The American Beagler Forum

I'm curious about how you get your trucks started on those cold days some of you describe hunting in.
Do you carry water or snacks? How?
Do you have to carry or do anything different to keep from being stuck off somewhere?

here in IL it can get 20 below pretty easy with wind chill, so i have an engine block heater on my truck. never fails and you have heat in about 2 minutes. i just make sure i have a tow chain and a couple extra full sets of clothes. i always have my cell phone, so i can call a buddy if im stuck or have any troubles.

john.
i picked up one of those ''jump packs'' at sam's for $45.00 and it paid off.
snacks would not make it 10 min. in my truck.

also my truck is a diesel with bad glow plugs and i need either spray to start it.
i keep a few cans on hand..

ant

john we got about 16 inches of snow today,i dont know if i am going to take a truck in the morning i better walk,glad we have a few rabbits close to the house
whent to alittle hony hole yesterday,cant shoot the rabbits there but we run them i bet we had 20 up in two hours we had rabbits up that the dogs didnt even know they jumped.that is where i train the pups at.lest then two weeks left to hunt i am going to try and get at it every day later

Do ya'll run thinner oil or something to loosen up the trucks when its that cold? I have never seen a block heater or anything like that at Sam's down here. Do ya'll run air conditioning in Summer? Doesn't the salt eat up your trucks?

How do you keep your Sardines or Vennie's from freezing?

jump pack is a portable battery jumper unit.

Alabama, it don't get that cold here, but I had to laugh at the frozen sardines -- done that and they just don't taste the same. Yuck!

Hey John , I'm originally from Fl. and yes it takes some getting use to they do things alot differant up here the 1st winter here when it hit below 32 and I walked outside and 3rd step out the door let's just say that more than my pride got broke that day , I thaught what am I doing in this place let me get home and I'll never come back funny thing is I just can't seem to get up the curage to leave , Called Out

At -20, the battery usually has to work to start the truck. It is only when it gets colder than that, that I have had trouble starting my vehicles. Of course, I wouldn't want to start after sitting out in that all night. I have only had one truck with a block heater in it, and I never plugged it in. I even took it to Iceland with me and never had any problems...

Emery

I was going to buy a block heater but Id need a 1/8 mile extension cord, havnt been up my lane in weeks

nothing is designed to work at -30 dgrees. not even snowmobile. can hardly pull the rope to turn it over. yesterday took brand new spark plug out and warmed it up. i dont know why this works but it does. when its that cold can kill a brand new battery. bring it in and warm it up . my truck has 235000 miles it started at -35 but just barely. i use 10-40 oil. no blck heater but have used them before with other rigs and they work great and i dont start my diesel tractor without plugging in heater. and salt does eat our trucks up. mines about half gone now. i always carry thermos in truck or snowmobile. and you have to keep food in a cooler to kepp it from freezing . or eat it frozen. also have to use fuel treatment , for diesel and gas in this kind of weather, pete

When the temp is below zero, I stay INSIDE. So I don't have to worry about anything starting. I usually have some warm clothes behind the seat and if I think of it, I carry some hot coffee. I'm fat enough so don't always need to eat.

The main thing you need is a good battery, the biggest cold cranking amps you can fit in the truck, I also run 5w30 oil in the winter, thinner oil heats up faster offering more protection, my huntin' truck is a 1989 ford 150 4x4 with 150,000 miles, starts everytime even with the temps in the minus 20s we've been having, carry snacks inside my wool coat, good boots are about as important as anything you can wear in the extreme cold. Hope this helps. p.s. Here in the u.p. of Michigan it is finally starting to warm after a long cold spell, getting up in the 20's the next few days, will feel like a heat wave as that is over 50 degrees warmer then the last few nights. Hare

Your questions are good but they made me laugh a little.
I realize what you were thinking when you wrote it because I lived over in Georgia for a few years while I was in the ARMY. My freind down there thought I was crazy when I tolod them about the weather up here in Michigan..

I Carry some trail mix and some nutrigrain Bars.
For snacks.

I have a GMC with 100,000 miles on it never had a problem starting it in the cold.

But I always let it warm up before I take off in it.

The main thing I do differant is feed my dog's more food when It's cold.
And I'm running them hard.

They tend to loose weight easy in the cold temp's I've noticed.

they sell sticky buns at the store 2/1$ . says on wrapper . delicious microwaved. im going to write to company and tell them they aint bad frozen either. pete