New here and getting ready to build

General Discussion
#1

Hi All,
I am new here but have been reading for a month or so. Before I buy the plans I would like to share what I would like to do and get the experienced guys opinions.
First off, I would like to use wood gas for transportation. I traval 6 miles to work, about ten to twelve min. On Sundays we travel anywhere from twenty min. to an hour depending on if we go visit family or not. My family is about an hour away and my wifes family is about two hours. My wife and I also like to travel to museums and other points of interest when we can afford it. Once a year we go to a family reunion in New Jersey about 390 miles away, (780 round trip) (when we are there we always go to the beach so add another two hours)
Secondly, I would like to use wood gas at home. I mow a very soft yard and can’t use a heavy tractor. A fifteen to twenty horse lawn tractor will be as big as I will go. I would also like to have a generator. I think it would be good to have the generator and the mower about the same HP so the gasifiers can be interchanged. The gasifier for the genset will be really tall, long lasting and on a trailer. (is six hours possible?) And the gasafier for the lawn tractor will be normal. When I need to run the tractor for long periods stationary (back up-back up genset, aircompressor, chuncker ect) I can use the taller gasifier.

 I don't have a working truck at the moment but I am working on fixing my 91 f-350. The body is in very nice shape but I need a motor and trans. (Think I can do this cheaper than buying a cheap truck) Thinking about a 460 but did they make a 460 with a MPFI with the OBD I computer? Or was it just TBI? I know that this isn't the best performing wood truck (especially for long trips) but it's what I have right now. I hope to off set this a little by rising the CR on the motor as much as I can before installing it. I can also mess around with the heads and get the RV type camshafts for it. I should mention that I have access to a lot of junk yards (car-part.com is my friend). Sometimes I will use the truck for hauling cars from my house to work, I am a mechanic. Sometimes I do big stuff at my house.

 A few GENERAL questions. Can I run all year? in the cold? I live in OHIO (zip 44408) I've read that the gasifier can rust really bad. How bad? How long does a WK gasifire last?
 
 Thanks for reading and I can't wait to hear ya'lls input.
#2

Let me be the first to welcome you Robert.
I think you’re on the right site. You appear to have mechanical ability and realistic goals.
We have a few people on here from Canada that run their trucks on wood all year round. It was one of my concerns as well being from Minnesota. Long and short distances have also been accomplished.
I will be looking forward to seeing your build.

#3

Good morning Mr. Sorrell and welcome to the DOW site .

" I traval 6 miles to work, about ten to twelve min. "

Not a lot of saving here , 10 cold start ups and only 60 miles per week. The first couple of miles as the unit is warming up you may have to blend in gasoline .

 "  On Sundays we travel anywhere from twenty min. to an hour depending on if we go visit family or not. My family is about an hour away and my wifes family is about two hours. My wife and I also like to travel to museums and other points of interest when we can afford it. "

Good ride and should work well with wood gas .

" Once a year we go to a family reunion in New Jersey about 390 miles away, (780 round trip) (when we are there we always go to the beach so add another two hours) "

I like this type trips in my dakotas but wouldn’t want to do it in my 3/4 ton truck .

" Secondly, I would like to use wood gas at home. I mow a very soft yard and can’t use a heavy tractor. A fifteen to twenty horse lawn tractor will be as big as I will go. I would also like to have a generator. I think it would be good to have the generator and the mower about the same HP so the gasifiers can be interchanged. The gasifier for the genset will be really tall, long lasting and on a trailer. (is six hours possible?) And the gasafier for the lawn tractor will be normal. When I need to run the tractor for long periods stationary (back up-back up genset, aircompressor, chuncker ect) I can use the taller gasifier. "

With the smaller stationary gasifier there will need to be some automation . The smaller the gasifiers the less saving on fuel ( wood vs gasoline ) but great learning experience .

  "           I don't have a working truck at the moment but I am working on fixing my 91 f-350. The body is in very nice shape but I need a motor and trans. (Think I can do this cheaper than buying a cheap truck) Thinking about a 460 but did they make a 460 with a MPFI with the OBD I computer? Or was it just TBI? I know that this isn't the best performing wood truck (especially for long trips) but it's what I have right now. I hope to off set this a little by rising the CR on the motor as much as I can before installing it. I can also mess around with the heads and get the RV type camshafts for it. I should mention that I have access to a lot of junk yards (car-part.com is my friend). Sometimes I will use the truck for hauling cars from my house to work, I am a mechanic. Sometimes I do big stuff at my house.   "

Routine and around home driving would be good but this size truck wouldn’t be my choice for longer trips.

" A few GENERAL questions. Can I run all year? in the cold? I live in OHIO (zip 44408) I’ve read that the gasifier can rust really bad. How bad? How long does a WK gasifire last? "

I know in Alabama there is no problem with driving in the coldest weather also I have heard of no issues from other members in your area . On up north of you cold may be an issue with condensation and some measures to avoid freezing will be needed .

The oldest gasifier that I am driving is over four yeas old and no rust . I have sold a gasifier that is being used daily and it is about 7 years old and have heard of no issues with rust . This will depend on thickness of the metals and of coarse if you are running on salted roads .

You didn’t mention a very important part of the gasification package . Your intended fuel supply ?

Thanks
Wayne

#4

Thank you Wayne,
It is so nice to here from you.

“Not a lot of saving here , 10 cold start ups and only 60 miles per week. The first couple of miles as the unit is warming up you may have to blend in gasoline .”

 I'm ok with that, ANY saving is good for me. I think it will work better if I light off be for eating my brakefast and then go. (norm is seven to ten min.)

“I like this type trips in my dakotas but wouldn’t want to do it in my 3/4 ton truck .”

 I know this isn't a do-all truck. there will be more. Its just my first. However If I was to try the trip in this truck I would plan on blending in some gasoline, I "think"  it would still be cheaper then running the honda civic there and back and even if it was'nt by much I would still take the truck because my back can not take small cars for mor then an hour. Also even though I am young,(23) my wife tells me I drive like a grandpa on the interstate. I am perfectly happy at 55 and 60, when in a big truck.

“With the smaller stationary gasifier there will need to be some automation . The smaller the gasifiers the less saving on fuel ( wood vs gasoline ) but great learning experience .”

 Thanks for letting me know. ANY saving is like erning.lol

“You didn’t mention a very important part of the gasification package . Your intended fuel supply ?”

 I have a few local saw mills that I can buy wood from. My land lord (a farmer) has a lot of wood that he just piles up and burns. So after I get a system up and running I will talk to him.

Thanks so much for all the advice!

Robert

#5

Welcome to the site Robert. What you are describing sounds a lot like my daily and weekend routines. I have the Dakota with the 318 and a Wayne Keith gasifier built exactly to spec ( or as close as my junk yard would let me…lol) as the book and vids show. I drive my truck everyday to work which is around 7 miles one way. It only takes me about 3 to 4 minutes to get it fired up and driving on wood gas. Once it is fired I start the truck on gas and with in about 5 blocks I am running on wood gas. On weekends we drive it to grand lake in Oklahoma where we have a place and it is about a 70 mile trip one way. I usually take more wood than needed and leave some at the lake so if I need to haul something down next time I don’t have to take any wood for the trip home, I’m getting a pretty good supply at the lake. Sometimes we do a lot of running around while we are there and it comes in handy for that also. I hope you realize you are getting into something that is as addictive as what drugs and alcohol must be to others. I am totally ate up with it…lol, as well as most of the other guys you see on this message board. (I’m really thinking we may need to do an intervention for Mr. Keith and his wood gas obsession…LOL). Anyway… keep us informed as how you are coming along. If you look at my thread you will see I posted pictures as I was building, it kind of helps you get to know the guys on here and they will help you if needed along the way. Also you will see a couple of screw ups I did along the way that may prevent you from making the same mistakes…

Gary

Gary

#6

Hi Bill,
Thanks for the welcome! I’ll be sure to post a lot of details :slight_smile:

#7

Hi Gary,
That does sound a bit like my routine. except, the more I’ve been thinking about it the more I am realizing that we do a lot of extra traveling. Just today I went to work then my wife took the car to the library and then home. she worked around the house for while then came back to work and pick me up. Then we went to the bank and I cashed my check…then off to my sisters small farm (about 20 acres) for her wedding rehearsal. Then because we didn’t have a place to stay over there we came back home and are going back tomorrow for the wedding. She is getting married on the farm. I hit the trip meter on the civic on the way home and measured 54.5 miles. Then I got to thinking, we’ve only had this little $500 car for 4 months and put ten thousand miles on it!

 I'm definitely hooked on the idea of running my vehicles on wood though. I just can't seem to stop thinking about it.

I’m definitely going to need a Dakota or something similar. They are a lot harder to find up here due to the rust and they don’t last very long. I’m really hoping to put a really big motor in an F 150, gear it a little differently and get close to similar results as the dakota. I’ve had a few dakotas in the shop and they are so hard to work on with the rust. Just the other day I did a 2002 dodge dakota and swept up an entire large coffee can full of rust off the floor.

#8

Robert if you look on craigslist there are some nice 1992-1995 Dakotas around here (Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma area) in the 1,500 to 2,500 dollar range most with no rust at all. I got mine in Joplin, Missouri and it is rust free. May be worth a road trip to come get a good one to start with. It is a lot of work to complete a working unit and you want to be happy with what you install it on when your done. The Dakota 318 magnum is very fast on gasoline, and still able to run 75 to 80 on the interstate on wood gas only, up hill you may gradually loose a little speed by the time you get to the top. I’ve pulled trailers pretty well loaded and never added any gas to get where I was headed. Just saying for a daily driver or even pulling somewhat of a load on a trailer the Dakota works perfect. If your not concerned about running at highway speeds (and above…LOL) maybe the bigger heavier truck is the way to go, I have no experience other than the Dakota, but have read some guys talking about bigger heavier style trucks that are limited on power and ability to maintain a descent speed or pulling uphills with out adding gasoline. So ask questions to some of the guys with full size trucks versus the smaller Dakota, even Don’s tracker seems to be a nice working build, which I was afraid would be under powered but seems to run pretty good from what I understand. Check out Herb’s Caddy, he has some videos of it running down the highway with what appears to be plenty of power. There seem to be some nice working options and I just want your hard work to be as rewarding as mine was when finally completing the build. Put some thought into it before you start, you know like actual (real) cost of maybe taking an old clunker and trying to fix it up to install a gasifier on, versus using a tested working vehicle some others have successfully and are happy with built. Also remember each of us can be happy with there particular build because of the required use of that vehicle. Wayne’s V-10 Dodge is his vehicle of choice for hauling cattle and heavy farm use. But pretty sure he gets in the Dakota when going to swap meets, or going to the diner to have coffee with his friends. And there is a reason for both choices. Anyway I probably talk to much sometimes but wish you the best on what ever you decide and we will help as much as possible.
P.S., I have a video on you tube of a cold start up and drive to work if your interested Search for (Gary’s wood powered truck)

Gary

#9

this picture was taken about a mile and a half to two miles away from my sisters farm. The sawmill where this is at makes surveyor stakes and their seconds are free :slight_smile: I remembered loading these things 10 and 15 years ago with my dad but I didn’t know they still gave them away.

20140913_100814.jpg1024×576 252 KB

#10

Perfect :slight_smile:

#11

Hi Robert

I helped my neighbor drop a MPFI 460 from a one ton truck into an old 1970 1/2 ton. Pretty simple job.

Multiply what the fuel mileage of the truck your thinking about by 16-20 and you’ll get an idea of the amount of wood in pounds you’ll need to process into small chunks, dry, store, transport…

Gary L’s drive to work video is great.

Marvin

#12

Thanks Marvin I appreciate that, I think I’m going to go with a dakota. Then in a few years I can buy another big truck and experiment. I definitely don’t have the money to do both right now. The F350 that I have right now has a 7.3 liter IDI diesel in it, and it was smoking really bad. I took the heads off and found some exhaust guides that were excessively wore. The heads are in the machine shop now getting fixed. After it is back together I plan on selling it and getting a Dodge Dakota.
My decision for the Dakota is largely based on more experienced people’s advice and lots of YouTube videos.

#13

I would really like to be able to ride in a woodgas truck. Anybody that will come to my town after five some evening to give me a ride will get a free inspection and advanced (caster camber and toe) alignment on his truck. this offer expires after 3 trucks. And one of the slots will be reserved for a Dodge Dakota.

Please let me know in advance by posting on this forum.
Robert.

#14

Wish you lived closer to my home town. Would come by and give you some hands on before you get started.

Gary

#15

I would really like to end up moving south, but it’s not gonna happenfor a good long while. If I don’t get any response in a few days I will start a new thread with free alignment as the title, that should get a little more attention.

#16

Sure wish you were closer Robert .

I would give you a ride in three trucks and a tractor and wouldn’t hold you to the alignment . :slight_smile:

#17

After I get a Dakota up and running I might take you up on that. Mainly to see your tractor.

#18

heard back from the machine shop, $227 to fix my exhaust guides etc. I would have much rather used that money for a lifetime membership at DOW. But I need to get this truck running and sold so that I can get my Dakota.

#19

Robert, I may be the closest to you, in Frankfort KY. If you ever get down this way you’re welcome to a ride. I don’t often get up that far into OH though.

#20

Chris
I figure approximately 380 miles…about $80 and 11 to 12 hours of driving in the cvic. I think I’ll wait until after I sell the F 350. Maybe by then somebody will be up around here.

thank you, Robert