Winter Cover on Hood Grill Necessary?

Best days ever when i was a kid was going with my uncle in his truck. Probably why I love heavy haul still more than anything else. He had a KW and a low bed, I would have done anything as a kid to get to go along. When i turned 13 he gave me a job in the summer holidays helping around the shop, and getting to move the equipment and work on heavy equipment and trucks. Next year i worked in the shop every weekend and every school break. I could load almost anything onto the lowbed, chain it down, and drive the truck by 14 years old. My uncle had a logging company with equipment, logging trucks and 1 lowbed. He also moved equipment for many others. Turning wrenches, welding or driving a truck or loader, man life was good. School was like torture for me as it meant I couldn't be at work.

 

You don't need a winter front, they did not need them even in the 90s. The new engine run hotter because they need that heat to burn fuel better and keep the emission system hot when driving. That was a big problem with early DPF. They did not run hot enough to do active regens when driving.

 

I didn't even use them on trucks from the 70s and 80s. The thermostat will keep it from running too cold. Now if your thermostat is not working correctly, then you will soon know it when the temps drop down to -25C.

 

I live near Santa Claus Indiana

 

big fleets don't use them because they hire people who have no brains, they are mostly (NOT ALL) steering wheel holders and they will keep them on while running in 60ºF weather with the sun shining and the truck overheating to the point of destruction (YES I have seen this happen).

 

You are so right.


I use a small piece of cardboard when/if it gets into the single digits. It gets cold going down a long hill in my old truck. I put it down low so that it only blocks the radiator and not CAC.

 

No they are not necessary on todays trucks .
They can actually cause damage as already mentioned .

Now for a short trip back in time on the old geezer train .
We used them in the olden days because most trucks didn't have engine fans that turned off and on they were full time fans .
At night we closed up the winter front to stay warm and in the morning we would unzip them as needed if it warmed up or even take them off and put them in the side box .

There were even shutters on the radiators in them days .
Some in front of the radiator and some behind them .
That's how the old saying running with shutters wide open came from .
Then the air to air engines came out and the shutters and winter fronts went away because you would cook an engine fast by over heating the intake air .
That's when they came out with on/off fans that we know and love today .

At least that's how I remember it anyway .
Ok so that is enough of the dinosaur days for now .

 

It gets pretty cold up here. I've seen -38 before wind chill. Personally I think closing up the grill a bit is more to prevent that cold air from freezing up fluids (like power steering and fuel) while they pass through the coolers.

 

That, and you can sure help keep it warmer in the cab.
But they are hard on the fan hubs, Horton actually makes a special Hub designed to be run behind winter fronts. It has better bearings and higher temp grease to handle the higher temps and the offset fan loads from running the winter front

 

So far in my personal vehicles I've lost a transmission cooler, 2 or 3 power steering hoses, a transmission cooler hose and 2 rads. All those failures occured at -26 or colder. Never in warmer temperatures. I think its due to a pressure spike as the cold fluid thickens in the cooler and is being forced through it by warm fluid from the pump.