Am I gonna need them? I live in SE Indiana.

I just got mine in the mail about a week ago! I live in SE MI. How cold does it get there? ;D<br><br>Tony

Short spells of teens but have seen weeks in the 20's.

I live in Virginia, and mine have already been on for 2 weeks.<br>With covers-engine temps @ 180*, tranny temps @ 175*(in traffic).

Hmmm.... maybe I should put mine on eh? [laugh] You have all 4 on or just 2? Do you even have the ones from Eric?<br><br>Tony

I'm using all 4.<br>And yes, they are Eric's set-up for the Sport grille.

Just my .02:

I put the winter grill closures (Lund) on one of my previous Ram Cummins and was surprised to find no difference - performance wise or in temp readouts.

It gets down to 0 degress F here and I have not used winter covers for the last five years. None on my VW TDI, the Ford PSD, or the previous Ram TDC.

Maybe my experience with trying it was not the norm. But, if it works for you - do it. [undecided]

Best to y'all
Bill :)

Utah ???<br>Without the winter fronts my temp gauge barely passes the first warm-up mark on the temp gauge and my auto trans temp never moves until I get in traffic.<br>Morning lows now in the low 40s, daily highs around 60.<br>When temps fall into the 20s, I also add a piece of cardboard with a 6&quot; hole in the middle between the radiator and the charge air cooler.<br>Maybe my CTD is just &quot;cold-blooded&quot;.<br>

It was 25o here this morning, and I did my usual 35 miles on the interstate. My temp guage indicated no difference in temperature than when it's in the 90's. It usually is just under 190o. I'm curious too since I haven't had the truck long enough to experience zero temps.

Hey Shovel, did you use wingnuts instead of the hex bolts provided to put them on? ???

<br>Hey Shovel, did you use wingnuts instead of the hex bolts provided to put them on? ???<br><br><br>I used Carriage bolts and Nyloc nuts, the ones with the nylon insert, to keep them from falling off, and so I don't have to crank them down so tight. I keep a nut driver in the console in case I want to take them off.

Yeah, Shovelhead (Ed) - I was surprised to find no difference too. Maybe it was just that particular truck? Guess I'll have to see how this new truck does. Too bad my old grille inserts won't fit - oh well.<br><br>My Rover D90 is so cold-blooded I have to completely cover the radiator with cardboard in the winter or else it will not reach operating temps.<br><br>Best to y'all<br>Bill :)

We're having about the same temps here shovel, my temp gauge shows like it does all year, just under the 190. I'll wait until it get's in the constant 30's or lower before I put mine on! Of course, if I had them on, I probably wouldn't have to 'wait to start' so long when I get out of work eh? [laugh]

why do you put card board between the radiator and charge air cooler? what would it hurt to put it in front of the charge air cooler.<br><br>my front end repalcment bumper has some angle iron welded to the gille part that one could slide a pice of plywood into. i was wondering if i could just do that. it seems to me that it would be doing the same thing as the 4 grille covers yall where talking about.

<br>why do you put card board between the radiator and charge air cooler? what would it hurt to put it in front of the charge air cooler.<br><br>my front end repalcment bumper has some angle iron welded to the gille part that one could slide a pice of plywood into. i was wondering if i could just do that. it seems to me that it would be doing the same thing as the 4 grille covers yall where talking about.<br><br><br>I put the cardboard there 'cuz I don't have to tie it to anything, it just slips in and out as needed.<br>Just don't forget to cut at least a 6&quot; hole in the middle for the fan clutch to get some CoooOOOoooOOOL air or you might get to listen to that roar.<br><br>Some have even removed the fan entirely in the cooler months.

$.02<br><br>You always want to have as much cold air as possible flowing over the aftercooler.<br><br>The wait to start routine depends on the air temperature inside the intake manifold.<br><br>If your thermostat is working properly, it doesn't matter how much air is flowing over the radiator.

<br>Utah ???<br>Without the winter fronts my temp gauge barely passes the first warm-up mark on the temp gauge and my auto trans temp never moves until I get in traffic.<br>Morning lows now in the low 40s, daily highs around 60.<br>When temps fall into the 20s, I also add a piece of cardboard with a 6&quot; hole in the middle between the radiator and the charge air cooler.<br>Maybe my CTD is just &quot;cold-blooded&quot;.<br><br><br><br><br><br><br> Maybe you have a bad T-Stat. ???

Listening to ya'll I'm starting to wonder the same thing. ???

I gotta go pick up some oil &amp; fuel filters this weekend, looks like a new T-stat is gonna be on the list too.

Up in Northern AB and NWT when the temps really drop, you will see a lot of diesels wrap up completly to stay warm. This is on both big rigs and pick-ups and means a belly tarp and winter front on and buttoned up tight. I personally think this is to keep them warm when not working &quot;real&quot; hard, like idleing at night or on work sites, and probably helps on speed up the warm up when started. But if the T-stat is working right the temp should stay normal no matter what the outside temps are once the engines is warm and working. Speaking from my personal experience with this truck (first Dodge Cummins) and the temps here in the morning dropping to -10 Celsius the truck just takes a little longer to warm up in the morning but once the temp is up to 90 (Candian Trucks are in Celsius) it stays there all the way to work. I think I'll put a winter front on in the next few weeks just to speed up the warmup.

A blast from the past. ;)<br><br>Update.......just installed a new 180* thermostat, went for a test drive..........EXACT same results.......outside temps ~55*f, guage rides about 1/4 of the way between the first &quot;warm&quot; line, and the 190* mark.<br>Now I know that my Temp guage reads about 15* on the cool side.<br>BTW only running with the two upper guards right now.

I guess I should put my guards on today, at least 2 of them.

Cold weather. [laugh] [laugh] It's 85 degrees and sunny here in Houston, Texas right now. Cold weather. Ha. Anything below 60* is cold to us. [laugh] Maybe I should get some winter fronts for those occasional 50* nights. :o :o [laugh]

<br>Cold weather. [laugh] [laugh] It's 85 degrees and sunny here in Houston, Texas right now. Cold weather. Ha. Anything below 60* is cold to us. [laugh] Maybe I should get some winter fronts for those occasional 50* nights. :o :o [laugh]<br> <br><br> Smartee Pants. I hope you have a Blizzard tonight. ;) [laugh]

See now here I go again. I've seen them grillecovers by lund and thought &quot;thems the funkyest replacement grilles yet&quot;<br>Function and style is so hard to tell apart some times!!! [laugh] [laugh].<br>at 0 to - 10 I have never had a problem with my truck reaching normal op. temps. Of course my wife goes out a 3/4 of a hour every morning before I leave and fires up my other love for me!! I don't plug it in. If my wife ever gets fed up with my other....and she leaves......I might have to plug it in.<br>Before I leave work I let it Idle 15 minutes. I do this whether it is -10 or + 110. Saved that $$$ and spent it on momma to butter her up for the next mods. Of course those grill covers are easier to find and probabley cheaper thanthe ol' lady!!!!

Amish hauler, have you seen this thread about idleing the Cummins?<br><br>http://www.dieseltruckresource.com/yabbse/index.php?board=4;action=display;threadid=6208

Just read the thread. (hey that rhymed!!) I would never want to second guess the engineers!! I have read about this in the past and even asked a fella that worked for cummins.(don't know his title....could have been janitor for all I know...) and he pointed out that there was a intake air heater of mega watt power that in conjunction with the heat of idling before adding a load to the engine helped bring it up closer to operating temp. When that heater kicks in believe me it adds a load to speed up heating even more. As far as excessive idling (hours-overnight) I have yet to see any reason for this on the cool down side beyond cooling down the egt. after heavy loads. to keep hot oil from boiling in the turbo. I wonder if the shut down idling may be more what they were referring to versus warm up idling.<br>Although I admit I let it run versus shutting it down when i come for brief stops such as 7-11 or Mik &quot;D&quot;s. Always heard time spent building oil pressure was where wear came from. My CTD takes for ever to build pressure if you believe the guage. <br>Maybe the author and other drivers intake heaters may not be up to par? Mine dims the lights when it kicks in. And changes the sound of the engine. Even after running my one waytrip to work of 150 miles that intake heater will kick in after a few minutes of idling in cold weather.

Amish, that is called the Grid Heaters. They are what is heating up while your wait to start light is lit. They kick off at speeds above 20 mph.<br> Are you in PA. near Lancaster? :)

:-X Our community Likes to keep it's privacy :-X<br><br><br> ;D ;)Just Kidding!!!! 8)<br><br>I am in North East Ohio and get paid to drive Amish Loggers to work. This whole bombing thing was there idea. They love blowing smoke at their neighbors buggys as we go around on the road!!!

<br> :-X Our community Likes to keep it's privacy :-X<br><br><br> ;D ;)Just Kidding!!!! 8)<br><br>I am in North East Ohio and get paid to drive Amish Loggers to work. This whole bombing thing was there idea. They love blowing smoke at their neighbors buggys as we go around on the road!!! <br> <br><br><br><br> Thats great. 8) ;D