Winter Preperations

[LBrown59]

1*Make sure who you buy your fuel through is a station that sells a good amount of diesel.
2* 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.

1*&2*
Better than that I buy from a
distributor which saves me about 40 cents a gallon and I don't have to run after fuel.

 

[LBrown59]

This is best left to suppliers not by individual homeowners as this could cause overblending .
I defenitate would not want to run over blended fuel.

1* 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 on top 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.

This is best left to suppliers not by individual homeowners as this could cause overblending .
I defenitate would not want to run over blended fuel.

 

[foggy1111]

Somehow I had a hunch we would see that fuel system of L Browns.

 

[smfcpacfp]

A block heater makes starting much easier, so I would definitely get one if I were you. I always plug it in for at least a half hour if it is freezing, and up to two hours if well below zero. I am sure that someone makes a hydraulic heater, but I am not aware of who does.

Once started, the colder the temperature, the longer I let the tractor warm up, but not more than 15 minutes in really cold weather, unless I get busy and forget.

In terms of fuel, the best thing to do in the winter is to use #1 diesel fuel which has a cloud point of -40F. I wouldn't be attempting to start my tractor at colder temperatures than that, I will wait out the cold. In our area, which can get to -40F, they sell what they call "winter diesel" which is a blend of #1 and #2 diesel. The problem is what is the blend proportions? #2 diesel has a cloud point of +40F whereas #1 has a cloud point of -40F - big difference. I have a simple solution - use # 1 in winter. There is a problem with #1. It is a poor lubricant, thus you need to use a diesel additive with #1. #2 has excellent lubricating qualities, so little if any diesel additive is needed.

 

[Johndeere3720]

Ive never used my L118 in less than 40 degree tempatures but last winter, I let my Dad's CT322 skidsteer and 3720 both idol for about 10 minutes before I ran them. I could have put them in the heated garage but the truck and all the other stuff we have was in the way. Ive never used additives. Oh, those are some nice fuel systems. Since my lawn tractor has a whoping 2.1 gallon tank, my gas can can fill it 3 times.

 

[missourithunder]

Jake,
Keep doing what your doing and listen to your dad. You don't need a block heater in Oregon and you don't need LBrown59's fuel station. Just keep doing what your doing and everything will be just fine. Now get your homework done and get to bed. No college ever accepted a genius tractor owner without good grades !!! And make no mistake about it young man, you are one of the few, gifted people in this world that can make a difference !

MissouriThunder

 

[km-ri]

Gentlemen,

Thanks for the very informative replys. I feel much better regarding winter preparations. I am now searching for a plow and will use the many forum posts to help with the set up. I also contacted my dealer regarding a heater, while TYM does not make a standard heater for my machine the dealer did say Ithey could provide a block heater if I wanted to go that route. They indicated they have never needed one while using this type machine during snow removal and general yard movements.

By the way I do have a nice set of Carharts ready or the chill. This forum is grat for newbies like me. Thanks all, I really appreciate your responses.

Keith

 

[PILOON]

Somehow I had a hunch we would see that fuel system of L Browns.

.
.
In that his indoor fuel storage is greater than 5 gals as permitted by most insurance companies (and fire dept's) for fuels and paints he'd better hope that they don't monitor TBN as he might be in for a rude shock if ever he needed to make a claim.

 

[myyaz33]

Here are a couple pictures of the block heater on my TYM 273. Due to the size of the engine, it doesn't take long to do its job. You can just tuck the plug-in away over the summer as you can see in the second picture. (I poked it out the hole for the picture) Not cold enough here yet!

 

[JoeL4330]

If you install a block heater, you might also want to permanently mount a battery tender or equivalent and plug both into an octopus/three-way/etc. Then, one plug-in heats the block and warms and tops the battery.