in the Blue Ridge & marooned for now

[logan97]

even though I watched the weather forecast yesterday I did not prepare myself enough. Tractor battery dead. cannot get my cables on my truck this morning to jump, I took the battery out of our T Carolla but it would not kick our K B7800. 16 to 18" of snow and still falling.My wife and I are going to go back out this afternoon and try again to get the cables on our Dodge Ram 2500 Diesel to jump the tractor.I am concerned about taking one of the batteries out of the truck to jump as if it runs it down I will not have the option of starting the truck.Do not have to go any where today but this is going to be on the ground for another week so at some point I will have to deal with it.1/2 mile drive off the gravel co road, another mile to the black top which may or may not be scraped.

 

[Kessler Farms]

If that is a geared tractor, why not just pull start it with the Dodge? Not familiar with your tractor so may not be an option if HST.

Sent from my Milestone X2 using TractorByNet

 

[aczlan]

You might try connecting the Corolla battery in place of the Kubota battery rather than jumping it with the Corolla battery... Might be enough juice in it that way.

Aaron Z

 

[MossRoad]

How's he going to pull start it with 18" of snow on the ground?

 

[MossRoad]

I'm assuming you have glow plugs?
If not, run a blow dryer into the air intake for 10 minutes and then give it a try with the Toyota battery.

 

[MossRoad]

And you can put the Toyota battery onto the truck and recharge it with your jumper cables if needed.

 

[dave1949]

Tow starting in 18" of snow could be a challenge, if it is gear.

A tool that has saved me a couple of times is a battery charger-booster. Mine is ancient, from the late mid-70's and sat in storage for 11 years too. It's a mystery why it still works. :laughing:

Good prep is to park nose to nose when you can, or close enough for jumper cables to reach.

If it is below freezing, bring the Kubota battery in the house and thaw it, warm it up. Frozen dead batteries can explode when jumped or charged, plus warming the battery increases its output power whether it is frozen or not.

Check the simple stuff like battery terminals clean and tight. Battery ground to frame connection clean and tight. The battery ground connection can be tested by clamping the jumper cable to the negative battery post and to ground (same color clamp both connections). Same for the positive connection from battery post to starter.

 

[mjcountrybumpkin]

Why not start truck then take passenger side battery off while truck is running. Start tractor with truck battery then just put it back on truck. Electrical tape wrapped around battery cables on truck will keep it from arcing on anything metal while you start the tractor. Make sure to let truck charge battery before you turn it off

 

[Franko]

I only start my B7800 a few times each winter (with both fingers crossed!) - it sits in an unheated shed with no electric here in PA. The battery is 7 years old and still starts up the tractor just fine, but I bet there is a new battery in my near future. I think part of my 'luck' is that I use synthetic oil in the tractor, which helps it turn over when it is cold. And I don't run the starter much at all, because using that key position to warm the glow plugs really does the trick and it starts up in just a couple of seconds. Actually, I have been amazed at how well that Kubota diesel engine starts - this is my first diesel and I always heard stories about how nasty diesels could be in the cold. I know this does not help much now, but it might help some avoid problems in the future. Here's hoping that the Toyota battery does the job and you get it going!

 

[logan97]

Thanks for all the helpful replies. Today was an exercise in futility, dug out with shovels to get the truck in position to jump the tractor. Put rear chains on R-4 but the wet snow had built up to much during the day, 18 to 24" to much for the B7800. I did manage to carve out some walking room.It goes fine down hill coming is more of a challenge. I am reluctant to take it down the drive and probably just going to wait it out.I have many friends in the county that make our drive look like a cake walk.Live and learn.
yes it is a HST