Hi everyone,
I see this is a small group which is nice and the last new guy post was last year so I thought I would create a new one and tell you a little about myself and projects.
I live in Ashford Alabama and work at Farley Nuclear Plant. i use a Ford 8n for farming and a 95 f-150 for a daily driver. I would like to run the truck & tractor off wood full time, then have a PTO generator.
My wife, 3 boys, and I have;
13 acres, a house/cabin I designed and built, we grow crops on 1 acre, have a Jersey dairy cow, 2 steers, lots of quail, buff hens, and bees. I will share some pics of them.
I am a customer of Engineer775 (wood cook stove, crank-a-watt, rainwater solar pump setup, thrive foods, and other small stuff) if you know him, he helped me with my storm shelter as well 10’x20’x8’H with a shop on top of that.
Nice to be here, and I am ready to start my build.
Hi Curt, check out the charcoal side and look up my charcoal powered ferguson tea20. It has the ohv standard engine not the flat head ford of the 8n but otherwise it is very similar. I chose my build for simplicity and lightness. Wayne runs a bigger tractor on wood. A few here have run tractors on raw wood. Your f150 will produce slipchar as a byproduct that could run a charcoal tractor just fine…
Welcome
Welcome Curt
Nice looking calves. You plan on converting the Ford? Looks like a narrow box. Had to go back and read your post again to see if it was a duelly or not. Some big dog was covering the rear axle:grinning:
Hello Curt and welcome aboard. Hope all is well in the Wiregrass .
I got your message on you-tube but haven’t had a chance to get back with you but I see you have found our web site .
Very nice looking truck !!
For your first wood burner you may want to start with one that doesn’t look so nice. Also your choice of trucks may depend on their intended use . For highway travel the little mid sized trucks with the big motors sure work well. If you are planing hard work the bigger trucks with 460, 454 or the 8L may work OK but not very fast on the road.
If I were you I wouldn’t get in a big hurry and do a lot of reading on the web site before you make a decision on vehicles .
Thanks All,
I will start with the 8n tractor first.
David, I will check out your tea20, thanks.
My truck has the narrow bed short box on it and I don’t want to cut the bed or stuff like that since it was kept so nice all these years. The man I got it from 2 weeks ago only put 161,000 mostly hwy miles on it (one owner). I have found an acorn…
My dog has claimed the entire bed so putting the gasifier back there is out anyway…She loves to ride and the boys like to sit back there too.
I may have to look at mounting it in my 5’x10’ trailer with flex pipe at the hitch. I love the fact you can switch from wood to unleaded on the fly Wayne. Very nice option when needed such as when its raining.
I have made up my mind to go with your plans Wayne, I like the simplicity of repair/replacement of parts and the low cost of it, compared to some of the others out there. I may build 3.
Welcome New Guy! I’m sure you’ll find most of us are pretty helpful and most are well versed in the topics you listed… With the obvious exception of the Nuke-plant. I don’t think any of our members generally glow green at night.
As far as the nuclear plant experience, in the 1970’s my boss and separately a brother in law could drive on the grounds (out in the fields) of the Palasades nuclear plant near South Haven, MI. My dad took the family to the top of the Ludington power plant reservoir where they pump water up to it at night and release it through electricity turbines in the day time. Tried taking my family there a couple of years ago and was met with two guards that exited their post building, locked that small door, and walked along both sides of my car while looking inside like I was crossing the Mexican border. No entry. My country is leaving me. Ludington Pumped Storage Power Plant - Wikipedia
The rain don’t seem too stop the Wayne Keith design gasifier from cruising around with the AC full blast. pooring down rain,in fact he has a video on the premium side or utube of his wood drinking water before being burned in the gasifier ,after a big down poor.
I am now a lifetime member, looking forward to my build.
where do I go on this forum for any updates or improvements that have been made since the book was made?
Andrew, I’m a lifer. You a right about there is no known cure for the DOW disease. I’m at stage 10% of the 75% disease of learning Gasifiing, and loving it. Working on the wiring, putting in new exhaust pipes from the heat exchanger to the engine, rebuilding the fire tube, sealing up some air leaks, hopper lid closers spring tension, a complete inspection of the system. I just keep feeding this disease and liking it. Makes me feel like a teenager again in a 64 year old body. I have a lot of people wanting to catch the disease. Need to form a DOW club in the Wenatchee area for all the blessed people. You will have to be a prime member to be in the club. Keep on Gasifiing. Bob
Curt, welcome. Go to 92 Dakota from the Book and start there. The cooling rails, fire tube, valving have been all been improved on. Just do a lot of reading and rereading to get it inside of you how it works.
Bob
As Bob said be sure to do a lot of reading and watch all the construction videos. . Also we are fairly close so come by and see first hand and take a ride if you want,
Usually after building a truck/gasifier combo I can think of things I would do differently if I built another one . The 95 dakota that I am driving now is the first that I can not think of anything I would change given my available building materials , fuel , driving habits and transportation needs .
Here is a video of the first test drive
Here is a video of the open road going uphill.
The 1500 mile trip to Argos was just like riding on gasoline except I didn’t have to buy gasoline
Hi, Curt!
Sorry I missed your post when it was new. I have been a member for about a year. I just got the premium level about a month ago. I have kept bees, but no active hives at this time. We live in rural Adams County, Indiana. My wife Joy, and my youngest son Brandon, live with our 5 cats and 16 chickens. (raising 10 chicks this year, assorted breeds, predators have been hungry). I haven’t started building a gasifier yet. I still want to build a small gasifier before I tackle a Dakota-sized project. I have been gathering materials and reading, reading, reading! (mostly materials linked or archived on www.driveonwood.com. I already mentioned that I worked at the first Niagara-Mohawk plant at Oswego, NY in 1982. I have worked at TV stations in or near Fort Wayne, Indiana as broadcast technician or engineer since 1996.
It sounds like you will fit right in here, and you have found a great bunch of folks to help you on the journey!
