Wood gas vehicles: firewood in the fuel tank

[Alan W.]

Im just curious about the 135 hp 1963 D4.
Horsepower seems a wee bit generous for the year and the size. Just sayin

 

[tree farmer]

I tend to agree that 135 HP is over stated. My IH TD-14 is only book rated at 79 horsepower, and is at least equal to an older D-4 in size and weight. I shudder at the thought of putting 2000 hours on an old dozer. That's a full year at 40 hours a week, not counting repair and maintenance time. Sorry, I'm just too old to enjoy that....Dan.

 

[Sberry]

2000 hrs on a 63 dozer,,, no thanks.

 

[Sberry]

2000 hrs on a 63 dozer,,, no thanks. Putting firewood in it,,,,, hahahaha,,,,,,,,,,, wa,, , ha

 

[4570Man]

2000 hrs on a 63 dozer,,, no thanks.

Agreed. I’d buy something newer with a joystick controls. Also a 1963 dozer is already worn out. It’s not likely it’s good for another 2000 hours.

 

[AndrewT]

If you are serious about this, and people have done bigger projects on older equipment, rather than a gassifier look into buying/making a bio-diesel generator. Not saying a gassifier can't be done but you'll be hauling around a 1 ton trailer to house it and stoking it with green wood hourly to keep working. Plus the maintenance added to an older machine burning creosote/ kerosene would be in the order of an hour or so a day for every 8 hrs worked.

Bio-diesel still entails collecting volumes of restaurant fryer oil but at least it can be stored and processed in bulk, still time consuming for what you have envisioned, but do-able.

 

[MHarryE]

Unless re-engined, a 1963 D4 is 70 HP. Everything is rebuildable, replaceable, and still supported by Cat. Firewood for fuel - bad idea.

 

[Bentrim]

How to make a million dollars: First, start with a million dollars...

If you can't afford $60K on your project then you can't afford the lifestyle you want to become accustomed to. Erase any notions of such dreams and go rent a small apartment in town.

If you still have champagne tastes then marry a rich woman to be your sugar momma.

I am working on my third million--------I gave up on the first two!

 

[DutchInNZ]

The help I'm looking for is to find who builds wood gasification units to use firewood as an ecological and low cost fuel alternative.

Gasification units were used on non-military cars in Europe during the second world war because there was no gasoline. The power loss of the engine was 50% or more. Those were gasoline engines with spark ignition. I have never heard about a high-compression diesel that could run on a gas feed, e.g. LPG, without really running into pre-ignition problems, although companies like DieselGas sell modification sets to run (without power loss??!!) on mixtures but that are so expensive that the claimed savings unlikely ever can pay back the investment.

Ecological? Don't fool yourself. You burn wood under a vat to get the contents to a distillation temperature and out comes a distilled gas that is a dirty mixture of whatever. If your engine ever runs on it, don't expect it to live through your project. Burning wood and wood junk (euphemistically called: biomass) is a lot dirtier than burning coal, and wood distillation, even if done professionally in a well-controlled industrial plant, is really just good for making charcoal. If you like grill parties, that's a positive argument, though.

Have a good year, everyone!

 

[4570Man]

Unless re-engined, a 1963 D4 is 70 HP. Everything is rebuildable, replaceable, and still supported by Cat. Firewood for fuel - bad idea.

Sure it is rebuildable but you will have spent more than if you just bought a newer dozer to start with and you still don’t have the comfort features of the newer dozer.