Long term (1 year+) storage

pfarber · Post by **pfarber** » Fri May 06, 2005 4:48 pm

What should I do other than putting some oil in the cylinders to pickle the truck for a year or so?

I've got two projects now, and the Jimmy will have to wait.

Corne Lauwerijssen · Post by **Corne Lauwerijssen** » Fri May 06, 2005 5:18 pm

Are you sure?? Do need to finish your jeep first or what?

Yes oil on the cilinders, but I should also run the truck out of gas.
To prevent clogged fuellines or a clogged carburator.

But if you can try to start it up once in two months and step a few times on the brakes, to keep all brakecilinders loose. Very important!

Best regards, CornÃƒÂ©

dr deuce · Post by **dr deuce** » Fri May 06, 2005 6:17 pm

I have been impressed with the gas stabilizer and have left engines for over a year with it with no problems.

As you run the engine out of gas, spray a lubricating spray down the carb to lube the valves etc.

Besides oil, I would (after oiling) release the rockerarm shaft bolts to close all the valves.

Steve AKA Dr Deuce

Bill_Wolf · Post by **Bill_Wolf** » Fri May 06, 2005 7:45 pm

What I do with all my 2 and 4 cycle engines is add gasoline stabilizer and then run the engine for a while to get the stabilizer through out the fuel system. I then empty the fuel out of the tank and run the truck until it dies from lack of fuel. (I store this fuel for my plow truck).

This means that the whole fuel system including the pump and carb which have any minute traces of fuel left in it will have stabilizer in it and hopefully not turn to varnish.

I then let it cool a little and then use 2 cycle fogging spray and put a 3 second shot in each cylinder, a 3 second shot in the carb, and a 10 second shot to coat the inside of the fuel tank to prevent rust.

Seems to work very well....

These products are available at any Motorcycle snowmobile dealer.

Bill

joel gopan · Post by **joel gopan** » Sat May 07, 2005 8:16 am

I don't agree with backing off the Rocker Arms for long term storage, there is no advantage to it, and they are a pain in the ass to adjust on CCKWs. There are millions of vehicles that set for long periods, and what about all those crated engines that sit in Depots for years before use, they do not have valve components backed off. A year or three is not going to harm a CCKW, as long as the head gasket is not leaking coolant into the combustion chamber.
Joel

dr deuce · Post by **dr deuce** » Sat May 07, 2005 11:01 am

there are two advantages to backing off the rockers:

One is that you don't keep some of the springs compressed and some not. Like all springs, springs that are under load all the time will loose some of their tension.

Second, by releasing the rockerarm shaft, you close all the valves thereby prevent moisture from entering the cylinders AND you prevent rust from accumulating on the valve stems on the valves that are open which may cause problems when you want to restart the engine.

As far as adjusting the valves, I have always checked the valve lash after restarting the engine and letting it heat up and have never had to readjust them after this process.

To each his own...

Steve AKA Dr Deuce

dr deuce · Post by **dr deuce** » Sat May 07, 2005 3:32 pm

Another part of the equation is how do you recover the engine after:

- Change the oil
- Tighten the rocker shaft if you loosened it.
- Remove the dist and wind it up with a drill and a 5/8"? flat wood drill bit
till you get oil out of the rockers
- reinstall the dist
- pour some oil down the head drain holes to help lubricate the lifters and cam lobes
- remove the plugs
- wind it over slowly (oil may blow out)
- Start the engine!

Steve AKA Dr Deuce

armydriver · Post by **armydriver** » Mon May 09, 2005 8:17 am

All of this is great info for storage, but I prefer to start the engine and let it run for a while. When I got my truck the engine had been sitting for over 25 years without running, yet with a little work on the electrical and fuel system she fired up and was burning no oil. I was just lucky though as there could have been major prob lems with her sitting so long.