How long do you let her "warm up"?

[john_bud]

Whats that little line thing in front of the 30F for?

It's what we use to chase off people from warmer climates. Well, everyone except eskimos and penguins are already in warmer climates, so you can see it is pretty dern effective!

jb

 

[_RaT_]

It's what we use to chase off people from warmer climates. Well, everyone except eskimos and penguins are already in warmer climates, so you can see it is pretty dern effective!

jb

When I built some homes in Maine it was even chasing off the old timers. They told me they had had it.

 

[ByronBob]

Up north where you are. I'd run it at least 5 minutes before moving it. But it really depends on temp. Outside in zero weather would be at least 5 mins.

35 or above I'd just go when ready.

 

[Glowplug]

I probably waste diesel at times. . . .In colder weather, I usually wait 10 minutes or more and give the hydraulics in the loader a no-load workout before moving on to the worksite.Terry

Me too I guess. But I'd rather waste a little diesel than waste the lifespan of my tractor.

 

[proudestmonkey]

Me too I guess. But I'd rather waste a little diesel than waste the lifespan of my tractor.

Yup. And being new to all things tractor here, I play it safe. I keep my little tractor stored in an unheated shed. If its real cold (below 20), I plug it in for several hours before starting. Then, I let it idle in the shed for at least 5 minutes, then throttle it up a bit for another 2 minutes or so, then start to slowly move the rear blade up and down and the FEL too. I figure its like giving the tractor a chance to stretch after being asleep.

I've not heard that it hurts anything to let it idle for a while before starting it up (in cold weather), and know that it can hurt the tractor if I don't. So, err on the side of caution and waste a few minutes.

One other thing. I only used mine maybe 5-10 times this winter, so I can afford the luxury of waiting. I might feel a little differently if I used this everyday. But, if I did that, I'd probably have something bigger, and put it in a heated outbuilding.

 

[Scrounger]

Start, let run a few minutes, if that, and then start my work. Hard to tell if my BX is warm or not since the temp gauge is worthless. In the summer, by the time its off the trailer and where I need to dig or whatever, I considered it ready to rock.

In the winter, I pull it out of the garage, shut the door, get comfortable, and then I consider it ready to work.

On the smaller tractors, I don't think its an issue. On the big boys, I would think that it is.

 

[chrisjbell]

I let my own B7300 warm up for a few minutes before I start to use it. Early on I got a notice from Kubota that there was a problem with letting the clutch out immediately after starting - it needs 30 seconds before allowing the HST pump to engage.

At work we fire up the big tractors and start using them hard immediately. I was jumping on the M6800 backhoe today and as soon as it started began loading buckets of sand into a material handler.

 

[Marcussen]

I does not get that cold in Oklahoma, I start the tractor move it out of the garage no waiting time, by the time I open the gates and get to where the work is the tractor has been running 5+ minutes, good enough for a warm up but I take it easy untill the temperature registers in the normal range.

 

[rfogle]

One of the advantages of Super UDT is that it is synthetic. The fluid should maintain it's viscous properties regardless of temperature.

 

[KeithInSpace]

Not to be difficult...is this much different that driving before the car is warm? Is there something specific to Diesels? I keep it in the un-heated garage that happens to not get under 45 degrees, but I don't take a HUGE amount of care to make sure she's "up to temp".

I generally start it, take it just over idle, let it steady for 30 seconds or so, slowly raise the implements, roll it slowly out of the garage, and ponder where to go next. I always let it run for a few minutes before cranking up the RPMs or going somewhere quickly, but don't take a particular amount of care to make sure the temp needle gets off bottom.

I'm not overly ****, but I have no interest in intentionally destroying my stuff if there is something specific to the machine I'm not aware of.