convert your truck to run on natural gas

[heehaw]

theres a dealer in Conway, Arkansas, that's installing kits to make trucks run on natural gas: cost is $10,000;
and for a mere $5k more, you can buy a filling station to install at your house so you have a place to get NG: i REALLY want to do this, but not at anywhere near that price...
heehaw

 

[oldnslo]

theres a dealer in Conway, Arkansas, that's installing kits to make trucks run on natural gas: cost is $10,000;
and for a mere $5k more, you can buy a filling station to install at your house so you have a place to get NG: i REALLY want to do this, but not at anywhere near that price...
heehaw

May work in Arkansas, but it doesn't work in the north country. LP won't vaporize or flow when it gets cold and the vehicles won't start. One of the local school districts spent thousands of dollars converting their buses to find this out. Then they spent thousands more converting them back.

 

[The Haymaker]

Ever tried grilling on the front porch when it is only 15f?

 

[Willl]

Ever tried grilling on the front porch when it is only 15f?

Works in any temperature. :licking:

 

[zzvyb6]

Its NOT LP (propane) its high pressure (natural) gas. They have fleets of vehicles running on this stuff in Canada. GM makes/made production vehicles for running on this fuel. Mileage isn't so good because nat.gas doesn't have the energy content per unit that gasoline does. And of course there's the safety aspect of it should you be involved in a collision. Not sure what you would do if you run out. Range is limited to short hops.

$10,000 buys a LOT of gasoline.

 

[Soundguy]

what kind of milage do you get out of it?

what is a reasonable storage capacity of a vehicle in respect to space requiremnts and miles ( ie.. we all know how big a 20g gas tank is, and how far it gets ya in the family truck / car )..

power issues with pulling? acceleration?

turbocharged?

soundguy

 

[forgeblast]

They are putting a few stations in a county above us that has a whole lot more natural gas wells in place.

 

[sawduster98]

I'll throw my .02 in FWIW...I have 3 friends that have converted their vehicles. One is a Ford Super Duty V10, another is a Ram 2500 Cummins diesel, and the last is a Chevy Avalanche. They each spent around $3k for the conversion. I guess the big ticket item is a computer-controlled valve that does the fuel switching. They installed everything themselves, in fact, they are all good mechanics. They each have a 50lb tank located under the truck, between the frame rails...this gets them around town daily. They also have a pallet containing 3 horizontal 100lb tanks in case they need to take a road trip.
As far as fuel economy goes, the equivalent mpg is roughly the same for the gas engines...a little less in the Ford, a little better in the Chevy. The overall fuel cost however is about 50%! It's different for the diesel, they supposedly get better mileage on the CNG due to how it's mixed. I looked at the oil in the Ford and at 5k miles, it was as clean as it was new. The tailpipe was absolutely clean too. I'd consider doing it if we had more CNG filling stations around me. The closest one at this time is about 20mi away.

 

[5030]

I knew he meant NG over LPG as well. However, there are quite a few obstacles concerning NG for fueling engines, most noteably is the pressure at which NG has to be stored for use versus LPG. LPG is about 80 PSI whereas NG is a couple thousand.

My hunting partner owns the LP company I buy from and he runs his vehicles on LP, including the Ford gas pickup we take up north hunting (read cold) and it starts on gasoline and automatically switches to LP. Has a heated intake system to vaporize the LP in cold weather.

 

[Soundguy]

i've worked on a few tractor engines that were lpg engines converted to gas later in life or when I got them.. and they were always cleaner than regular gasser engines.. etc.

soundguy

 

[The Haymaker]

Works in any temperature. :licking:

Good point!

 

[ch47dpilot]

here's my .02 also. I think as a nation we need to look at CNG, we are the Saudia Arabia of Natural Gas. May not be for everyone but would sure make us less dependent on the Middle East. Would really like to hear from guys out there using it.

 

[5030]

Actually, you 02 is well taken. The largest consumer of motor fuel in this country is heavy duty trucks. All the engine manufacturers already have their diesels converted (and available) to run on LP or CNG. They are sold for hazardous location use.

You'll see a conversion (in the coming years) to alternate fuels as the infrastructure for fueling is perfected. That is the big hangup. Right now, fueling isn't as simple as sticking the dispensing nozzle in the fuel tank and pumping a couple hundred gallons. It's deemed much more complex and not user friendly.

Engine manufacturers can't get the emissions any cleaner using diesel fuel without the cost being prohibitive and engine life decreasing exponentially.

 

[Hooked_on_HP]

Actually, you 02 is well taken. The largest consumer of motor fuel in this country is heavy duty trucks. All the engine manufacturers already have their diesels converted (and available) to run on LP or CNG. .

Where did you get your info. We have been checking into this at work and all the manufacturers we have talked to (Peterbilt, Kenworth and International) say there is not a true natural gas engine developed yet.You cannot order a truck with an engine that runs on natural gas. What is out there are conversions that are inefficient and unreliable. We can get a grant from the state to put in a fueling station if we will sell to other users.
Bill

 

[forgeblast]

American Fuel: Developing Natural Gas for Heavy Vehicles

Ryder Signs Agreements for Heavy-Duty Natural Gas Trucks | Transport Topics Online | Trucking, Freight Transportation and Logistics News

 

[5030]

Where did you get your info. We have been checking into this at work and all the manufacturers we have talked to (Peterbilt, Kenworth and International) say there is not a true natural gas engine developed yet.You cannot order a truck with an engine that runs on natural gas. What is out there are conversions that are inefficient and unreliable. We can get a grant from the state to put in a fueling station if we will sell to other users.
Bill

That's because you are talking to truck builders and not engine builders.

When you require an alternate fuel engine, your starting place is the engine manufacturer, not the vehicle builder.

DDEC (Detroit Diesel), Cummins and Volvo engine division all have NG and LPG engines.

.....they have been building them for a number of years for hazardous duty locations and the Federal Government orders them as well.

Interestingly, we just got in a number of fully hybrid electric UPS delivery trucks. Interesting animal. We ( the company I work for) is the 'go to' people for alternate fuel vehicles and engines in this area, actually the whole midwest.

Keep in mind that all the manufacturers you list only use components sourced from elsewhere under their sheet metal.

As an aside, gaseous vapor from liquid storage was perfected a long time ago. Look under the hood (or seat) of any forklift and you'll see an alternate fueled engine.

Diesels do need an auxillary means of ignition to combust alternate fuel but like I said above, it's already there.,

 

[Hooked_on_HP]

That's because you are talking to truck builders and not engine builders.

When you require an alternate fuel engine, your starting place is the engine manufacturer, not the vehicle builder.

DDEC (Detroit Diesel), Cummins and Volvo engine division all have NG and LPG engines.

.....they have been building them for a number of years for hazardous duty locations and the Federal Government orders them as well.

Interestingly, we just got in a number of fully hybrid electric UPS delivery trucks. Interesting animal. We ( the company I work for) is the 'go to' people for alternate fuel vehicles and engines in this area, actually the whole midwest.

Keep in mind that all the manufacturers you list only use components sourced from elsewhere under their sheet metal.

As an aside, gaseous vapor from liquid storage was perfected a long time ago. Look under the hood (or seat) of any forklift and you'll see an alternate fueled engine.

Diesels do need an auxillary means of ignition to combust alternate fuel but like I said above, it's already there.,

I just checked Cummins.com and Detroitdiesel.com and neither has any info on NG engines.
Bill

 

[Taylortractornut]

Caterpillar even though they are out of the truck engine business has several NG engines for genset uses.

 

[Dmace]

Where did you get your info. We have been checking into this at work and all the manufacturers we have talked to (Peterbilt, Kenworth and International) say there is not a true natural gas engine developed yet.You cannot order a truck with an engine that runs on natural gas.

I just checked Cummins.com and Detroitdiesel.com and neither has any info on NG engines.

Cummins Westport • Natural Gas Engines Engine Info

Cummins Westport • Find a Truck/Bus OEM. Truck's with engine from factory.

We have a Kenworth T440 dump in our fleet which is Natural Gas powered, I have never driven it but it seems to work just as well.

May work in Arkansas, but it doesn't work in the north country. LP won't vaporize or flow when it gets cold and the vehicles won't start. One of the local school districts spent thousands of dollars converting their buses to find this out. Then they spent thousands more converting them back.

Tell that to the 500 gallon propane tank sitting out in the -10F temp feeding my Honda powered 24hp 12kw standby generator that will start in the coldest and harshest weather (which is always when the power goes out) and it will stay running for hours, days or even weeks at a time. That generator sits outside in the weather also with nothing more than a battery trickle charger and oil heater.

 

[Egon]

Redirect Notice


Prime movers using Natural Gas have been around for many a year.