Winter Preperations

[km-ri]

Winter Preparations

This will be my first winter with my TYM 273. I have a FEL and backhoe and living in New England I suspect I will be clearing snow or continuing to work in the woods.

What can I do to insure my tractor starts regularly and how long do they need to warm up? It will be stored in an unheated enclosure.

Is there a block heater available?
Is there such a thing as a hydraulic fluid heater?

Any ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks

(Also posted in TYM Forum)

 

[bpattie]

Forst thing is I use a winter additive to the fuel to keep from gelling. I believe the 273 has glow plugs which maybe all you need. I am sure that you can also get block heater either as standard option from your dealer or there are always hose inline heaters that will heat the coolant. not sure about the hydro fluid heater, I have never heard of that.

 

[Mark_in_NH]

In my opinion, Diesel 911 or some other fuel addative, is an absolute must.
I also had the forethought to include a block heater at the time of purchase and it has paid for itself several times over.
I learned the hard way in the winter of 2003, my first winter with the new tractor. Nothing worse then a snowed in driveway and a $23,000 piece of machinery that won't start due to cold weather and congealed fuel.
It took better then half a day of having the block heater plugged in and a reddy heater blowing heat under the tractor with blankets covering the tractor to trap and hold the heat in to resolve the problem. NEVER AGAIN !
I now use the diesel 911 year round so as to make sure it is always in the fuel system. Before I even put the empty fuel jug in the truck to go fill it, I dump some addative in the jug.
One of the other things I do when it's real cold is to just go out and start the tractor and let it run for a while. I don't need to use it for anything but I just let it run,get everything warm, maybe drive it around the yard and circulate all the fluids etc.
But the biggest thing I can suggest and I can't emphasize it enough, is a fuel addative. I find that Walmart sells the big jugs of the 911 pretty inexpensively. Don't forgt to let the glow plugs do their thing. I wait untill the glow plug indicator light goes out and then I will turn the key off then back on Sometimes I will use mine 2 or 3 times when it's cold before I try to start the engine.

 

[artfull dodger]

Diesel 911 is for when you have a gell up, not as a preventive. Use a good name brand fuel treatment like powerservices ect. Also, if you getting your diesel thru service station, ask them what the blend is, or it might say on the pump that the fuel is winter blended down to 20 below zero ect. Dont excessively idle the engine, just firing it up and letting it run without working it is extreamly bad for diesel engines, it will carbon and coke up the injectors. Your better off to let it sit and not use it then just idle it or let it run with no load. Good winter prep is making sure you fuel is properly blended, this is normaly done with a 60/40 or 50/50 blend of keroscene(#1 diesel) and normal #2 diesel fuel. Then ontop of that I put my stanadyne fuel additive in it to boost cetane and deal with moisture. I have never had a diesel, either my pickup or the tractor gell up or wax a filter during the winter time. Make sure to change the engine oil and fuel filter prior to the winter operation session, and have a spare fuel filter with you in your tractor's tool box just in case.

 

[gboudreau]

I agree with Mark an additive is a must. I use Powerservice in the white bottle during the winter months, and the grey bottle in the summer in both my tractor and truck. I live in NH as well and have never had a problem, I know people who have though. Make sure who you buy your fuel through is a station that sells a good amount of diesel. I only buy from 2 or 3 stations in town and during the winter months I only buy from one, which is the most active diesel pump in town selling to truckers and contractors. My Kioti had glow plugs and let them warm up and them let the tractor sit for a short time to warm the other fluids. check your owners manual and it might give a reccomendation as to how long to idle for prior to use to warm the fluids. Other then that enjoy it and buy some warm Carhartts if you don't have a cab.

 

[dave1949]

Now is a good time to take your battery cables off, clean up the cable ends and terminals. If you have acid corrosion building up, brush/scrub them good with baking soda and water mix. You can also clean the battery case with this solution. Check the battery fluid level.

Believe it or not, you can read voltage from a terminal to the goo build up on the top of the battery case. This goo is conductive and slowly drains your battery. Strong battery absolutley needed in winter startups.

A fully charged battery looses over 50% of its cranking power at zero degrees F.

Dave.

 

[dave1949]

Big ditto on the Carharts! I don't have a cab and feel like I can almost move with all my clothes on! Hardest part of cleaning the driveway is getting from the house to the garage through 3 feet of snow wearing 30 pounds of clothes

 

[Mark_in_NH]

Diesel 911 is for when you have a gell up, not as a preventive. .

I stand corrected, botamike is right. The red jug is the 911, for correcting already gelled fuel. The white jug is the fuel supplement and cetane boost ( preventative ).

I know that all diesel fuel is "treated" at the pump in the winter But it will be cold day in He!! before I will trust any of them to have it treated adequatly enough for me. I will always take my own added precautions.

If letting a diesel engine idle for long periods of time is so bad for them. Why is it a very common practise for truckers and heavy equipment operators to let their engines idle for long periods, sometimes all night long, even 24 hours a day, in extreme cold regions ?

 

[PILOON]

Do the block heater thing, or lower hose heater.
Naturally battery, cables and other routine maintainance.
Changing to a winter weight oil is also a good move.

I have had my tractoe for 18 yrs and only started to use additives last year, mainly as a preventative as it is cheap enough to do so.
I also double filter my fuel as once before I had gelling from frosting and never want to drain/prime again at -25.
Every winter starts off with a new filter for me!

 

[dodge man]

I'm also not a big fan of letting your tractor warm up for long period of time. I let mine warm up maybe 2 to 3 minutes, and then start out very slowly until I see the temp gauge start to rise. I treat mine with Howse(sp?) fuel treatment.