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posted by chromas on Saturday July 28 2018, @11:59PM   Printer-friendly
from the older-engine-plan-backfires dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Among many things that former head of the EPA Scott Pruitt did during his time at the agency was to cease enforcement of emissions standards for so-called "Glider" trucks. Gliders are new heavy truck chassis that have older, less technologically advanced and emissions-compliant engines installed into them.

The Obama administration sought to close the loopholes that allow gliders to be built and sold in significant numbers in an effort to curb their pollution but Pruitt opted to toss that aside in the name of business. We've covered the glider situation in the past, but the big news is that the new acting head of the EPA, a former coal lobbyist, has moved to reinstate the Obama regulations after a court insisted that they be enforced once again.

[...] Many trucking fleets like gliders because they are often cheaper to maintain and run than modern trucks, but the amount of pollutants that they emit can be hundreds of times more than the federal standards would allow. The laws that permitted gliders to be built in the first place were designed primarily to reduce the number of wrecked trucks going into scrap yards, instead giving their engines new homes. That kind of backfired.

-- submitted from IRC


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  • (Score: 2, Troll) by Runaway1956 on Sunday July 29 2018, @05:07AM (4 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Sunday July 29 2018, @05:07AM (#714240) Journal

    I find that difficult to believe. The typical highway truck is five years old, OR NEWER. Many trucking companies refuse to write a contract with trucks older than four years. Some will contract with a five year old truck, IF that truck has already been part of the fleet for the past four years, AND, the maintenance record justifies the new contract.

    So - at five years old, companies want to retire the trucks. So, you pull your powertrain, and stuff it into a glider. I can see that you might transplant that power train two or three times, which MIGHT mean a few engines reach the ripe old age of about 20 years.

    You know what is far more likely to happen? That old engine does get transplanted once or twice, then it is sold to some other small businessman for use in a sawmill, a generator, or a pump of some kind. I'm aware of five such engines in use by sawmills, within a radius of about 25 miles from my house.

    So, again, I insist that someone has been pulling numbers out of their asses, in an attempt to justify restrictions on old engines.

    As an exercise in futility, you might want to search for people selling class 8 truck engines that are NOT electronically controlled. I really doubt that you can find any of the old engines with mechanical fuel pumps, and/or naturally aspirated. Those beasts are extinct, and their bones resting in museums.

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  • (Score: 5, Informative) by sjames on Sunday July 29 2018, @06:15AM (2 children)

    by sjames (2882) on Sunday July 29 2018, @06:15AM (#714247) Journal

    *R*T*F*A*

    A Glider is a new truck body with an old (sometimes rebuilt) engine. Those engines certainly predate modern emissions controls.

    Searched rebuilt class 8 engines and First damned hit [adelmans.com] had a mechanical injection N14, engine year 1995.

    • (Score: 0, Redundant) by Runaway1956 on Sunday July 29 2018, @10:31AM (1 child)

      by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Sunday July 29 2018, @10:31AM (#714284) Journal

      Turbocharged . . . my fault on that, I put "and/or" between the mechanical pump, and naturally aspirated.

      • (Score: 2) by sjames on Monday July 30 2018, @01:56AM

        by sjames (2882) on Monday July 30 2018, @01:56AM (#714566) Journal

        Interestingly, mechanically injected turbodiesels are exactly the trucks that belch soot when the accelerator is pressed. They tend to run rich while the turbo spools up.

  • (Score: 1) by anubi on Monday July 30 2018, @09:28AM

    by anubi (2828) on Monday July 30 2018, @09:28AM (#714662) Journal

    I really doubt that you can find any of the old engines with mechanical fuel pumps, and/or naturally aspirated.

    There is a following for these old mechanical diesels in some truck forums. Such as oilburners.net.

    Turns out farmers and ranchers love these things, and are keeping a market alive for aftermarket parts.

    When I was looking for a new vehicle, I perused these forums a lot. And came to the conclusion that for me, it was going to be an International Harvester 7.3L IDI, all mechanical, naturally aspirated, no turbo.

    Oh the tales of woe I read... and the diesel shop down the street from me was telling me the exact same thing. The new truckers were having fits with their new trucks. Real expensive fits. They get bad diesel? $10,000 repair. I get bad diesel, I sputter until I run it through. Don't dare put veggie oil in the new ones!

    If worse comes to worse, rebuild and re-sleeve. The injection pump is the expensive thing, and they rarely fail if you keep the lubricating additives in your fuel. Or, at least, thats what my diesel guy tells me. Even WalMart carries the additives. So does my mechanic. I like the one he carries, which is made by the same company who makes the injector pump... Stanadyne. Both Lucas and Diesel Kleen seem to make a fine product as well.

    Maybe one day they make a glider for the venerable old Ford E350 van? Sure would be nice where some people have rust problems. Those old drive trains were built to last. Ford was even referring to them as "The Forever Engine". Mine had 250,000 on it when I bought it four years ago off of Craigslist. I have put another 50,000 on it. Its just as steady as can be. One thing I did have to do though was replace the entire cooling system/HVAC system on the van. After 25 years, the radiator had just about had it with thermal cycling, and it had work hardened itself so that fixing leaks was going to be a major whack-a-mole. And the air conditioner/heater core were corroded as well. Had my mechanic change the whole shebang out. He went over the engine and found nothing even as much as worn. For what I see, I will still be using this thing when the current crop of cars have come and gone. Which is my plan, as I bought this thing with full intention that its the last vehicle I will ever buy. I am an old guy, and I wanted to have something that will carry me to the funeral house, and something I could leave to my nephews. If they see it for what it is, they may indeed get many years of use out of it as well. Its not the sportiest thing on the block, that's fer sure, but it will haul their stuff and trailer all over the country, damn near anywhere they want to go.

    --
    "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]