Winter Storage

[mikey531]

It is getting time for my truck to hibernate. I will be storing it in a unheated out building. It is not squirrel/chipmunk proof. How or what can I do to keep those )*(&&^^&^&)*#_ out of my cars and truck ? What I have so far is moth balls peppermint extract and dryer sheets.

[mrein3]

Irish Spring soap.
In my bass boat I have 7 bins. I don't want mice in there eating what they feel so I take 7 plastic containers and whittle one bar of Irish Spring into chips. A container of chips in each bin has worked since the winter of 2002-2003.

Under my hot tub, which has had issues, I hung two packs of "Fresh Cab". Google it. I just did and came up with the exact product I put under there. I spent the last month chasing down leaks on the hot tub because a rodent ate some wires last winter, shorted out a motor which tripped the breaker. By the time I found it the tub water wasn't frozen but it got cold enough so that all the weeping leaks filled and froze the bottom thus cracking more fittings. Long story short, rodents are no longer welcome in that nice warm space. We'll see how fresh cab works...

[mrein3]

Oh and don't forget to put Stabil or Seafoam in your gas. Make sure you then run it long enough to get to your carb - especially if you're running gas with ANY amount of ethanol in it. In MN, if it doesn't say "contains no ethanol", it has at least 10% in there. I'm sure many other states are the same way. Ethanol can really screw up a carb over one season of down time.

[sleepingbag]

So if I used Seafoam when I filled up a couple of months ago I would be okay through the winter?

[69GMCLonghorn]

Yeah, you know... When it starts getting below about 60° out here in LA, I feel the need to wrap my truck up and protect it from the freezing cold. One night, there was actually DEW on the ground!!! Not to worry though, the truck survived....

By the way, it was 85 - 90° yesterday out here! I had shorts on until around 9:00 last night. Oh, and I slept with the window open... How's autumn treating the rest of you??

[independentcustoms]

Originally Posted by 69GMCLonghorn

Yeah, you know... When it starts getting below about 60° out here in LA, I feel the need to wrap my truck up and protect it from the freezing cold. One night, there was actually DEW on the ground!!! Not to worry though, the truck survived....

By the way, it was 85 - 90° yesterday out here! I had shorts on until around 9:00 last night. Oh, and I slept with the window open... How's autumn treating the rest of you??

Wow, I think I might actually hate you! I live in NY and it was 28 degrees when I left for work this morning. I'm a stubborn bastard though, I still rode my motorcycle 20 miles to work. I refuse to give in to the cold weather!

[mrein3]

Originally Posted by 69GMCLonghorn

Yeah, you know... When it starts getting below about 60° out here in LA, I feel the need to wrap my truck up and protect it from the freezing cold. One night, there was actually DEW on the ground!!! Not to worry though, the truck survived....

By the way, it was 85 - 90° yesterday out here! I had shorts on until around 9:00 last night. Oh, and I slept with the window open... How's autumn treating the rest of you??

Actually, you can have LA. Crime. Murder.
Do you lock your truck at night? I don't.
How much is a gallon of gas?
Can you leave the garage door up and run down the road to your buddy's cabin? Oh wait cabins are 100+ miles away and if you left your door up for more than 5 minutes everything not bolted down would be gone.
Nevermind.
We all pick our places to live.
I'll take a couple months of cold and no fires and no mud slides when the world around me isn't on fire.
And no smog.
I'll stop.

[Longhorn Man]

I am not all too familiar with seafoam, but I have never heard the claim of it for storing fuel. Double check on the label, I always use the sta-bil stuff. Seen a VW bug fire up and run on 10 year old gas, sta-bil poured in every year on top of the old fuel. Didn't run good, but the gas was still liquid and flamible though.

[69GMCLonghorn]

Originally Posted by mrein3

Actually, you can have LA. Crime. Murder.
Do you lock your truck at night? I don't.
How much is a gallon of gas?
Can you leave the garage door up and run down the road to your buddy's cabin? Oh wait cabins are 100+ miles away and if you left your door up for more than 5 minutes everything not bolted down would be gone.
Nevermind.
We all pick our places to live.
I'll take a couple months of cold and no fires and no mud slides when the world around me isn't on fire.
And no smog.
I'll stop.

Oh hey, I'll be the last one to defend LA. It's a crap hole from one end to the other. If we ever fall financially on our faces, we'll head for the state line and won't stop until we have a job somewhere! I happen to live in a fairly nice area, actually not directly in LA, but an adjacent city. I've actually left my truck unlocked for as much as 10 minutes with nothing being stolen...

My whole fam damily is from Minnesota. They all love/loved it back there, but wanted a slightly warmer climate. I hope to experience it at some point. My only problem is MOSQUITOS LOVE ME! And I understand the ones back there have landing lights on them!! Not sure I'd survive!

[mikey531]

Our truck is resting comfortably even after half a foot of snow. This is what I did to get it ready to hibernate, I put in stabil and filled the tank. I also made sure my antifreeze was strong enough. I then got some mesh bags that are used for weddings. I filled them with moth balls and put them under the hood. I hung a couple with tie wraps so I could get them out in the spring. I then put dryer sheets inside the cab a new bar of Irish Spring soap and a few peppermint drops in the bed. I also put dryer sheets in the exhaust pipes. I brought the battery into my other garage so it would stay warm. Anyone think of anything I missed ?

[gmcdude]

Whats good to keep cats away?

[slomotion]

Mikey, you didn't block in your snow blower did you?

[mikey531]

Originally Posted by slomotion

mikey, you didn't block in your snow blower did you?

nope !!

[68gmsee]

Originally Posted by gmcdude

Whats good to keep cats away?

A dog?

[68shortstep]

Originally Posted by gmcdude

Whats good to keep cats away?

410 gauge. Here kitty kitty...................

I had a new Cadillac that had a couple thousand worth of chipmunk damage. 5 - 6 big packages of D-Con, & there were a whole lot less of the cute little "inglorious barstards" (as the movie title said), hanging around the house.

[Twisted78SS]

Looks pretty good to me, I had a problem with mice getting into my car, and one weekend watched a show on pest free solutions, and that is where I heard about the peppermint extract. i put some on cotton balls and stuffed at the opening to the return vent, and also soaked a scented tree (the scent was long since gone) That was 5 months ago, and I have added drops to the tree several times and no mice at all.. that was of course summer months, and now the test will be over the winter.. Good luck!

[screamin_c10]

Originally Posted by gmcdude

Whats good to keep cats away?

Tippmann A5, less messy than the 410

[capev86]

i put a 12x24 tarp on my 72 burb several days back, but i didn't have enough bungee cords on it and the wind took it off during the night and it rained before i got up. so i had to hang up the tarp to dry and then we got the first snow of the season and the truck got a 6 inch blanket of white. luckily i got it cleared off and a few hours of sun finished drying it so now the tarp is on with plenty of bungee's.

i do like my seasons up here, but i seriously need to get a garage built so i can keep the toys out of the bad weather and the moisture that comes up out of the ground (worse than the precipitation from above). in the short term, rain isn't bad but i don't want repeated snow melting sessions in those rain gutters and on the window edges, etc. as for the gas.....sitting a couple months isn't going to hurt anything. just be sure to fill up with fresh stuff next spring. i plan to drive my truck atleast once a month to keep things fresh....when we get a clear day and the roads are relatively dry.

[slomotion]

Mikey! That's not fair! You've got heat, the wind can't get to you, there's certainly a coffee cup holder, and probably a stereo. How can you appreciate the wonders of winter being so isolated?