A tip another operator gave me is once the machine has sat idling and warmed up was to run it through every function at slightly above idle to get the hydraulic oil moving before going and putting the machine to work. Like with a skid steer boom up and down, curl and dump the bucket and drive forward and back a few times. Love the videos, keep em coming
Absolutely. Just because the machines' engine is warm doesn't mean the hydraulic fluid has warmed up. All functions should be used and cycled for 5 minutes or so to begin to warm the hydraulic oil up. Great point!
Awesome Video! I see so many operators just start and go and wonder why they are blowing lines etc.. One of the young guys who works for me(John) is watching all your videos and gaining lots of knowledge. Awesome vid Bryan🤙
Hey James, sorry I didn't respond sooner. You've apparently angered the youtube gods somehow because they had you flagged at suspicious again... Thanks for the compliments as always and tell John thanks for watching. Let me know if he wants to know anything specific and I'll try to make a video on it.
Great job man! Very informative, never heard of a grid iron until now either😅 Also you cracked me up when you put that reaction to you opening that frozen lid 🤣
Haha thanks for watching! I knew when I watched the footage back that I had to poke fun at myself 🤣🤣 thanks for the merch order! I appreciate the support!!
Man I'll tell ya, those block heaters work great! It has been at or below -30 for a good few weeks where I am from. I work for a New Holland dealer in Canada and had to bring in a C345 (same engine as your machine) a couple weeks ago. That thing ran the glow plugs for ~30 seconds and fired right up in -35C with the block heater plugged in. The hydraulics definantly were NOT happy even at low idle and whined for a few minutes before it warmed up enough to quiet down.
I have been really impressed with the grid heaters in the newer machines. They really don't seem to struggle firing up in the extreme cold. Like you said, the hydraulics are another story but the engine doesn't have any issues.
I'll take 20 degrees and no snow any day. Up here in Canada we have over 2' of snow and the temp was -30C which is -22F. I find just plugging in the block heater for over 2 hours works well. Cheers.
I’m an 18 year old from Tennessee going to school for construction engineering. Really wanting to get into the excavation field down the road after I get my degree but I have virtually no experience in this field . I’m wanting to get a summer job running a machine to get that experience any advice? Love your videos they are more eye opening than you know
Thank you so much for the compliment! I would look for a local residential company that is on the smaller side. They are generally going to be a lot more quicker to get you experience on a machine rather than just being stuck on a shovel for a couple years. They would also be willing to hire you on for summer work knowing that you will be seasonal. With the way the industry is currently I think you'll find it much easier to get a job than you anticipate. Companies are starving for good workers and have no issue training guys. The major thing is showing up with good work ethic. You can train anyone how to run a machine but you can't teach someone how to have good work ethic.
I wish more guys would follow that warm up procedure. Even on a warm day I let it warm up for 10 minutes and work the hydraulics a bit. Drives me insane watchin guys crank em wide open and start diggin right away when its cold. I told my boss if guys treated my equipment like that they'd be missing teeth
I think the biggest problem in the industry is the disconnect from the price of these machines. I had no idea how expensive equipment was until I started selling it. I had respect for it before but it took on a whole new level when I realized a loader was $250k+
If you look on youtube you can find videos of it. It’s normally in the crazy cold areas. I believe there’s a video in Russia where they had to dig out the machine from the snow and build a tarp tent and fire under it.
ALSO I hightly recomend you take the cap off of the boost stud on this machine and just leave it off. When it gets cold out it gets really hard to remove it by hand and it will split if you try to pull it off with pliers.
I would say once a month if it's just out sitting in a garage or barn. Just enough to get the juices flowing and keep the battery charged should be fine.
In the old days they'd drop the oil into a bucket at the end of the day, warm it by the fire in the morning and pour it back in. Gasoline aircraft engines had a valve to dilute the oil with fuel, which would boil off after it started; I assume the EPA would not be amused.
Cummins diesel engines have an air heating grid located on the intake manifold. The heater grid is used to raise the incoming air charge as the air passes over the grid. This heated air charge aids in the ignition of the diesel fuel-air mixture. This heated air charge is used to aid the starting of your Cummins diesel engine when it is done to help the engine start and improve driveability with cool or cold outside temperatures. A warm mixture of fuel and air allows the diesel combustion cycle to start. The heater grid will continue to cycle until the engine has reached its correct operating temperature.
I have a case 440 that has the lights like the glow plugs do but has a grid heater no glow plugs . When I turn it on the only time my grid heater works is for that first few seconds that the light is on for . Is there something wrong with mine ? It does smoke a lot when first started for at least 2 minutes
Whe. You said extremely cold I tonight you meant it. It's minue 60 here today and I'm trying to get a machine started with the glow plugs and it isn't working. It's a 2019 that's been maintenance by a professional shop for years. Maybe glow plugs don't work that cold of weather.
When you start getting that cold you need some sort of grid heater and a block heater that you can plug in. The glow plugs just aren't capable of getting the combustion chamber up to temp when it's that cold.
On some of the old machines you don't always have a choice. It does kill engines so I always recommend using it VERY sparingly. Guys that sit there and spray half a can into the intake give me heart palpitations...
