Until the temps are single-digits or below, both my FLUs (sometimes after some hand-pumping the fuel system) and both my Dodges start up on the first crank (when they don't have other issues). It's all those other times when it's colder, that the cranking goes slowly for some minutes, that make me cringe at what I'm doing to my motors. Especially if it comes down to spraying ether! Even with block heaters, there's no guarantee they get parked for the night anywhere near an electrical outlet, so I'm totally sold on hydronic heat and wonder why I didn't do this to my Dodge 15 years ago.
Here at the trailer I rent, I can't plug the Dodge in overnight because that circuit will keep tripping, as I'm running a pair of space heaters inside to keep the pipes from freezing. If they're all drawing at the same time, it's just no match for a 15A breaker! Luckily, it's so quiet here at night, the sound of the breaker tripping is enough to wake me up, even though I sleep through coal trains passing nearby.
For where I live, and more particularly, where my trucks sometimes spend the night... well... hydronics is just a no-brainer, even if the payoff's years out. Because there will be a payoff in maintenance savings, vs. brutally cold-starting at 40 below using ether, because the trucks gotta go get something done.
The GMC motorhome's a gas-burner, so it'll have a different hydronic heater (with zones) running off propane, which will also be the domestic hot water system. Baby steps! The Dodge comes first for me installing these things myself. Looks like, if I pull the front driver-side fender, it can just go on the frame rail and tee off the fuel line nearby, as opposed to mounting it back by the fuel tank and extending the coolant hoses under/through the cab.
The HMMH's hydronic unit is installed in the toolbox. The SEE's will likely wind up behind the passenger seat, to recover some of the waste heat into the cab. As I've done more snow removal, and imagining a snowblower or blade instead of just a bucket, I don't see the need to retrofit an HMMH suspension lockout to the SEE. Driving a marshmallow through snow, particularly with the front bucket over-full, requires springs on a sprung truck IMO. Whereas I really want the lockout for transporting heavy pallets on the forklift (YMMV, right FLU Farm?), and of course it's necessary for leveling the crane, it would just get in the way of the SEE doing its thing.
It hasn't snowed here for several days, so everyone's about caught up on moving snow piles around. My neighbor with a backhoe had me come over to help out with the SEE, we can now both say the SEE's the superior snow-removal equipment. If you just need to push a pile back a ways, well, you'd need a bulldozer to *push* it. For lifting the front of the pile up and dumping it over the back of the pile?
The SEE reigns supreme! Although even up to temp, I wish that front loader worked faster, 1-under low-range is just too slow unless you're retired and have all day before the next blizzard!
What you do, is barrel into the snowbank with the bucket tilted back a bit so it "floats" as the SEE (with diff-locks engaged) drives right up the pile, so you can dump over the top... try that in a regular backhoe/loader with itty-bitty front wheels and no suspension!
Careful, though. You can slide sideways off the pile, after lifting the bucket up in the air to dump it, and collide with a shed (not saying I did this or even came close enough to worry, just learnin'). But there's the thing, you're bouncing all around in a marshmallow, but it stays pretty much stable even with crappy tires and no chains. Bring it on, Next Winter!!! Once you get used to how the SEE wants to work, it's highly productive. The neighbor's backhoe's loader? Scoop up from the bottom of the pile, back up, turn, and put it someplace else. You're just not getting that load up & over to dump it, when the snow's this deep (even though it isn't, for here, this season).
Unless you have an articulated loader, which is better at both methods.
Oh, the other cool thing on the Webastos, is if you can plug your truck in, they also have an electric heating element. Which may need to be turned on 20-30 minutes earlier than burning off some diesel fuel on a cold morning? A nice option to have!