Snow Cab Heat

[Jimbos]

Good afternoon, my first post on this site and a first time diesel owner.
I bought an Emax 25s Cab about a month ago along with the snowblower, loader, and box blade.
I live in the NW Lower Michigan snow belt area and needed a tractor with a heated cab after getting sick of blowing snow with a Deere lawn tractor and coming back in looking like a snowman after doing my 1/4 mile drive.
I love the tractor and it's doing what it's supposed to do but I have a couple of questions.
It was smoking like crazy bad at anything over 2500 rpm which the dealer said was a fuel issue and to add an additive which seems to of helped, is that all there was to it?
But my main gripe is cab heat. It was blowing luke warm air, so after a call to the dealer he sent his mechanic out to the house to change out a 160 degree thermostat for a 180 one which has helped slightly, they also said to do the cardboard trick which helps, with the air blowing warm for about 25 minutes then goes back to a tepid luke warm air temp.
Does anyone have any ideas to correct that?

P.S. The outdoor air temps have been in the 10-25 degree range, am I just expecting too much?

 

[JerryK]

Good afternoon, my first post on this site and a first time diesel owner.
I bought an Emax 25s Cab about a month ago along with the snowblower, loader, and box blade.
I live in the NW Lower Michigan snow belt area and needed a tractor with a heated cab after getting sick of blowing snow with a Deere lawn tractor and coming back in looking like a snowman after doing my 1/4 mile drive.
I love the tractor and it's doing what it's supposed to do but I have a couple of questions.
It was smoking like crazy bad at anything over 2500 rpm which the dealer said was a fuel issue and to add an additive which seems to of helped, is that all there was to it?
But my main gripe is cab heat. It was blowing luke warm air, so after a call to the dealer he sent his mechanic out to the house to change out a 160 degree thermostat for a 180 one which has helped slightly, they also said to do the cardboard trick which helps, with the air blowing warm for about 25 minutes then goes back to a tepid luke warm air temp.
Does anyone have any ideas to correct that?

P.S. The outdoor air temps have been in the 10-25 degree range, am I just expecting too much?

My 2555 HST 55hp turbo charged behemoth did the same thing. The tractors are designed to run in fairly hot climates and not overheat when you work them hard in that heat. In the case of my 2555, they put in an over aggressive fan that sucks about twice as much air thru the radiator as my other tractors. I put a piece of Wally sign plastic [ about 1/4" thick, assorted colors ] in front of my radiator with an 8-1/2" hole in up centered on the center of the fan on the other side of the radiator. I originally had a 7-1/2", but that turned out to be too much restriction when really working the tractor hard in the winter. Without blocking the radiator some, or putting a winter front on the outside of the grille, the fan over cools the system so even a higher thermostat does not help a lot. You can try blocking the air some, but you must keep an eye on the temp gauge more than ' normal '. With the air flow restricted, my tractor actually gets too hot inside the cab when blowing snow for a long period. And I have to turn the temp down some, keeping the blower at max to keep the windows clear.

 

[TractorNH]

My 2555 HST 55hp turbo charged behemoth did the same thing. The tractors are designed to run in fairly hot climates and not overheat when you work them hard in that heat. In the case of my 2555, they put in an over aggressive fan that sucks about twice as much air thru the radiator as my other tractors. I put a piece of Wally sign plastic [ about 1/4" thick, assorted colors ] in front of my radiator with an 8-1/2" hole in up centered on the center of the fan on the other side of the radiator. I originally had a 7-1/2", but that turned out to be too much restriction when really working the tractor hard in the winter. Without blocking the radiator some, or putting a winter front on the outside of the grille, the fan over cools the system so even a higher thermostat does not help a lot. You can try blocking the air some, but you must keep an eye on the temp gauge more than ' normal '. With the air flow restricted, my tractor actually gets too hot inside the cab when blowing snow for a long period. And I have to turn the temp down some, keeping the blower at max to keep the windows clear.

At what temps do you see blocking the radiator making a difference or at what temp do you put your plastic in to block it? Even at about 15 degrees F out my 2655 HST Cab throws enough heat after 10 minutes of warming up that I can wear a t-shirt in the cab and be comfy though I usually just turn the heat down. When plowing snow after the first 20 minutes anything less than half way on the temperature setting gets too hot in the cab. Pretty sure your Michigan temps are a bit colder than here in New Hampshire though.

 

[RNeumann]

Your manual probably states you should cover your grill when it’s cold. I assume the engine isn’t coming up to temp and taking heat from the engine for the heater isn’t helping. Get some type of grill cover for the outside or inside of the grill- note I didn’t say radiator. The radiator grill would be a little more complex. With the cover installed be sure to monitor engine temps.

Yes the smoke is normal if the fuel is starting to gel. The additive helps with gelling. It’s easy to do with lightly used tractors. Folks buy the fuel in the summer and run it in the winter. Fuel stations switch from summer to winter blends in cold areas.

 

[Jimbos]

What about a 200 degree thermostat? I gave it a thought but it's showing a warm up coming late next week so I thought it might be too late for that.

I wish this thing had an actual gauge and not an idiot light to verify temps.

 

[RNeumann]

Don’t mess with a different thermostat- bad for the engine and it ain’t coming up to temp a different thermostat won’t help.

 

[Travelover]

I'd keep restricting air over the radiator until you get heat. As others have said, watch the temperature gauge. On my little B series Kubota, I found the heater I'd installed was enough to cool the whole engine in winter -i.e. I could block off the whole radiator.

 

[JerryK]

At what temps do you see blocking the radiator making a difference or at what temp do you put your plastic in to block it? Even at about 15 degrees F out my 2655 HST Cab throws enough heat after 10 minutes of warming up that I can wear a t-shirt in the cab and be comfy though I usually just turn the heat down. When plowing snow after the first 20 minutes anything less than half way on the temperature setting gets too hot in the cab. Pretty sure your Michigan temps are a bit colder than here in New Hampshire though.

I block my radiator in the fall when I put the snowblower on, and take it off with the blower in the spring. I did the same thing with my Dodge Cummins when I ran it in the winter years ago. A lot of folks up in our U.P. do it to their cars all winter, usually putting in a sheet of cardboard ahead of the radiator. Truckers have been doing it as long as I can remember.

 

[Jimbos]

Gotcha, thank you

 

[Jimbos]

I block my radiator in the fall when I put the snowblower on, and take it off with the blower in the spring. I did the same thing with my Dodge Cummins when I ran it in the winter years ago. A lot of folks up in our U.P. do it to their cars all winter, usually putting in a sheet of cardboard ahead of the radiator. Truckers have been doing it as long as I can remember.

I'll play around with the cardboard to see if that helps, we have this extra cold snap happening this week so later this week I'm sure I'll have to blow.