CAT 287B Cold weather operation!

Is anyone running their Cats up here in the great white north? We are running a 0w40 synthetic and the motor starts real good. At -30c and colder the hydraulics are really tough to get warmed up. You can let it idle for half hour and longer but you can tell there is next to no oil circulating warming up. So the way I see it there is 3 options:

1. make a circulating loop from the aux couplers and start circulating oil to warm it up when the engine is warming up

2. Hydraulic heater. Can you add a heater to these reservoirs? Being plastic I doubt it...

3. Lighter, more synthetic hydraulic oil. Is there a oil I could run that would be better in the cold but still ok in the summer time?


Thanks

One option would be to "dead head" your aux hydraulics to warm the oil up.

Once the engine oil & coolant has warmed up sufficiently have you tried stalling the hydraulics..? That will get some heat into the oil fairly quick.

Well, I guess you don't have a shop or access to a building cause at the end of the day the cold starts are very hard on that poor machine. Ya it starts and you have 0-40 engine oil but the machine is getting more wear every cold start than anything else it does - no 2 ways about it. I don't know what the perfect solution is but 2 things come to mind.

1 is the plug in heated wraps you can buy for batteries. Could you tape or somehow stick to the hyd tank.
2 is tarp it in with an insulated tarp and even the little bit of heat from the block heater will help keep the hyd oil above -30 maybe.

big ben said:

Well, I guess you don't have a shop or access to a building cause at the end of the day the cold starts are very hard on that poor machine. Ya it starts and you have 0-40 engine oil but the machine is getting more wear every cold start than anything else it does - no 2 ways about it. I don't know what the perfect solution is but 2 things come to mind.

1 is the plug in heated wraps you can buy for batteries. Could you tape or somehow stick to the hyd tank.
2 is tarp it in with an insulated tarp and even the little bit of heat from the block heater will help keep the hyd oil above -30 maybe.

Click to expand...

Boy are you ever right on. I figure cold engine starts take about half the life out of an engine.

Like mentioned, I run the hydrualics over relief when runnning below zero at start up. Synthetic hyd oil would certainly help, I would guess that CAT has a hyd oil to meet those cold weather specs.

big ben said:

Well, I guess you don't have a shop or access to a building cause at the end of the day the cold starts are very hard on that poor machine. Ya it starts and you have 0-40 engine oil but the machine is getting more wear every cold start than anything else it does - no 2 ways about it. I don't know what the perfect solution is but 2 things come to mind.

1 is the plug in heated wraps you can buy for batteries. Could you tape or somehow stick to the hyd tank.
2 is tarp it in with an insulated tarp and even the little bit of heat from the block heater will help keep the hyd oil above -30 maybe.

Click to expand...

Yup your right on. Cold is very hard on equipment. We do have a heated shop and try to keep it inside but we generally have it pretty full of other things on the go. The skid at the very least always sits in a non insulated machine shed, which helps quite a bit.

Funny you mention engine life in engines we were just talking about that here the other day. We have 2 old John Deere loader tractors, one a '60's 4020 and the other a 1976 4430 and both of them have probably started almost every day for the last 30 years and have about 15,000 hrs on both of them, have never been "pampered" with a heated shop. (knock on wood) We havent had to do any engine work to either of them. The 4430 we did the bottom end in it 20 or so years ago and thats been about it. I sure hope I didnt jinx it now, but point being we live in a climate where we depend on these machines. I belive good oil and regular changes go a long way.

Will maybe try deadheading the aux circut to let it bypass. I just wouldnt want a seal to give away in the coupler body is my only concern with that.

on ag tractors with an extra spool guys put a hose loop in then cycle the hyd oil that way. ther are stick on oil pan heaters out there that should work fine on your resevoir or maybe an oil heater mounted in the drain plug hole? synthetic oil designed for the temps you are working in is always the best solution. i quit using oil heaters because of the condensation problems.

my chore tractor for 15000hrs is a deere 4440. botom end at 8000 hrs. winter oil 5w30. hyd oil jd low vis year round. circulating block heater. used up to 50 below. never a lick of trouble.

"i quit using oil heaters because of the condensation problems."

What kind of condensation were you getting with the heaters?

Plus, it's quite a relief to know that cold starts aren't dooming engines for Canadians.

when you heat metal in the winter frost forms. start and run and the frost melts contaminating the oil. if you change oil more often no problem. if not you are puting moisture in your system that can be prevented. so instead of trying to heat the oil i just use oil that can take the colder temp.

i seem to recall an external oil heater. guy i trucked logs for had a tank and quick couplers to attach it to unit. used a tiger torch to heat the oil. i think it kinda worked like a circulating heater. not sure was a few years ago and i never looked to close at the system.

no they aren t doomed but i don t think we get the hours out of them warmer climates get. its like buying a vehicle from the coast vs the high desert. no rust in the high desert to speak of but that car on the coast will disapear in a cloud of red dust.

Amsoil for one makes a synthetic hyd oil, that would help a lot. I think bobcat manuals used to recomend running the bucket rams in to the end and letting the oil go over relief to warm it up. I never liked the idea though.

from my experience, as long as you have oil and coolant in your engine your doing pretty good... its when you loose either one that you start to have problems. the old bobcat starts multiple times every day right down to -20 degrees F and is never allowed to warm up, and works just like a champ as soon as you start it. and no block heater of any kind. fire it up and go. standard hydraulic fluid and 15w 40 in the engine. no trouble in 9000 hours. we did crack the head however from running it without coolant back in the day when it was just outta warranty. and we recently had to overhaul a truck engine cuz the oil filter blew off because the previous owner installed the wrong filter.

I like the old fashioned warm up. Hit the glow plugs grit your teeth and fire it off. Then I idle her up a smidgen and run for the truck. Grab a piping hot grease gun from the tail pipe and make my way around the machine. Unplug the ESSENTIAL block heater. Then I warm the seat up with my ass, ease her into the day with a couple bucket lifts and a couple curls followed by a warm up walk... Although some experienced guys have said they like to dead head the hydraulics, I wouldn't recommend this myself as you are placing extreme pressure on the system, aside from that it just sounds bad, and common sense says if it sounds bad... it is... The hyd tank is behind the op seat and above the motor on a cat, If you want instant gratification install a heating pad on the tank and wire it up with the block heater.