Wood Powered Caddy

Calvin_rader · September 14, 2015, 3:03am

Thanks for the ride Herb, I really enjoyed that video.Great job.

RPMHartman · November 7, 2015, 11:19pm

Hey guys, thanks for riding along!

I need some advise on the Caddy, I want to make it shift sooner, it stays in all the gears much longer then necessary making it pull more woodgas then needed! Even if I let off the gas pedal it won’t shift, it will only shift when RPM’s get way up! Is there a way to adjust that? I would really like to be able to shift it manually to keep the RPM’s down, what would I need to do to accomplish that? Herb

trikebuilder57 · November 8, 2015, 12:10am

Hi Herb, some tps have a small amount of adjustment. Electronic trans. shift by speed, and throttle position sensors sending info to a computer.

Terry_Lavictoire · November 8, 2015, 3:12pm

Howdy Herb,
The video shows what I did on my Dakota…
It did change the shift points, but never had a good opportunity to do alot of highway testing.

Here is the DOW link to it
http://forum.driveonwood.com/t/terryls-92-4x4-dakota/917/167

Good luck.
TerryL

RPMHartman · November 11, 2015, 2:03pm

Thanks Al and Terry! I’ll see if I can find the tps!
Another thing about the Caddy trans that doesn’t seem right to me, it free wheels, meaning when I let off of Excelerator the engine goes back down to idle, not in high gear but in the lower gears, that may be a clue to you tranny guys! Does engine vacuum play a roll with shifting? Thanks

trikebuilder57 · November 11, 2015, 2:47pm

Hey Herb, not sure what year you have, but electronic trans after mid 80’s don’t use vacuum modulators to shift, use electric solenoids. sounds like something in torque convert., or pump. google your problem may find it. good luck, Al

BrianHWA · November 11, 2015, 5:53pm

My 95 Chevy K1500 pick-up does the “freewheeling” between 35 mph and about 55 mph, but I figured that was “normal” since this was my first automatic transmission vehicle (not counting my mom’s year-one Prius with its electric CVT stuff).

If I’m going 10-20 mph and take my foot off the accelerator, it will idle itself (shifting itself into higher gears as it goes) up to about 25-29 mph. This makes it ‘fun’ to maintain the very strict (for good reason) 20 mph school zones around here.

The 29-35 range seems to stay in gear; 35-55 seems to shift to neutral/engine idle; above 55 stays in gear and does compression braking.

Chris · November 11, 2015, 6:36pm

Either your idle is too high or this is a downhill stretch. On flat ground it shouldn’t get much past 10 MPH at idle.

Side note, woodgas idle is really weird, in that it needs a lot of throttle to idle, not so much once it gets moving. This means at idle when you release the brakes you can eventually wind up at 30+ MPH, depending on the gas quality (worse gas = more throttle = higher speed)

BrianHWA · November 11, 2015, 7:15pm

I once got a code for “idle air control” and occasionally when cold, it will idle at roughly 1,600 instead of the suggested 850±100, but it will idle to 850 if I manually shift it into neutral when it’s trying to go 25 by itself.

The school zone I drive through frequently is fairly flat and the above happens on either direction.

RPMHartman · December 13, 2015, 4:10am

Went for my Sat ride, turned over 7,000 miles on woodgas!

Wayne · December 13, 2015, 9:02pm

Hello Herb,

Thanks for the ride , I enjoyed it.

Me and the wife also have been out riding today and for no reason except I knew I would be working if at home

TomC · December 14, 2015, 4:38am

I am so envious of your automatic transmission. Between adjusting the wood gas and goosing and clutching my truck. I am busier than a one armed paper hangerTomC

RPMHartman · December 14, 2015, 6:44pm

Hahaha, that’s pretty busy Tom!
Automatics do have some advantages I guess, the less the operator has to do the better it is!
I did video the whole ride but hesitant to post any more cause it gets pretty boring after start up, I did have some excitement towards the end of ride. I wanted to shake it down a little so I was crowding the edge of the road and hit a good size rock, it blow out the right front tire! The fun was over, darn it!!

TomC · December 14, 2015, 10:48pm

Wooo! That would have made an interesting video. Glad you didn’t end up hanging from your seat belt. TomC

josephhauler · December 15, 2015, 1:33am

TomC · December 15, 2015, 4:06am

He looks a little more relaxed than what I had pictured.TomC

RPMHartman · December 18, 2015, 2:57am

Just the continuation of the same ride in the caddy!

TomC · December 18, 2015, 4:06am

Hello Herb; You seem concerned about not shifting into high cog until 3000 R’s. I would not worry about it. In my set up I have a small engine, heavy truck, and a “high” rear end ( low number 308) all with a 5 speed trany. I have never gotten into 5th gear. I think your last gear is an overdrive thing and is meant for cruising after you get up to speed. With the reduction in power of the woodgas it is pulling on the engine just to keep the speed or increasing the speed.until even though you don’t lift on the pedal, the engine balances out the speed with out a real load on it. You are running on wood and I think running at a little higher R’s is better than pulling heavy at low R’s. Frankly it just sounds to dam good to worry about. Love itTomC

Wayne · December 18, 2015, 1:38pm

Good morning Herb.

Thanks for the video ! You make us all smile

Carl · December 18, 2015, 3:29pm

I think that Caddy likes that wood gas. No doubt, the most comfortable W/G ride in the country. And you’re right, we never “get over the thrill”