Any 5 ton winterization tips/suggestions?

[blairenzo]

Hi All. I have a 934 expando van and am new to the whole air brake 5 ton thing and was wondering if there is anything special I should do to get it ready for the cold Wisconsin winter. Thanks

 

[wheelspinner]

Make sure your air dryer is working well, fill the ether can.

As far as the brakes, there have been several threads on freeze ups, the solution has beeen the pressure protection valve freezing. Find the valve now so you know where to thaw it out. You'll be glad you did.

 

[Gunzy]

I'm not a pro on air brakes, but I would say check the drier and make sure that it is in good service with a good drier cartridge on it. Likely more important would be to check, test and service the cooling system. I flushed mine a couple of weeks ago and it was pretty nasty. Info can be found by searching SS for cooling system cleaning, anti-freeze and the like.

 

[Carlo]

Drain the air tanks in order as the manual states. Even with the air dryer water still finds it's way in the air tanks.

 

[Gunzy]

I drain the air tanks every time I'm done driving it for the day. Whenever I go to use the truck it will always air up from scratch.

 

[ichudov]

Where can you refill those ether cans?

 

[Rkrug]

A block heater is also a good idea. On the ether cans you usually just buy new full ones.

 

[Suprman]

I have gotten ether cans from napa.

 

[ichudov]

I got cans from NAPA also. They fit the threads, however they do not work with the "other" spaghetti line going to the side of the bottle.

 

[Repo3004]

I use the winter front end (canvas cover) to keep the radiator cozy. Katts ether cans from Napa, wrapped my heater with stick on insulation, wrapped all heater hoses under hood. Picked up 2 walmart 2 defrosters that I screwed into the dash and (1) 12 volt seat warmer to keep my butt warm in the ND winters of course the freeze block heater. When the temps drop I keep the batteries plugged in to keep them fresh... my 5 ton is a pain to start once she gets too cold, oil too thick. Keep the clutch pushed in, even in neutral

 

[blairenzo]

Thanks everyone for your help I wanted to make sure I didn't forget anything. I wasn't sure how the air dryer worked until it purged while I was under it. My canister is painted over so I downloaded some info on the air dryer from Halidex I would like to replace it I see that there is a dessicator kit DQ6026 with a dessicator(201160C) and a different download mentions a heavy duty dessicator (201160B) is available and yet another download mentions an ARTIC CANISTER FILTER KIT(DQ6036). Just wondering what would be the best for Wisconsin. It's a M934 with abs. I hope to convert it to an RV for some land up in Colorado at 10,000 ft anyone have any luck getting it register as an RV?