00:05 Old man winter was a bear, a beast. We’re talking about bone chilling weather last week. Truck yards were closing. There was a backlog of broken down trucks. But we hope that all of these tips, all this information will help you out if old man Winter comes back. Let’s hope he doesn’t. But if he does, let’s be prepared.

00:32 Welcome to Six-Figure Trucker, the podcast where we share advice on how to be successful in trucking and have fun while doing so. We’ll share stories, news, and advice on how to earn six figures in trucking, and we’ll speak to guys and gals that are already doing so. Let’s get to the show.

00:53 Hello everyone and welcome to the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport and each and every week we elevate and celebrate the truck driver and of course we love you guys coming in listening to it. We try to provide information and stories background that will help you out on the road. Of course you know we always want to give credit to you guys and girls out there who make all of this happen for Norton Transport. We’re very grateful to what you do. Now, last week we heard from Henry Clement Jr. And during the course of our conversation with Henry, he talked about some of the troubles in winter weather driving, namely driving across frozen bridges and when wiper blades won’t work. Now, this week we’re going to dive a little deeper into winter troubles out on the road. And this comes for a very good reason because last week, old man winter was a bear, a beast. We’re talking about bone chilling weather last week, specifically January 17th.

01:58 Listen to some of these numbers. According to CBS, we look back at what old man winter did. This arctic blast brought minus22 degrees. This was all on January 17th. 22 below zero, Monaceel, Kentucky. -8 in Kremmling, Colorado. And get this one, minus 37° in Saratoga, and Thermopoulos, Wisconsin. Now, it wasn’t limited to just those three locations. In fact, in Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin, and in northeast Minnesota specifically, the temperature fell to minus 32°. Wisconsin saw minus 25°.

02:44 Now, I say all that because all of you guys and gals were out in that weather and had to face it. Very tough obstacles, very tough to get a diesel engine moving in those types of conditions. And we know that you guys ran through it. You guys felt the physical pain and the economical pain of old man winter just bearing down. You know, we saw last week factories and plants shutting down because they had to. You know, these trucks simply would not crank. So, they had to shut down for a number of days. Of course, fortunately, now in this week, it’s warming up. But anyway, truck yards were closing. There was a backlog of broken down trucks. We saw it firsthand in the office. And the drivers, you gentlemen and ladies load plans were pushed back and we are sympathetic to that and it obviously slowed the delivery of trucks. In essence, put the brakes on some operations.

03:41 Now, what we want to do now though, if this comes back again, if we see this type of really, really bone chilling cold weather, we want to be prepared for it. And we want to talk about a few topics here today. The batteries, the glow plugs in a diesel engine, anifreeze, of course, and what you can do if it falls below 20° with anti- gel. So, with that being said, our safety department sent out some information last week and we wanted to make sure that you had it. Now, if you did not receive it in your email, this is a recap of it that you can certainly get on our podcast, share with other drivers, invite them to our podcast. This is just an informative podcast about the things that you can do during the cold weather. And we’re talking about really cold weather. And these are things, these steps will help you move during the coldest months of the year. And if you have any questions, also reach out to us at Norton Transport via your dispatcher.

04:46 Now, here’s what we want to look at. You know, these are preventable issues. We can get around them. And the first step that we want to is when you go to pick up a truck, make sure that you give them 24 hours notice. And then when it’s really cold, let’s look at 48 hours notice. That’s so that the pickup location can ensure that the truck is running. And you know to get those glow plugs started and illuminating so they will heat up the engine in turn. And if you get there on your pre-trip inspection and these things may for whatever reason may not have happened, don’t repeatedly crank the engine. That can cause damage and can certainly slow you down in your transport. But once you accomplish that, check the battery kill switch and see what the status of the batteries are and if they will hold the charge. If they have to be jumped, then we can move to getting on the road and some steps you need to take. When it’s this cold, let’s say in the low 20s or lower, you want to go with diesel one.

05:53 That’s also known as premium diesel. Now, it has a substantial lower jelling point than diesel 2. Now, again, you’ll pay a little bit more for premium diesel, but you won’t have to worry about the fuel additives that you would if you went with diesel 2. So, that’s the advantage of going with diesel 1. The cost will be higher at the pump, but you will save yourself time and money in the long run. And you know, we understand that most Diesel One is available at Love’s and Flying J, which we encourage you to use. Now, diesel additives do work if you use the right type and you add it frequently. Now, some things that we’re looking at here is anti- gel. Now, if you’re unable to get Diesel One, look for the anti-el additives before you leave for the trip.

06:44 Now, the way this works there, you add them into your tank after you filled up and you have to do it every time you refill. Now, the mix ratio, very important, very important here, will be listed on the bottle that you purchase and you should follow that to the tea because there are problems if you overfill. And you can put too much anti- gel in diesel. And according to some research I checked out, adding too much antifreeze or anti- gel additives will cause more harm than gain. Now understand the way this additive works. It’s a chemical reaction. It’s not a dilution. And if you overdose, put too much in, that can lead to clog filters in that engine, decreased engine performance and efficiency. Again, the best thing to do is to use the recommended amount on the container that you get.

07:41 Now, these usually come in quarts seems to be a very popular size for these. Now, what happens, not to get too technical, but what happens is the diesel fuel will form crystals and that clogs the filters and the fuel lines and that crystallization can cause some costly engine damage. That’s where the additive comes in to reduce the chances of freezing. Now, a little bit more technical, it’s called the cold filter plugging point, and that’s the lowest temperature at which the diesel fuel can flow through the filters and such. Now, one thing to keep in mind, just an example, not to promote any particular brand, but just an example, Lucas Oil Anti- Gel Additive, is a 1Q bottle, and it will prevent cold filter plugging, which we just mentioned, in up to 150 gallons of diesel in temperatures as low as -10, and it will work up to -40°.

08:48 Now, that’s a lot of information to take in, but the way we look at it, you could spend a small amount on the front end at the pump and save yourself a lot of heartache, a lot of tow bills. It could be very much hitting your back pocket and leaving you out in the cold. Now, we would be remiss if we didn’t talk about CNG. Of course, CNG. Many of you have moved some of our units, some of the garbage trucks and other vehicles that are powered by CNG. And the weather absolutely has an impact on CNG. And what you need to do if you’re using a CNG unit is what’s called temperature compensation. Now, this is information that you can find on the US Department of Energy website, and it’s very helpful if you’re taking a CNG unit out for transport.

09:39 Now, what happens is the thermal expansion, again, we’re going to get a little technical, go back to science in our physics classes back when we were in school there. But thermal expansion is the natural tendency of matter to change in volume in response to the change in temperature. And for what that means in the wintertime, if you think about it as an analogy, what happens to your car tire when the ch temperature changes outside? Well, when winter comes, the air in the tire becomes cold, the pressure drops, and your tire pressure monitoring system may tell you to add air. We’ve all seen this when you’re out. It may just be one tire, could be two, could be all four. But you see that happen when it gets cold and that air becomes cold, the pressure drops.

10:28 Well, the same thing happens in a CNG tank. Now, as you know, 3600 PSI at 70° Fahrenheit is considered full. But if you get down into these very, very cold temperatures, take for example 30, 40 below, that PSI, that 3600 PSI will only be 1750. Now, we’ve run into this before, not quite that drastic, but we have run into some problems with this with some drivers who have run into extremely cold weather out on the road. And when they’re at the CNG pumps, they pump, but they don’t get a full filling. That’s because of the gas and the pressure it’s under inside the tank. So, here’s what you do as a solution. Fill up more often. Fill up more often. Each time you get a chance to go to a station, do it. And also with the sunlight coming out in the day or the temperature rising during the course of the day, your situation will improve because the gas will then expand with the temperature getting hotter.

11:32 So that’s the best thing you can do with a CNG unit. But we hope that all of these tips, all this information, you can certainly listen to it at your own leisure, will help you out if old man winter comes back. Let’s hope he doesn’t, but if he does, let’s be prepared for some preventable expense and time delay and things that’ll basically just cause you problems out on the road because we always want those transports to be as efficient and as clean as they possibly can be. Well, thank you so much for joining us here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. We’ll get back to some guests next week, but we just wanted to bring that up here in the course of winter and those tips that we hope will help you out. Everybody be safe out there and be careful. Six-Figure Trucker is brought to you by Norton Transport. Norton Transport is a driveaway trucking company that customers can rely on.

12:33 It offers excellent independent contract driving opportunities to professional, courteous, and qualified drivers that can provide the kind of service we deliver. If you’re interested in learning more about Norton or just want to subscribe to the show, check out Six-FigureTrucker.com. That’s Six-FigureTrucker.com.