Hello wayne
I know what you mean about the mud, we had below o* last week with 6’’ snow and now its 45* with 2’’ rain on the top of it. have to have knee boots its like walking around in a giant slush
Howdy Mr Wayne,
Thanks for the video, That truck sure gotta nice growl to it.
Looks like you are over the cold spell, sometimes frozen is better… Up here there are places just don’t even think about going til ya get some ice between you and the goo 
Here’s a couple pic of today’s progress.
I chopped the bottom off an old shop vac,and mounted it temporary. Gonna make some changes yet. But this will get me rolling… Hopefully tomorrow.
Stay dry.
TerryL
Is that your flaring blower? Awesome.
Hi Wayne, I’m just about to start my build for a V-10 and I wanted to ask you before I started what you would do if you were starting a new build for your V-10. Would you go 12" burn tube 18" long or the extended tube or would you build your oversized unit with the overpack drums? I’m in Canada and will be wanting to use this in all weather conditions from very hot to very cold. I would also like to use it to pull weight down the highways.
We sometimes sell hay as far as 400km’s away depending on the year and I was wondering if you think it’s possible to build this truck to pull a fairly substantial load down main roadways as well as drive home unloaded. If so what would you build into the unit to take care of the huge variation in load range. Change the choke plate for loaded and unloaded?
As far as the hot and cold weather I will address the obvious in the condensate problems by keeping things warm where they need to be and still allow the gas to cool before the engine. I believe it will take some doin’ to get it all right but doable. I’m most concerned about the gasifier itself. I’m hoping to soak some of your experience up for my build. My folks live 40 miles from town on the farm and this will be for them to more cost effectively drive back and forth as well as typical farm hauling.
Do you think it’s possible to build this truck to kind of “do it all”?
Good Morning Shaun,
Hard question to answer.
If the price for 85 and 55 gallon drums were close no doubt I would build the larger gasifier. I can get the 55 gallon for about 20-25 dollars each but the 85 gallon drums cost near 200 dollars each and it takes three drums. Right off the bat the gasifier will cost 500 more using the 85 gallon drums.
One advantage of the big gasifier is if it is too big it can be tuned down to accommodate for slower driving habits.
I think it will be asking too much of a gasifier to idle around the farm with routine work and slow roads making clean gas and the same gasifier pulling a loaded trailer at highway speed for many miles. I don’t believe we can get enough turn down ratio on it.
I think it is best to design for the low end needs ( idling around the farm , empty highway speeds 50-60 mph , short burst up to 70-75 mph , pulling loaded trailer 50 mph) and if power is needed for operation above this, blend in gasoline . The positive of the V-10 ram is that it is so easy to blend in gasoline when needed.
I think if a gasifier is designed to handle the high end needs (continuous driving at 70 mph or pulling a loaded trailer 60 mph) and then going back to slower driving around the farm use, it would run too cool and would have to kill the gasifier and run 100% gasoline.
If the bigger gasifier is built the choke plates can be switch out which is about a half hour dirty job but I still can’t guarantee hyway speeds , heavy loads hundreds of miles .
Just yesterday I pulled a heavy all steel cattle trailer about 35 miles. (12 inch gasifier, 8L motor). Most of the driving was on slower roads at about 50 mph. On some of the other faster roads I would us gasoline to accelerate from 0 to 60 and then switch back to wood. A few times going up grade and the gasifier temps increasing I would blend in a little gasoline to maintain 55-60 mph. I estimate I may have used a quart of gasoline on the trip.
On another note it has been rainy and muddy here, the wood I have been using is at or above 20% moisture. Picture below show firing and fueling the truck and left it set and vent about 30 minutes while I was doing other things to help dry the wood .
Hi Wayne, You know they say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks but you sure have learned how to type in the last few years. Stay warm, Mike
It’s been a heat wave here (35) but back into the deep freeze later this week … Good luck with your build Shaun !!
Hello Mikie ,
This old dog still have trouble with the tricks !!
I just made a quick 50 mile trip and the truck ran strong and fast . I used some wood I had stored away for several years in the old house trailer in the bone yard. The moisture content was about 10%.
SWEM
W
Hi Wayne, I checked my buzz saw today. I almost dragged the extension cord out to it to spin it up. I just spun it a few times by hand and looked things over. I have so much bone dried wood stored up around here I hope I can get to use it. I think I enjoy making chunks more than driving. Have you been running your saw mill or have you hung that up for a while ??? What are you checking moisture content with ?? Do you just give it the squeeze and see how your hand cools off ?? I have a probe here but I think the hand test is way way better. Oh, you are the only one that can get away with the Mikie thing. When Chris started I choked it right away. He respected that … I did manage to walk up to town twice today without walking stick … Slowly on the mend … M
Thanks Wayne and Mike. I’ve kind of re-thought my plans. The V10 is in the future but my rookiness has me thinking to build one of your standard units with the extended burn tube and jam it in a beater Dakota. Then have some fun testing all the limits. Once satisfied that I’m more competent I’ll shell out for the V10. I think I’ll have a lot more fun following some step by step directions and then using the unit to learn.
I appreciate the knowledge
I’ll start a build thread once I get started
Cheers
Hey Mike ,
Most of the time I can just pick a sack of wood up and tell by the weight if it is dry enough to use in the gasifier. Years ago I bought a digital moisture meter but miss placed it. Last week during the freezing spell I had the wife digging out of the closets every rag I could wear. The moisture meter appeared in the bottom of a cedar chest. I put a new battery in it and it worked!!
BBB
W
Hi Wayne, Hopefully you still have a working bathtub with Captain Crunch there. My water line to the trailer survived the the 22 below crap. I tested it yesterday and then shut it back off at the highway. It usually freezes where it goes through the floor and there is no heat tape. I will turn it back on maybe next week after we peak out on this next batch of cold crap. It is 700 feet from that crapper to the house crapper. I’m hoping to start burning chunks again soon. I never had a “real” moisture meter. What is the make and model of the one you have ??? Mike
Mike,
If you turn the water on a slow stream, it shouldn’t freeze up. It will be less water than what most people use to water their lawns one time. It should also prevent the sewer from freezing as well.
Bill S
Hi Bill, The drain lines are all out in the breeze and freeze. That is the other reason I turn the water off. Run the sink and it comes out in the bathtub. Flush the toilet and it comes out the bathtub and it will all sit there till spring … PU … Right now my drain lines are clear and not frozen but I don’t take chances. I have a pile of salt in the toilet to keep that from freezing and cracking. The early 70’s vintage trailer has near no insulation in it and I keep it at 45 degrees in the winter with a wall mounted heater with a thermopile so does not need electricity to run. It puts no heat under the trailer like the old system used to waste until it literally blew up. I used to let the kitchen sink drip until the drain line froze up and then water ran out of the sink and across the floor. Then the lines to the kitchen froze up and split without the waste heat in the ductwork. I even blew heat with a small blower into the ductwork to try to prevent this. All will be well. It’s just a shop to me. I live in an old house with a real basement under part of it … The trailer is full of sacks of wood and several gasifiers and a bunch of woodgas parts etc etc etc … Stay warm in Minn. Mike
Wayne, did you use (3) 85 gallon drums on your big gasifier?? I thought you got by with only using 2, or did I miss that one?
Also I’m still looking for a piece of 14" 1/4" pipe, man is this stuff hard to find. I found one that was 3/8" thick but I worried that it would be more heat sink than heat shedding on/with the thinner stuff.
With the 14" fire tube if I can ever find one I’m hoping for the 35 to 65 range sustainable on the 3.5 ton suburban. Do you think I would be asking too much of a gasifier of that size?
Denny
Good morning Denny ,
To build the gasifier per our design you would need three drums . The lid and seals are used in three places . The puffer lid , fuel hopper bottom and gasifier housing .
When I built the big gasifier with the 85 gallon drums I omitted the removable connection to the gasifier housing…
If I ever have to remove the housing I will have to cut it apart and re-weld it back together when I reassemble it. ( not good )
You should be OK on the 35-65 range .
BBB
W
Hey Mike ,
This is the moisture meter I have.
I’m not sure how accurate it is but when it reads 20-30% the trucks don’t run very well . When it reads 10% the trucks run like a wild cat.
BBB
W
Silly question but how can the grate be -26 when you are running on gas?
Gary, he means gasoline. Gasifier was stone cold, not being used.
Oh okay, I was going on him saying it is running on gas, not on liquid fuel.
Hello Mike L,
Thanks for posting the pictures.
Most of the week it was also white down here. Our low was – 5 F and we are not prepared for it. ( busted two water pipes ) We even had guest that were ice bound here a few days. Below is a picture at the breakfast table. Strange looking out at white.
The ice is just about gone now and I had more visitors from PA yesterday morning. We road around a while in the V-10 and did some 4x4 driving in the mountains. Visitor said he never knew Alabama had mountains. He was amazed how the truck performed and hard to believe we were DOW.
2ed picture is back to work yesterday afternoon. Glad the snow and Ice is gone.
BBB
Wayne
