First Deuce Winter Experience

[todds112]

So winter basically happened within a couple days here. We went from 55F and sunny on Saturday to -20's by Wednesday. First real snow fall, and it was over a foot.

My first experience with the Deuce in winter conditions. Here are my observations:

She started right up. It was around 32F when I actually started it, but it had been sitting for a week and it was -18 the night before. I was really pleased with how easy it started. Hope it does as well when it's a bit colder.

I need to get the darn winter front installed. Temp gauge barely moved even after an hour of idling. A short couple mile drive didn't get it moving much either.

The NDT's suck! No traction at all. The roads were mostly packed snow and it was fairly icy underneath. I did not air down, which I know I should do to give them their best chance. Just barely touched the brakes and they locked up and started to slide. Do you guys with NDT's air down in winter? What PSI do you run? Will it damage the tires letting them sit in the cold at lower pressure? I'm picturing the bulge at the bottom not going away and having permanent flat spots.

The heater was OK. Even with the temp gauge barely moving, it was putting out pretty warm air. I noticed the defrost was worthless. I couldn't feel any air coming up through the vents. I played with the diverter and could feel air blowing out at the bottom, but nothing up top. Then I noticed there was no hose connecting the diverter box to the defrost duct. How did I miss that? Anyone know what size the hose is? Have any suggestions for replacement hose?

 

[Jeepsinker]

When you find the hose let me know. Mine is missing too. Just a tip, once the truck is running take a piece of cardboard that will cover roughly half of the radiator and slide it up in front of the radiator behind the grill. The suction of the fan will keep it there until you shut it down. No winter front necessary. Helps a whole lot.

 

[WILDBOY6X6]

I agree with sinker also you can install a open able flap like truckers use goes over the whole radiator then just open it when driving, part of the radiator stays covered but in cold weather still allows enough cooling. I have some (or you can get) heat riser stove hose used on cars from exhaust manifold to air cleaner would work for your missing hose too, comes in lots of sizes.

 

[eagle4g63]

Go to Menards and get the aluminum dryer vent flex pipe.....3" it works great for the defrost lines and I have the arctic fuel heater in my truck. You can get both pieces and have some to spare from one bag. Just don't use that junk made of plastic. This is the stuff you are looking for.

 

[todds112]

I have a brand new winter front that came in the extra parts for my truck. No mounting clips, though. I was told I might be able to make wire ties work to mount it.

I just looked at hose on McMaster-Carr. They have a bunch of choices in all price ranges of course:

http://www.mcmaster.com/#duct-hose/=ullh0o

Guess I need to get out there and measure it to be sure. I'm guessing 4" ID?

 

[todds112]

I wish we had a Menards around here! Went to one near my folks' place in Ohio...Wow, I could spend a lot of money there!!

I'll have to run up to Ace tomorrow and see what they have.

 

[DieselBob]

I made out pretty good in the 26 ~ 28” snow a few years back running NDT/NDCC on the deuce. If I remember I aired down the rears to 15 ~ 20# and the front to 30#. Nice and easy on the brakes and throttle and I was driving along were most were stuck including a NG HMMWV.

 

[Jeepsinker]

The man said 3"... Not 4".
So glad I don't have to contend with snow anymore....

 

[todds112]

I made out pretty good in the 26 ~ 28” snow a few years back running NDT/NDCC on the deuce. If I remember I aired down the rears to 15 ~ 20# and the front to 30#. Nice and easy on the brakes and throttle and I was driving along were most were stuck including a NG HMMWV.

Nice!! I'll have to try again aired down. Our normal snow is the light powder stuff, but these first few storms can be kind of wet and heavy.

Roger that, 3". Still like the snow (good thing I guess). I can do without the sub zero temps. The summers here are perfect though: sunny, high 70's, 15% humidity...all 2 months of summer.

 

[rustystud]

Todds112, if you plan on driving in the winter in Idaho much, I would invest in a few sets of tire chains. Nothing works better in snow and ice then chains.

 

[TMNT]

Todds112, if you plan on driving in the winter in Idaho much, I would invest in a few sets of tire chains. Nothing works better in snow and ice then chains.

I concur. I have enough chains to chain up 6 tires. We had just enough ice last winter to play around. Without chains, the deuce was slippin' and slidin', along with everything else on the road. After putting on the chains, it was unstoppable; hills, side slopes, curves, all with no problem. You just have to keep an eye on them, keep them tight, and keep your speed down to 15-20MPH.

 

[Recovry4x4]

I might add that a judiciously place weight (absolute rear of bed) of around 1000# will make the deuce much more friendly in snow. Putting the weight in the front of the bed, not so much.

Reporting in from S Fla. (But not born here).

 

[todds112]

Went out for another run. It did much better this time. Still didn't air down, too cold to mess with. I can see where chains would make it pretty unstoppable. Did a good job of packing down the snow base on my lane. It was only about 10-12 degrees when I started off. Truck started pretty good. I did another really short video of that and added to the Cold Start thread.

 

[Karl kostman]

When I ran my first Deuce in the winter I over time came up with a list of MUST HAVES to make it work reliably! Number one on the list is a BLOCK HEATER, the flame starters and great but only reliable down to about 10 degrees Number 2 on the list is a winter front, no this is NOT an optional item, you can find them pretty cheap and without it you will never build enough heat in the motor to keep you warm and you doing the engine NO favors running it at a temp much below what it was designed for. If your running dual NDTs on the rear of the truck and you mess with any ice what so ever make sure that you have chains, you are going to need them GUARANTEED! I reduced the the tire pressure on my rear duals down to 25 PSI and then the tires at least gave me a better footprint in the snow. SINGLES ARE BETTER in the snow and NDTs SUCK on anything that even looks like ice. If you have access to some tractor weights whatever if you have at least 1000 pound over the rear tires that will help to! The Deuce is very capable of doing a fair amount of things in the winter months, but THINK about what your trying to do and what you can to do help your truck accomplish it for you!
Good luck from ND, the land of snow ice and cold!
KK

 

[rustystud]

When I ran my first Deuce in the winter I over time came up with a list of MUST HAVES to make it work reliably! Number one on the list is a BLOCK HEATER, the flame starters and great but only reliable down to about 10 degrees Number 2 on the list is a winter front, no this is NOT an optional item, you can find them pretty cheap and without it you will never build enough heat in the motor to keep you warm and you doing the engine NO favors running it at a temp much below what it was designed for. If your running dual NDTs on the rear of the truck and you mess with any ice what so ever make sure that you have chains, you are going to need them GUARANTEED! I reduced the the tire pressure on my rear duals down to 25 PSI and then the tires at least gave me a better footprint in the snow. SINGLES ARE BETTER in the snow and NDTs SUCK on anything that even looks like ice. If you have access to some tractor weights whatever if you have at least 1000 pound over the rear tires that will help to! The Deuce is very capable of doing a fair amount of things in the winter months, but THINK about what your trying to do and what you can to do help your truck accomplish it for you!
Good luck from ND, the land of snow ice and cold!
KK

I totally agree Karl. When I had to run the base wrecker in the winter months, we always had a block heater connected ( Since you never knew when a call would come in for a stuck or broken down bus) and a grill cover. When the snow or ice came we always chained up the wrecker first. With chains that truck was unstoppable even though it was just a 6X4 .

 

[nchittendon]

I've had my quilted front cover on for a good month or so now.

Tonight I dropped my tires from 50psi to 30psi and it made a noticeable difference! Then, after work I stopped at a buddy's house and loaded up a bunch of wood in the back. It feels 10x more planted than it did before.

My truck never had trouble starting in cold weather, but I installed a block heater this fall just to help the old girl out.

 

[cranetruck]

My radiator cover was permanent and stayed on all year for fair engine temp.

Right, Kenny, weight on the tires (load) is directly proportional to traction. Load up a couple of tons for good traction and use chains to make it unstoppable.

 

[cranetruck]

Chains for the 757 were unobtainable and I ended up making my own from 1100-20 size tire chains. I feel that they are that important.

 

[Pugsley]

I put my winter front this weekend. It made a huge difference. I was able to drive around at full speed for 20 miles with the flap closed in 28 degree weather and it never got over 190.

 

[nchittendon]

I ran out of time and didn't get my solargizer mounted. Would I be out of line just crimping on alligator clamps and laying the panel on the seat while parked?