The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Storing my truck for the winter...

Hey guys,

Well, it's getting pretty cold up here in Alberta, so I don't drive the 61 much anymore...well, that and the master cylinder pees all over the floor now, still waiting for parts to fix it. Anyhoo, I will be storing my truck in an unheated garage for the winter, maybe longer. I've never stored a vehicle before. Is there anything important that I should do? It's an unrestored but driveable truck, I'm not overly concerned about the paint job or nothing. Just the engine and what not. Any advice is appreciated:)

I was looking in the tech tips and found an article about winterizing. Scroll down towards the bottom of the tech tips. (Under seasonal advice)

In addition to the tech tips, if your in a rural area, like I lived, you can take a few disposable plates your pocket knife and a bar of irish spring. Shave the bar of soap into chips. place a few of these plates full of chips around the inside of the vehicle. It keeps spiders out and makes the cab and interior smell nice.

Mothballs on more plates under the hood, under the truck and in the bed keeps mice out.

If your running bias plies, I would put stands under the truck and let the truck sit supported - it keeps the tires from flat spotting. you can also use a few sections of 2 x 6's as well

If the fuel your using is E10 or E20 blend, then use stabil in the fuel. E10 breaks down faster than pure gas (ethanol doesnt have a long carbon backbone to keep the molecules together)

Change your oil right before you store it. used oil contains a bit of sulfur from the combustion process. the sulfur mixed with condensation from the vehicle going thru a couple of warm/cold spells will create a mild form of sulfuric acid in the crank case and is hard on bearings.

Make sure that the windshield washer bottle is full of 100% windshield fluid (no mixing with water). Water freezing in the bottle just leads to you being upset in spring when it starts to leak.

pull the battery, put it on a piece of wood in the basement.

I used a cover to keep dust and everything off the paint.

Dont use the vehicle as a shelf during winter.

Thanks. Cleared it up totally for me:)

I start my truck up at least once every week and let it run until the heater blows warm air. Keeps things lubed up and moving. On sunny days in the winter I'll drive it around for a few miles. I get ALOT of rain around here. If I let it sit for too long without running it, I have to clean up the points to get it started. It rains so much here at times that white fuzzy mold will grow under the hood, on everything. It's a constant battle with condensation.

Iron Clad, yeah I was wondering if I should be starting it up once in a while over the winter. We do get warm spells here in Calgary Alberta, but the temperature in the winter ranges anywhere between 10 and -30 degrees celsius. Very dry here though...condensation won't be a problem. The difficult part is that the truck won't be stored where I live. So I would have to plan to go start it and maybe drive it around.

Guess I take the easy way out. I store mine in an unheated shop over the winter.I go out and start it every couple of weeks,and back it out of the shop and then back in four or five times,to keep things lubed up.I dont take it out on the road in the winter due to my insurance coverage.In the winter months I only have storage insurance on it,no liability,or collision coverage.