I spent the weekend working at my new property (finally got to use the cat for work instead of joy riding). I put a new fence in & had to clean up the mud left over from the post-holes. I did a lot of starting & stopping while shoveling the mud into the trailer & I'm wondering which is better, leaving the cat idleing or shutting it off & then restarting. I know the 4-stroke will idle all day long & not use much gas & probably won't foul the plug. I also know that starting any engine puts wear & tear on things like starters & bearings. It just didn't seem right to leave it running while I was on the business end of the shovel. Any thoughts??? What do you guys do??

By the way, the cat was a great help all weekend, not only did I clean up the fenceline, I also cut down a few dead trees & did a lot of pruning, & hauled a lot of debris into the woods. It didn't take me very long to realize it was a long walk across the property & it was much nicer to just hop on & ride instead of walking. I also used the winch to pull up an old fence that was grown into a tree & buried about 5 feet in the ground.

Thanks for any advise.

Lance

 

if you are worried about that the best is to just leave it idle. the worst for an engine is the start up. what happens is the oil drains down and leaves metal on metal when you start. But i really wouldnt worry about it. Hope this helped.
matty

 

Unless it starts to over heat on you or you are worried about the gas leave it on.

I let mine idle for about 10-20 min after I start it just to let the oil warm up before I go riding. No problems except for when the thremostate went out and the radiator was full of mud.

 

CatLance:
Hey, Glad to hear you finally got things going on your new place! Sounds like the 'Cat will come in handy for you as well, as a working tool along with a play toy and hunting rig.

Idling does end up using a little more gas, but I think the shutting down and re-starting will end up doing more damage in the long run. I often let mine sit and idle for short periods of time while I'm rigging up new logs, or stretching winch lines, moving or preparing other timber debris, etc. Just piece of mind I guess.

Good luck with things on your new place, try not to work too hard!

Mike