princevaliant1975 wrote:



Our farm is in a remote area from the highway and in Nebraska where there are few trees for wind breaks drifts can close county roads for days, so we had this to open our road.

The truck is a 1949 Four Wheel Drive Company (FWD) 3 ton truck, 8 speed transmission.

The Blower is a SnoGo 8x6 capable for "throwing" 1,900 tons per hour

Blower is powered by a 1,150 cid (6in bore X 7 inch stroke) straight 6, magneto ignition Climax engine, with a 14hp pony motor for starting.

princevaliant1975 wrote:

The truck engine is gasoline, the blower engine is diesel but you have to start it on gas with the pony engine (also gasoline) thus the reason for the magneto, warm it up on gas and then switch the mixer valve on the injector pump to diesel and hope the cylinder temps are high enough to support combustion of the diesel, then shut the ignition system off. Back then diesels were a real pain to start in the cold. Alot of these type of engines/trucks had the gas engine for reliabilty in sub-zero temperatures. It was not like today where technology has overcome the drawbacks of diesel fuels and extreme temperatures. The crankcase holds 15 gallons of oil and has a massive externally mounted oil pump. I wish I knew the output but information is very limited on these engines and trucks, but the peak output is at a very low RPM as the redline on the blower engine's tachometer is 2500 RPM. And that is right, there are two sets of gauges, one set for the truck engine and one for the blower engine. The speed ranges for the truck range from 1/4 mph to under 30 mph. I can remeber a blizzard we had in the 80's and my dad just set the throttle on the truck and put it in low, low gear got out and walked back to the house to eat breakfast and just left it to go down our driveway. When he was done eating he walked back out to start the turn onto the county road.

princevaliant1975 wrote:

Hey thanks GreyGizz, I didn't know that. The info on the engine is rare itself. I know of agricultural tractors that are multifuel like some that can run on LP and gasoline. We also had an International TD-18 (late 40's probably) that we used for dirt work in the low lying areas that was multi-fuel as in that you started it on gasoline and then switched over to diesel as well.

GreyGrizz wrote:

I've seen some of those old International dozers. I recall one, (don't remember the year,) that started on gas, then switched to kerosene to warm up, then finally switched to diesel. You are right about the diesels being hard to start in the old days. But the fuel back then was less refined; basically lesser refined home heating, almost crude oil. No additives and loaded with sulfur. People actually used gas or kerosene, as an additive, in colder weather, to thin it out. Prince post up some more pictures, of you're equipment, on the farm. That cat Ag tractor, in the background of you're sig picture, looks like a beast. How would like to pay the fuel bill for this bad boy: