Greasin' fm NY to CO and back in May

[muns53]

Well, I'm attempting my first long-distance grease trip in a couple of weeks. We'll leave out of NY state about May 20 and get back home about June 1. Our destination is Denver, CO area - for my wife's nephew's high school graduation and a family vacation of hiking and adventuring up in the Estes Park area.

We have a couple of planned stops along the way in each direction. On the way out, we're visiting some Army friends at Ft Riley, KS and probably one other as yet undetermined stop. On the way back, we're visiting the pastor who married us in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and also making a stopover in Chicago.

I estimate we'll drive just about 4000 miles getting there and back plus local travel in CO. So, for fuel, my plan is to tow a trailer loaded with either: one full 275 gallon tote -or- six 55-gal plastic barrels with about 45-gallons each. To fill the Excursion tank from the tote/barrels, I have the 12V DFA diaphragm pump with plenty enough tubing and some spare wiring and spare 5A fuses. My concern with the tote is sloshing (since it isn't baffled). My concern with the barrels is keeping them in place (but I do have plenty of ratchet straps).

Does anyone have any advise they'd like to share with me? I'd take any/all suggestions,... could be about the trip itself (ie: interesting stops along the way; routes to take/avoid, etc.) or considerations about greasin' it (ie: places to replenish; ways to carry/pump the grease, etc.).

Thanks in advance!

[Jack_Toepfer]

Nothing to add, other than I think it is pretty badass that you're hauling your fuel with you.

[Longstroke]

I know where you can fillup east of Colorado Springs, that way you would not have to haul as much oil.

Bought 130 gal there last Sept. at a very reasonable price, diesel was $4.19 a gallon and I paid $1.25 for clean oil.

I'll PM you his # if you want it.

[greasyX]

Use 55 gallons barrels full all the way as they will not slosh as much.More tongue weight is required for your X then a pickup ( I go 60-40 weight on my trailer with 60% forward of axles.Also barrels are a less illegal then IBC,(some states require fluid permits if the container is over 100 gallons)if you can use a enclosed trailer,and fuel up only at remote rest areas,or far corner of walmart lots,less people and safety with cameras.I have gone short hauls (600 miles oneway and back into canada and back),expect people to be nosey.Have a spare tire with you,if possible have your filled with calcium or nitrogen as they will heat up slower .Don't forget to bring drinking water,and food as noone can be trusted and this swine flu stuff is veeery scary.........greasy

[muns53]

Longstroke - Yes, please PM me - I would love to have that info - then, I'd only have to haul enough to get out there!

Greasy - Good thinking on the >100 gallons thing. I was at some firefighter HAZMAT training last night discussing placards and wondering about signage, etc.

[skyskijason]

I bought a little trailer just big enough for a tote, just for towing extra fuel behind the Ex. I pulled it from GA to WA and back via CO. I used 1hp Honda pump to transfer into truck tank. I usually refilled at rest areas or at remote exits with nothing around for miles. I threw the kids bikes in the little trailer and they terrorized rest area sidewalks (and wore themselves out) every chance we got!

The tote is worst when 1/2 full. You will notice the sloshing, but its not unbearable. Believe me, if wifey didn't like it - I would have had to endure it and her for more hours/miles than I think I could have survived...

I doubt you'll need any spare fuses. I ran DFA pump for over 3 hours moving 15* brownie-dough consistency VO and it never even got warm. In fact, it didn't slow down hooked to a loose battery! Very low power draw due to how it works. I can't stand to pump into truck without going thru a filter. That pump will NOT 'push' oil thru a filter, but it should 'pull' thru one OK.

You can try fillup4free.com, but start sending emails/pm's now. I've had very, very low response from there though. GOOD LUCK and have fun. I'll be heading to Aspen, CO soon. Keep us posted, maybe we can hook up on the road somewhere!!

[Clay]

If you happen to get lost and find your self south of Kansas into south central Oklahoma, swing by for a beer and a fillup. I got over 500 gal. in my reserve so i could easily spare 50 if you wanted it.

[fiveohpatrol]

If you're through central/southern Indiana I can probably top you off. have a safe trip

[BruceM]

go the 55 gallon drum route. I took my 50/50 WVO/heating oil blend with me last year from NY to GA to FL to TN back to NY. I took 3 barrels with me in my short bed truck, along with my toolbox, jack, jack stands, pump and hose, never really felt any sloshing around at all even when drums were only 50% full. However I have moved full totes of both WVO and #2 heating oil (LOVE it when people switch to gas and need someone to take their old #2 for free) and unless 3/4 full or more, sloshing is noticeable in the bed of the truck. Has a tendancy to push the truck a little side to side. Don't know how it would be with a full tote on a trailer, but I would have to think it may be similar, except you run the risk of having the trailer pushing you as it sloshes.

March of 2008 I picked up 18 55 gallon drums of WMO for my WMO furnace I had at my shop. Had loaded on my heavy car/utility trailer (2 6k axles) and I never even felt it behind my truck, even with a few of the drums being less than full.

On a side note got pulled over at 3am in south western VA and the cop saw the barrels in the back and asked what they were. I explained that it is vegetable oil for my truck, and he said "oh like biodiesel" I told him sorta, but that my truck runs on it without being chemically changed. He thought that was cool. Thankfully he gave me a lecture about the tint laws in his state and let me go on my merry way. I think he saw a big lifted orange truck towing a new with stickers in the window still $50k Toyota Sequoia, at 3am and figured that stopping me would cure him of some boredom for a few.

I'd say 55 gallon drums are your best bet for no sloshing. I think if anyone were to hassle ya they would do it seeing a 300 gallon tote of some liquid sloshing around on a trailer, in drums you could cover them with a tarp and keep a nice low profile.

[muns53]

Hey everyone, I appreciate all of the advise and discussion. I elected to go the route of the 275-gal tote, because I just couldn't get a way I was comfortable with to secure the 55-gal barrels on my trailer. I will cover the tote with the tarp and hope for the best re: sloshing. I placed it over and just forward of the axle, so that should help a bit. I drove it around today with it full up/down some mountain roads and it did fine.

Wish me luck!

[greasyX]

for the heck of it

I figured something that may be helpful,my racing and 4X4 buddies put pingpong balls and "racing foam" in there fuel cells......... to stop sloshing

[2000XLIFTED]

Thing you need to bring: tire plugs, extra veg filters, TOOLS, at least one gallon of 15w/40 oil, good floor jack- I just found out how useless the stock one is rags, extra trailer tire and wheel bearings, beer, im sue there is lots more, have fun!

[greasyX]

A good GPS instrument saves alot of tension on the road..............

[muns53]

The trip was wildly successful - we had an absolute blast as a family, got to explore a good bit of our country and the Vegistroke performed flawlessly. I ran about 4000 miles on about 15 gallons of diesel and 325 gallons of veg, which puts me averaging about 12 mpg. That's a lot lower than I normally run, but I'm satisfied considering the ups/downs of the terrain, the speed (70-75 mph) and all the weight the motor was hauling.

I installed a pressure guage while I was out in Colorado and so I had good warning when the time came to swap out the Donaldson on the way home (my first one lasted me about 6000 miles). The pressure kept creeping down and down 'till it hit 50 PSI, then the light started blinking. It was a piece of cake to change and since I was on a dirt road at the time, I didn't worry about the drippage of the veg oil onto the ground.

The veg sloshing in the tote wasn't that bad after all my worrying about it. I could definitely feel it under acceleration when the tote was about 1/3 full. But, with my Ex weighting 8000 lbs plus two adults plus four kids plus all of our luggage and crap... the trailer wasn't exactly tossing us around. All in all, I'm glad I decided upon the tote vs. the barrels. I U-bolted it down to the trailer, so I knew it wasn't going to move. Also, I bought a SWEET 12V 15gpm fuel transfer pump from Tractor Supply just before the trip, which I ran off a deep cycle marine battery I kept in the trailer box. The pump threads into the bung adaptor on the top cap of my tote. This way, I could leave the pump mounted and coil up the fuel hose and power cord on top of the tote, just like a typical pickup bed transfer tank. With barrels, I would have had to move the pump assembly around a lot, which would have increased the lag time at refueling stops and increased the mess factor and increased the wife/kids annoyance factor.

I also covered the pump, coiled-up hose/cord and the top of the tote with a blue tarp that I bungee-corded to the tote's metal cage. The tarp kept the weather off the pump assembly and also disguised the tote a bit. (I believe the six bikes on the trailer also helped direct attention away from the veg oil.) Anyway, I had no trouble with any public or private citizen the entire trip, which included entering & leaving a military base on two occasions.

For this trip, where I had a pretty tight itinerary, I really liked bringing my own fuel along vs. trying to collect/filter on the road. I'd like to do a more leisurely long-distance trip doing the latter at some future point. I've seen several people's road-filtration setups and it seems really doable.

Anyway, I'll post pictures of the travel trailer in my picture album for anyone wanting to duplicate or improve on the setup. Thanks again all for the suggestions! If anyone else is contemplating a long trip where you haul your own fuel, I'd be happy to share learnings

[skyskijason]

Congratulations! Its pretty liberating, eh? Sorry we didn't get to hook up in CO - maybe next time! Till then, Happy Greasin'.