Oil pan heater/winterization

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redram19

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First winter in Ak (coming NC/Ga so completely new to this cold) and the husband put the trickle charger and oil pan heater on the truck(2018). My question is how hot does the exterior of transfer case get when four wheel drive is on? The only place my husband saw to run the cord from the oil pan to the front of the truck was across the bottom of the transfer case. Is that safe? Is there a better way?
 

Wild one

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First winter in Ak (coming NC/Ga so completely new to this cold) and the husband put the trickle charger and oil pan heater on the truck(2018). My question is how hot does the exterior of transfer case get when four wheel drive is on? The only place my husband saw to run the cord from the oil pan to the front of the truck was across the bottom of the transfer case. Is that safe? Is there a better way?
Not sure why he wouldn't face the cord towards the front of the truck,and run it over towards the frame,then up to the front,but you should be okay running it by the t-case,as it won't get hot enough to melt the oil pan heaters cord. Did he use a stick on pan heater or a bulky magnetic pan heater.I'm not a fan of the magnetic heaters,as i've had them rip off running in deep snow.
 
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redram19

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Not sure why he wouldn't face the cord towards the front of the truck,and run it over towards the frame,then up to the front,but you should be okay running it by the t-case,as it won't get hot enough to melt the oil pan heaters cord. Did he use a stick on pan heater or a bulky magnetic pan heater.I'm not a fan of the magnetic heaters,as i've had them rip off running in deep snow.
He used a stick on heater. There wasn't enough room for flat placement to put the heater with cord facing front so it's off to the driver side and up towards battery as the trickle charger has a super short cord.
 

Wild one

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He used a stick on heater. There wasn't enough room for flat placement to put the heater with cord facing front so it's off to the driver side and up towards battery as the trickle charger has a super short cord.
Lets see a picture or link to the heater he used,as i have stick on oil pan heaters on my winter beaters,and they all had lots of room to face towards the front.

 
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redram19

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Not sure if these help much it's the best I can get right now, the cord can kind of be seen.
 

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Wild one

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I can tell you guys came from a warm part of the country,lol. He should of faced it the other way,then the cord would run towards the passenger side of the truck,and he could of ran it up the crossmember and then followed the top of the frame ,and then fished the cord up beside the radiator,roughly where the factory block heater cord is,if the truck was originally equipped with a block heater. But back to your original question,the cord will be perfectly fine where it is,as long as he's zip tied it into place.He ran it across the front diff,not the transfer case,but it won't get hot enough to hurt the cord.
 
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redram19

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Yep lol coast of NC and Ga. We were thinking of going towards passenger side but the cord didn't seem long enough without getting another extension cord. Bought the truck in NC so no block heater and we were told it was helpful but not necessary so we didn't put a one in, at least for this winter. But yes he zip tied it in place well. Thank you.
 

Wild one

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Yep lol coast of NC and Ga. We were thinking of going towards passenger side but the cord didn't seem long enough without getting another extension cord. Bought the truck in NC so no block heater and we were told it was helpful but not necessary so we didn't put a one in, at least for this winter. But yes he zip tied it in place well. Thank you.
Most of them come with 5.5+ft of cord so it would of reached the pass side pretty easily.Let him know the engine and transmission are actually closer to the pass side of the truck,so running the cord over and up the pass side techinically is shorter then the drivers side. The cords are usually long enough to run up and out the gap between the hood and fender.Hopefully he ground/sanded the paint off the pan before sticking it on,not only do they stick to bare metal better,but they also transfer heat into the oil better if the heater is sitting on bare steel.They'll work with-out grinding the pan to bare steel,just not as efficiently. It'll make starting it alot nicer at -40, I'm over in Alberta,so i'm very familiar with winter myself,lol
 

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The transfer case doesn't get very hot. More like 'warm'. And in the winter up in Alaska it probably won't hardly get warm on the outside...
 

Marshall

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We are at - 31 C/ -28F tue the 6 th. 7.30 pm south west Saskatewan, I would be installing a factory block heater, I had a oil heater in a tractor, while it helps, it did not help as much as block heater, and make sure you have full syth, oil., it did help with the hydo oil as that would give me problems at -30.
Main thing with these heaters is getting them where they or the cord don't snag on something and get pulled off, deep snow, or weeds and such.
 

JW2 Innovations

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As others have said here, transfer case temp shouldn't be an issue. If concerned about chaffing of the the electrical cable itself you can buy some split wire cable loom. Comes in several diameters and you can slip the cable into it easily and just use electrical tape every so many inches on length of cable as well as on the ends and then zip tie it down. Looks like same stuff auto makers use on wiring looms in engine bay. Maybe not necessary but in case you're interested Amazon is where I buy mine. Single power cable probably 3/8, or 1/2 inch size.
 
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