Truck hibernation

[78F250SCCS]

I'm going to park my 78 next week for the winter. I won't drive it again untill next May-June. Just wondering what you guys do to get your trucks ready for the winter.

 

[5.0Flareside]

Stay-bil fuel additive.... make sure the coolant is a good 50/50 mix... oil change... so it aint sitting with dirty oil in it..

this is all if..... IF. i had a vehicle/boat i parked for the winter time...

 

[smokey]

Fill the gas tank full so there is less room for condensation to form and they your tank

some block up trucks to take weight off the tires so you don't get flat spots.

 

[5.0Flareside]

yeah or just put the truck on Jackstands and call it done as far as the tires go....

 

[Ranger429]

I park mine and leave it alone. Neither the Bronco nor the 250 gets anything special done to it before storage and neither one has any problems when it is time to fire them up next season. I do keep the heat on in the garage so that makes a difference. If you are doing cold storage then I agree with the above. I also start mine up periodically thru the winter.

 

[LEB Ben]

I've had mine parked up to 4-5 months at a time in my folk's car port. Of the above, I fill the tank, add some stabil and I also disconnect the battery. I also start it and let it idle a few minutes, then bring it up to about 3000rpm for a few minutes, then idle again and shut her down...I do this every couple of weeks.

 

[m78]

One winter I put jack stands under the frame to take pressure off the leaf springs.

 

[taxreliever]

I'm going to park my 78 next week for the winter. I won't drive it again untill next May-June. Just wondering what you guys do to get your trucks ready for the winter.

You're putting it up now? Where do you live, Antarctica?

I've had mine parked up to 4-5 months at a time in my folk's car port. Of the above, I fill the tank, add some stabil and I also disconnect the battery. I also start it and let it idle a few minutes, then bring it up to about 3000rpm for a few minutes, then idle again and shut her down...I do this every couple of weeks.

Ben, you live too far south to have to worry about the cold!

I have a trickle charger that plugs into a connector already attached to my to my battery. I start it once a week and let it get up to operating temperature.

 

[DNFXDLI]

You're putting it up now? Where do you live, Antarctica?

It snowed not far from here today!
And as far as winter prep....battery tender, heated garage and fuel stabilizer with a full fuel tank. No starting at all.

 

[taxreliever]

It snowed not far from here today!
And as far as winter prep....battery tender, heated garage and fuel stabilizer with a full fuel tank. No starting at all.

What if garage is not heated?

 

[DNFXDLI]

What if garage is not heated?

Removed battery and put inside on tender, checked antifreeze was good to minus 50.

 

[Fordzilla80]

Ben, you live too far south to have to worry about the cold!

You can't underestimate the south. I live in Florida, and in January I woke up to this:

I think Tony (surewhynot) had some sleet/snow/ice whatever it is on his Stang as well. And he lives farther south than me.

 

[taxreliever]

You can't underestimate the south. I live in Florida, and in January I woke up to this:

I think Tony (surewhynot) had some sleet/snow/ice whatever it is on his Stang as well. And he lives farther south than me.

Woooooaaaaah! I'm surprised you don't have a snow plow on that thing.

 

[m78]

Woooooaaaaah! I'm surprised you don't have a snow plow on that thing.

 

[LEB Ben]

Ben, you live too far south to have to worry about the cold!

I have a trickle charger that plugs into a connector already attached to my to my battery. I start it once a week and let it get up to operating temperature.

I used to think the same thing...but the last few years, I guess they discovered salt/slag/sand. Any time it even approaches freezing (without any chance of percipitation), they salt the hell outta the main roads. On top of that, if we do get anything, no one knows how to drive in it down here, or you get the yahoo's that think just because they have a 4x4, they can tear through the streets...and usually end up wrecking. You gotta keep in mind, my entire county only has a $1MM winter budget for the winter, and at last count only had 7 trucks. So if we do get anything, they're only worried about the main roads, and if we exceed that budget, we're SOL. For reference, we had a pretty nasty and icy winter for the area. The last storm we had, we accumulated 3" of ice with 6" of snow on top of that, it was 2 weeks before you could see tar again.

 

[taxreliever]

I used to think the same thing...but the last few years, I guess they discovered salt/slag/sand. Any time it even approaches freezing (without any chance of percipitation), they salt the hell outta the main roads. On top of that, if we do get anything, no one knows how to drive in it down here, or you get the yahoo's that think just because they have a 4x4, they can tear through the streets...and usually end up wrecking. You gotta keep in mind, my entire county only has a $1MM winter budget for the winter, and at last count only had 7 trucks. So if we do get anything, they're only worried about the main roads, and if we exceed that budget, we're SOL. For reference, we had a pretty nasty and icy winter for the area. The last storm we had, we accumulated 3" of ice with 6" of snow on top of that, it was 2 weeks before you could see tar again.

I remember the south got hit pretty hard last year from norther TX and OK all the way to the Carolina's......what you're describing is a way of life for us in Maine. The majority of the winters down your way would have plenty of driving days without risk of hurting our rigs. Up here, salt and sand is almost a weekly occurrence up here and from the first snow storm until May, there's no time that's ok, for me anyways, to drive my rig on those roads. She's truly stored, on jacks, battery plugged, etc. If I lived down that way, I could easily find a few weekends/days to pull her out and stretch her legs. I started my career down in Texas, also lived in places such as the Florida pan handle, Chicago, Seattle, and have family in the Carolina's, so I know at least those weather variances as compare to up here in Maine. Over half of our town budgets are spent on Winter issues. Our salt budget alone for our county of around 25k people is your entire winter budget of 1M!

 

[m78]

Ken is it true that Maine passed a law that says women don't have to ware tops ?
And what about them hibernating ?

 

[78F250SCCS]

The truck will not be in a heated garage. I'm parking it early to save a little on insurance, and fuel. In Ontario they passed a law so women can go topless, only for the summer months. To many guys were getting eye injeries in the winter months.

 

[Fordzilla80]

Woooooaaaaah! I'm surprised you don't have a snow plow on that thing.

I know!!!

People made a huge deal out of it, when it really wasn't. That's a silk blanket compared to what happens up North.

 

[m78]

I know!!!

People made a huge deal out of it, when it really wasn't. That's a silk blanket compared to what happens up North.

Thats dandruff