Caterpillar 426 Series II?

[gasifier]

You might consider a couple things. One is battery warming blankets and the other is adding a charging port. This way you can put the batteries on charge without having to open the battery box. If you use heavy enough cables it can act as a jump start point.

When I worked at a dealer in the 80s we serviced the Ford diesels. Pushing a big rack body into the shop was not fun so we made jump start rig. We took a hand truck and mounted 2 huge batteries on it and a maintainer. It was kept plugged in so the maintainer would keep the batteries topped off. When we need to start a truck or even a car we just wheeled the setup to the vehicle and connected the cables. Boom car would crank.

You could put a plug like tow trucks use so you just plug it in, start the backhoe and unplug.

At some point you should measure the voltage drop on your starter circuit. Make sure you do not have a loss due to bad connection or corroded cable, etc. This is easy and you will know if things are 100%. In my case is cranked and started fine when warm but a bit slow on a cold crank. Cold as in sitting overnight, not arctic winter cold. I had voltage drops of 2.5 volts on the ground side and almost 1 volt on the positive side. Cleaning connections made it less but it was still high. New cables solved the problem. Cranked like a new starter and batteries were installed. Cables looked fine but obviously not. I did not cut them open.

Thank you for the advice. I just saw this as I’m out here. The CAT is breathing again. I brought both batteries in last night and charged them up full. I also fixed the ends on two smaller wires that connect to positive and negative of batteries. And, when I took the batteries out, I noticed the positive lead on the rear battery was not tight. After I cleaned everything and hooked everything back up it started right up. I had just plugged the plug in heater in about 1-1/2 hours ago. I believe it was definitely a connection problem. Two new eyelets, one on each of those wires, and then having the right tools and getting things clean and tight seems to have made the difference. Now I will see if those batteries keep getting charged up as I run her. I’m currently trying to chase a wire to find out where it goes. First time I’ve had both panels off together. Learning. At 18 DEGREES.

 

[gasifier]

Cold like that would have me looking for more than just warm, fully charged, batteries. If your machine is equipped with (2) batteries (part of a cold weather package) you should also have a block heater and -33F qualifies as a good reason to plug that block heater in. Battery blankets would also be well advised and maybe even on the tranny and/or hydraulic tank......Or just park it inside a shop.

Has two batteries and plug in heater, and starting aid under the hood controlled from switch in cab. Just found out I had some connection issues. Fixed them. It is up and running.

 

[gasifier]

Running in the barn, locked the loader up high so I could get in closer and check things out.Working out back a little later moving a pile of branches and junk rounds further out away from several good size White Pine so I can burn it up.

 

[gasifier]

Light duty today. Scraping down the snow we got the other day. About 2-1/2 to 3” I guess. Just enough to be a pain in the ars. If I don’t keep scraping it down it just gets packed down into ice. Apparently 1-3” more on the way. Joy!

 

[gasifier]

We used to put diesel fuel in buckets that were frozen up like yours.
sometimes wood too.
Then set it on fire. Worked like a magic charm.

I wanted to thank you for the idea. At first I didn’t think I would do it. But I decided i needed that clay out of both buckets so I could continue to move more while it’s frozen up. Try to get it done before spring when everything will be too wet. Worked like a charm.

 

[gasifier]

 

[skyking1]

looks like a very nice rig you have there. I ran a 416 of the same vintage, straight boom 2wd extendahoe. It was a good rig and pretty new at the time.

 

[gasifier]

Hoping to get some work out of the 426 the next two days before the next snow storm comes in. Wednesday through Friday they are predicting 6-12”.