D4-5t High Altitude Pony Start

As far as the starting engine if it doesn,t idle or pull right then adjust the idle screw and the other one but as for the diesel when they have a turbo on that will change if your in higher alt. like that but not having any experience with an NA diesel in higher alt.it might cut the HP a little I,m guessing. Make sure the air cleaner is clean inside so it breathes good and also on the starting engine.

With my experiences at Cripple Creek, and also at Estes Park, Colorado, I have had to lean our my carb settings as I was running too rich to run properly. That was with my motorcycle and also with my steam cars. My modern gas cars had a loss of power due to the altitude, but they survived without any adjustments being made. Attached photo was taken on the Trail Ridge Road in June.

hello SSsssteamer ,when i get back home tomorrow i will check the rack setting manual,there will be power lost 10k ft for your d4 5t ,i think the main problem would be over fuel on the diesel engine.fuel/air ratio ? .bruce oz

Hi Team,
as yet I have found no reference to reducing the rack settings for high alt work for both the T and U series D4's in my rack setting book.
However from my experience of setting up Antarctic machines for the Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions ( ANARE) 30A (7U) D4's etc I can say they did not alter the rack settings on the U machines for high alt work on the Antarctic Plateau's as they used Jet A1 -Aviation Turbine Kero- for fuel in ALL their diesels due to it's ability to not freeze or gel at Antarctic temps. (down to -89C) Also this fuel has a lower heat value to the lesser refined Diesel Fuel ( less BTU's per given volume) and would therefore give a cleaner exhaust due to the rarefied air pressure at altitude but with the corresponding power loss which would normally be experienced with the reduced rack setting applied to engines on diesel fuel whether they be turbo'd or NA.
The ponies started the diesels OK down there and the ponies are the reason that Cat was always specified as the preferred ANARE machinery. I was told that a full cold start down there could take up to 8 hours with a blanket around the main and an Eberspacher (spelling ?) flame heater going---poor ponies would run for an hour or so !!!! Temps of down to -89 C have been recorded there!!!
We did fit Altitude Normalisers (turbo's) to the ANARE machines but they still retained the standard rack setting. I also believe that some units were used on the Plateau's without the Normalisers without detriment. The rarefied air gives the effect of running too rich for both diesel and petrol (gas ) engines and they would need to be leaned out as they would exhibit symptoms of running rich.
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Eddie B

Thanks for the insight... my biggest concern is with getting the thing started once it arrives. The driver won't be able to get up my driveway so I will need to start the 4 and get it up to the house from the road. I'll be new to this machine and I'm not sure if I should give 1/2 a turn on the jet to lean it out if it won't start and if it does start without any adjustment, do I risk burning anything out. I don't want to keep the driver waiting and the road blocked any longer than needed.

If a carb is set to run at low alt., can you burn out a motor when going high, or is it the other way around? Thanks again you guys are always helpful, I haven't been on this site in a couple of years and your support is apprrciated!

Charlie 2T, It is the other way around. Running too lean overheats and could do damage. At high altitudes, running too rich doesn't do any mechanical damage. It just soots things up and in the worse case, the engine when it got warmed up, could stall from being too rich. That would be an unusual situation. For what you are doing, there should not be a problem. Your engine may not even be up to running temperature by the time you drove it up your driveway.

hello ,just checked my rack setting manuals ,as edb said ,the manual says to use factory settings ,so it should be ok using the d4 the way it is set up .bruce oz

Thanks again everyone, I wasn't even thinking about a rack adjustment (thanks for checking into that) but knew there was something to running the gas end. I appreciate the support!

Would be to chain the tractor to an inmovable object, have him drive the trailer out from under you. Then you could mess around with getting the engine started. All this is provided that the blade is up.