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COLD

PostPosted: Mon Jan 01, 2018 6:11 pm
by cornbinder89
Was -25F when I came thru Belle Fourche, SD this am, dropped about 5 more deg between there an Broadus, MT.
Not too many trucks out that way today, normally it is a major truck route. I was following a Semi with Alaska plates, and I guess we were some of the few outfitted to deal with it that cold. I had my Winterfront buttoned up tight, and although I didn't start out needing it, I had my fuel heater on. It was 15 deg warmer on the east side of Rapid where I spent the night. Felt a slight "hick-up" as the filter started to plug near Sturgis, SD. I have a fair sized (coolant type) inline fuel heater that I can turn on or off on the fly, so just reached over and flipped the toggle to turn it on. 35 years old and still gets it done!

Re: COLD

PostPosted: Mon Jan 01, 2018 6:56 pm
by nikkinutshop
I totally know what you mean by cold. This area was one degree Celsius above freezing this morning. :t1809: My 24 valve Cummins starts instantly and I don't wait for the charge-air heater.
The little snow we had a week ago is all but gone, now. I meet on Saturday morning with a few guys I used to ride with, two of them rode their Harleys in for coffee.
The Coquihalla Highway, also known as The Highway Through Hell was closed for several hours this morning. Rather than waste time and do nothing, several drivers got out shovels and cleared a section of road and started a game of hockey on the icy highway. Since this is Canada and we don't have guns. many drivers carry a hockey stick for "defense". It did not take long before there was a heated game of road hockey. What the puck, EH?

Re: COLD

PostPosted: Mon Jan 01, 2018 8:26 pm
by cornbinder89
Once you get below -55 F rubber freezes and will shatter rather than flex, I'm glad I don't see temps that low.
-30F is cold enough to command respect, it can kill or mame in short order. I have enough frostbite to learn not to fool around.
As long as my cooling system is intact, I can keep warm and keep going, a deer hit could be a real danger in that weather, however.

Re: COLD

PostPosted: Sat Jan 06, 2018 9:02 pm
by Jared
Hearing stories like this makes me better appreciate western Washington. We may get a lot of rain, but it doesn't get cold like that. Coldest I've seen is 13F and usually doesn't get below 20F. We take fuel heaters off trucks and use the switches to run other things.

Re: COLD

PostPosted: Sat Jan 06, 2018 10:08 pm
by buddawson
I like these stories of extremes. It is amazing how we've adapted to take care of nearly all of them.

My small contribution is that I have an old Ford F250 (with an International 6.9 liter). Unless protected by #1 diesel or other additives, my rig will call it quits at much below -5 deg. F. It happened to me the first time at - 30 F in Donnelley ID: tow it to a garage, heat it up, treat with thinners, etc.

The next time was just a couple years ago here in Boise. It was -7 Deg. F in the early morning. Fuel freeze and had to wait a few hours to get going.

The lubricant people I use reccomend to add #1 diesel at temperatures below - 7 F ; probably good advice.

Bud

Re: COLD

PostPosted: Sun Jan 07, 2018 4:04 am
by nikkinutshop
I installed a 6.9 in my R120 and drove it for 20 years and 225,000 miles. My first start of every day was ether assisted. In Canada, winter or summer Diesel fuel is sold to match the season.

Re: COLD

PostPosted: Sun Jan 07, 2018 9:21 am
by cornbinder89
Jim Tomer, (User name Tundra IIRC) who was briefly on this board 15 years ago, but is a semi active member of JOT has some real stories to tell (Bench trucking, as he calls it) from his days hauling in Alaska. One time he was 17 miles off shore on sea ice, another his #1 fuel, jelled, with fuel tank heaters at -70 deg!
HE said you can be charged with manslaughter if you don't stop and render assistance to anyone in need when the temp is that cold. He had walked over a mile before someone picked him up.
MY PDL would not work last week, in the cold but would once the dif warmed up a bit. Not the time of year to go with out, so when I got home, I pulled the lock cylinder and when cold the piston would fall out on it's own. Bought a new O ring from the hardware store and it was fixed. Rockwell wants you to buy a "kit" with new tube and piston as a unit, makes it harder to rebuild. The old style is in separate pieces and easy to disassemble.

Re: COLD

PostPosted: Mon Jan 08, 2018 3:17 pm
by nikkinutshop
QUOTE: HE said you can be charged with manslaughter if you don't stop and render assistance to anyone in need when the temp is that cold.
That is a stretch. Someone would have to die to make a manslaughter charge viable. The dead guy cannot report the negligence the killed him which bring up the witness requirement. A witness should be able to help.
Being charged with and convicted of are two different situations.
One of the guys I used to work with has a frozen fuel system recovery road service business. He carries kerosine for a fuel thinner and his service truck has a fuel recirculating system with a pump and a Diesel fired fuel heater.

Re: COLD

PostPosted: Mon Jan 08, 2018 7:11 pm
by cornbinder89
Jim has lived and worked in Alaska since the 70's I trust what he knows. Making it stick, may be an issue, but having on the books, and known may do more than a successful prosecution. Even -30 can be life threating, -70 is defiantly so, to pass by someone in need shouldn't be legal matter, it would be a character matter.
When I 1st started trucking, it was common to hear someone on the CB asking for a "CaT, Cummins or Detroit" fuel filter, and someone would almost always come back that they had one and would stop and give it freely. Today there is little other than a warm place to sit, that I can do. Most engines have truck specific filters and there are so many variation it is not possible to be much help.
Last time I was getting my oil changed on my Cabover, they informed me they no longer stock filters for a Big Cam 3!