worse. The cold engine doesn't burn the fuel fully, so you have extra unburned fuel in the cylinder, which does everything from washing lubrication from the walls, sneaking by the piston rings to dilute the oil, and wet stacking, which is blowing unburned fuel in the exhaust. On old school straight pipe stuff, this isn't the end of the world, but on def protected stuff, is obviously very bad.

Ford goes so far as saying any warranty is void if a non ambulance set up vehicle is used for such. Ambulances idle a bunch, and so the ambulance package contains a high idle kit, which burns more fuel but runs everything hot enough to mitigate these problems.

After reading this stuff, I've decided to add a high idle kit, and I've been working on shutting my truck off more. In both summer and winter this is really impractical tho, and on the firing line it's impossible. If they are digging a hole and i can't do anything until they are done, I'm sitting in the climate controled cab, and the firing line you move your truck every 10 minutes. I've also decided that babying the truck isn't helping it, so I'm getting heavier and heavier with the acceleration, because in reality, this motor has so much power with my regular driving style it will never be used more than 40 percent of its power abilities, and diesels like at least 60 percent load. When i idle, I'll occasionally bump up to 1000 rpms, which will burn everything hotter. I'm also gonna send an oil sample to see how much fuel dilution is happening.
 
I wonder if that is why a lot of Tanks have a "Combat idle" setting that runs at higher RPMs.
 
I would wonder if that is less likely to stall and possibly kill the motor lol. I also thought most tanks used a turbine motor, for fuel flexibility and sheer power
 
i love diesel pickup guys.


They must think that a diesel pickup is only rated for one start per day.

Plus, anyone involved in the petroleum industry seems hell bent on burning as much petroleum possible in a day. Job security maybe??


Anyway, had a new well drilled yesterday. The old well failed a test pump....not for lack of water in the formation but the torch cut perforations in the casing.


Casing silted in and some perforations were blocked. New well has a 40 thousandths stainless sand screen.


Looks to produce 33 gallons....tentatively. Very good news regarding our EQUIP project.


Had a whiskey last night.
 
Chit lets get into some serious tank talk. Gotta be one of the extremely few topics never been discussed at TH afaik.
 
Let me watch this first....a friend told me about it last week...waiting for a chance to watch it with my grandson, a big history buff, he is.

Age of Tanks | Netflix
https://www.netflix.com/title/80208213
The history of military tanks unfolds in a documentary series that traces their role in history and geopolitics from World War I to the 21st century.
 
Hahahaha well played Jim. I was always told that start-up was the hardest on an engine, and did most of the wear. Every engine I've ever owned has babbitt lined insert bearings, and when an engine is started, there is no oil pressure so it's briefly metal on metal. When it's running, oil pressure makes the bearing super efficient, and there is virtually no wear. You are by far a better mechanic than i, that was just my understanding. Diesels use very little fuel at idle, and when it's cold out, raining, or even hot out (remember I'm wearing welding gear all day in the summer) cooling off is a safety and productive necessity. Not to mention moving the truck on the firing line, where you do one pass and pull ahead 40 feet. I'm sometimes charging cordless batteries with the inverter, etc. Idling an engine happens quite a bit in construction. I have approximately 3-4 k pounds in the bed, but that's not really even a load on the engine.

This is simply what i recently learned, so I'm trying to figure out how to protect my investment the best way.
 
I often think of you guys who blow the snow off the ground a couple of days before the job so the earth freezes, making it easier to get the machines on.

Simple but brilliant.

The BMG rake is ideal for this, if I haven't said that before.
 
Yeah, a high idle will help. The old guys liked the Cat retarder system in the flywheel. They could put a tiny bit of a load on their engine which helped.

The old mechanical diesles were terribly out of time at an idle. The newer ones are better in that regard.

Dont be afraid of starts though. You are not damaging your engine by starting it....they are pretty resilient.

I would much rather see an engine shut off than idle unnecessarily, or at too low a speed.

This time of year a winter front would be a good idea too, as simply increasing the RPM does little to increase the heat.
 
I did have issues in the summer with my diesel truck running all day with the aircon to keep the dog cool, pools of oil underneath, luckily under warranty.
 
:thumbup: thx man. I'll go ahead and get one, and since i was planning on adding a pto anyways it will come in handy. Exactly what happened to it Mick?
 
Not exactly sure, something to to with build up of oil pressure due it not running hot enough or something.

Sorry can’t be more exact, mechanical explanations in french are tricky.
 
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