Bio-diesel production doesn't have to a major undertaking. Hell, you can make all that you would need in a couple of garbage cans. It would be a lot of work and you aren't going to be farming hundreds of acres, but it is possible! You only need a few acres of corn, peanuts or sunflowers to produce enough oil for a small "hobby" farm. After extracting the oil, use the residue to make mash for the ethanol/methanol stills, and then feed the spent mash to your livestock. You could also befriend a local farmer and buy a pick-up truck load of corn in the fall. There are lots of older cars out there and some are reasonably priced. You want almost anything with a carburetor. As for reliability, older cars were better built than newer cars, and spare parts are available online. You should have spare parts, hoses, belts, filters, etc. on hand, engine rebuild kits are both available and affordable.
i have an 84 F150 4X4 pickup for BOV/shtf, runs good, i know it's not for long once the fuel runs out, but easily converted to alcohol if need be. don't have any diesels, YET, but working on it. LOL. another option is wood gas (wood smoke) for gas powered vehicles or equipment. saw an article in Backwoods Home Magazine a couple months back on a wood gas generator attached to a log splitter, good article! as for bio-diesel it uses a hydroxide and an alcohol to clean/prepare, you can make your own alcohol and the hydroxide (sodium, I think) is made from wood ash/lye. your big problem is Lubrication, believe it or not you can grow your own motor oil ! Castor oil ! it was used by the germans in WW1 for their aero-plane motors, had to be changed often, but doable, if good enough for the Red Baron good enough for me. LOL. the way i understand it is it's viscosity (thickness) is quite high. i also have a pdf on cleaning eng. oil, etc., looking for the file now. I posted a pdf on pack-animals in resources for if it gets that bad. i hope this all helps.
they sell elec/batt. powered rototillers w solar panel, if i remember right they are called Sunhorse tillers, saw an ad a few years ago for them, looked like a front tine tiller w/ no gas motor, just a batt. & elec. motor. also saw an electric tractor with front end loader no solar pnls though supposed to be good for several hours, size looked to be about 9N or a little bigger. sorry i don't remember the name of the company, but a google search should find one.
I ran across a way to filter used motor oil some years ago, it involved placing filtered used motor oil in one container and siphoning it into another container via a piece of natural fiber rope. The oil is filtered and moved by capillary action. It takes a while, but it's not like you have anything better to do and the rope does all of the work!
That tiller might work in loam or sandy soils, but we have Alabama Red Clay, and it wouldn't work or last very long. About the only thing that will work is a gas-powered rear-tine tiller or tractor. The problem with battery powered equipment is that the batteries have to be replaced eventually, although there are some newer (more expensive) that will last for 5,000 charge/discharge cycles.
my apologies to all, the magazine was not Backwoods Home but instead the New Pioneer fall 2022 issue for the woodgas article
Wildbilly i'm posting the cleaning oil pdf in resources, it was from the End Times Report where i got it from. the procedure was as you described it.
I would look more into a small centrifuge for spinning out the oil impurities, and spin it will using the oil pressure of the engine.
Something else to consider, when things get so bad that you are having to make your own fuel (aka TEOTWAWKI) you won't need any, because there will be NO place to go! NO JOB! NO MARKETS! NO CHURCH! NO VACATION! NO HOSPITALS OR DOCTOR"S APPOINTMENTS! NO SCHOOLS! NO NOTHING! So just concentrate on staying at home and working every day to stay fed and warm!
i understand Wildbilly what you're saying but consider this, you'll need fuel for your tractor/rototiller, chainsaw, etc.. you'll need the truck to haul firewood/supplies, move equipment, etc.. i'm sure moving and doing many things by hand will not be high on my to do list, with machinery all things will be done faster and easier. sure you'll have draft animals and such, if lucky, but a year or more of food even for one person will take a considerable size garden plus any feed for the livestock as well, i know it can be done/has been done for centuries but would much prefer it to be easier! i know the machines will wear out eventually but would hope they would last long enough for new to be produced, that civilization would not fall to the level of sticks and stone tools again.
Bandit99 was complaining about needing to buy an older vehicle, spare parts and make fuel for it. I was pointing out that he wouldn't need to travel. You are also correct that the fuel you will need, is whatever will keep your water well working, your generators and tractors running, and all of your other tools working. So just stay at home, work hard, and defend what you have!
I have all kinds of tools both manual & power. i collect antique tools like old monkey wrenches, model T stuff, hand drills & grinders, etc.. even though i have chainsaws i also have 2X 1-2 man bucksaws, 3X 2 man crosscut saws just in case, as examples. I have elec./power drills and grinders, but hand drills and grinders as well. I could go on, but you get my drift, i would rather use a log splitter than axes,mauls,and wedges, i have those too but will do what i can to "live off the corpse of the old world" as was said in that Mad Max movie, I'll make my own fuels/energy, repair broken gear, grow my own food, i have collected all kinds of info both digital as well as printed to help me and my friends in these troubling times until the day i'm called home by my maker! Keep On Keeping On.
