# Fun with normal maintenance.



## GaryL (Nov 9, 2021)

Not another "What oil is best thread" but just a few opinions would be good to hear. I swear by synthetics in all of my machines but I always wonder if there is one size to fit all seasons. My Kubota BX2370 does mowing all summer in temps between 70-95 degrees. In the winter it becomes a snow blower in temps between 30 - minus 20 degrees. It lives in the unheated barn and stays on a battery tender at all times with no issues at all. Kubota sells their own brand of Dino oil for the diesel, probably just any oil brand but in Kubota labeled jugs but I go for full synthetic, usually Mobil 1,
Correct viscosity is what I wonder about given the temp variations I use my tractor in. I run around 50-60 hours per year and do one oil change just before winter or right around NOW. I do not believe that oil is oil because some are much better than others depending how you use your machines. Full synthetic oil runs cooler and the engine starts easier but should I swap to thicker in the hot summer and thinner in the very cold winters or can one oil viscosity do both? Labeling has always torqued me to a degree and just because you own a Kubota, Yamaha, John Deere or any other brand machine does not or should not mean you use their branded lube in a jug probably all refined and blended in just a few refineries.
So here is my question in search of opinions. What synthetic blend and viscosity do you use for hot summer and very cold winters in a small diesel motor? This is my only diesel machine, I'm new to diesels, and this is the only one that gets used year around, all of my other machines are strictly seasonal, summer or winter but not both. Engines are expensive and oil is cheap but the right oil is even cheaper.


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## Bob Driver (Nov 1, 2017)

Congratulations.... 1st post and you lead with this? Pretty sure you know you're fishing for responses with controversial bait. As a controversial response.....Go with the stuff guys ran in mid-70's AMF Harleys..... "Double-Eagle Recycled", straight 50wt, with a full can of STP added for good measure


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## GaryL (Nov 9, 2021)

Bob Driver said:


> Congratulations.... 1st post and you lead with this? Pretty sure you know you're fishing for responses with controversial bait. As a controversial response.....Go with the stuff guys ran in mid-70's AMF Harleys..... "Double-Eagle Recycled", straight 50wt, with a full can of STP added for good measure


Thanks for the warm welcome there Bob. Should I use that sludge both winter and summer?


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## pogobill (Jan 31, 2012)

I use Shell Rotella Diesel rated engine oil. Just did a service on my tractor and used 10W-30. That's what my tractor came with from the factory, but I usually use Shell Rotella T4 Triple Protection Conventional 15W-40 Diesel Engine Oil. I use this sludge both summer and winter!


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## GaryL (Nov 9, 2021)

pogobill said:


> I use Shell Rotella Diesel rated engine oil. Just did a service on my tractor and used 10W-30. That's what my tractor came with from the factory, but I usually use Shell Rotella T4 Triple Protection Conventional 15W-40 Diesel Engine Oil. I use this sludge both summer and winter!


Thanks PB, I have not yet gone for my oil and honestly don't know if there is a diesel rated full synthetic. My dealer did the first complimentary service and used the Kubota recommended fluids and filters. My experience with diesel is very limited so more research is in order. I have had excellent results in my gas engines using Mobil 1 T4 racing in 10W40 year around.


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## Bob Driver (Nov 1, 2017)

GaryL said:


> Thanks for the warm welcome there Bob. Should I use that sludge both winter and summer?


In a previous life (managing maintenance on 1,000 truck fleet), I usually bought over a 100,000 gallons of oil a year. I also spent roughly $150,000 a year on oil analysis. Best bang for the $$$ was Delo 400. 

In spite of the fact that Rotella is #1 selling diesel oil in the Country, it didn't perform nearly as well as evidenced by those expensive oil analysis results. 80% of all Rotella oil is sold in 1 gallon jugs, big trucking fleets that rack up 150 million miles a year, don't buy oil in 1 gallon jugs. Rotella is also the highest priced 15-40 oil in the Country to buy in bulk delivery format. Very few big fleets can afford to run Rotella

You are never going to hit "The Cross" on your tractor on oil changes. "The Cross" is the point on an oil analysis graph of where the original TBN (Total Base Number) of an oil sample intersects the TAN (Total Acid Number) at the drain interval. That's the point in either mileage, or hours, where the oil has deteriorated to the point where you actually need to change the oil. You're not doing 150,000 miles a year, with 30% idle time, like a line haul sleeper unit running coast-to-coast in a team operation. 

BTW..... Fleetguard, Donaldson, and Baldwin are the best performing filters, Fram and Wix are not. Baldwin will usually give big fleets better pricing on a National Account level


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## unsquidly (Jul 13, 2021)

GaryL said:


> Thanks PB, I have not yet gone for my oil and honestly don't know if there is a diesel rated full synthetic. My dealer did the first complimentary service and used the Kubota recommended fluids and filters. My experience with diesel is very limited so more research is in order. I have had excellent results in my gas engines using Mobil 1 T4 racing in 10W40 year around.



Rotella T 6 is full synthetic heavy duty diesel rated.....


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## GaryL (Nov 9, 2021)

Thanks to all. I am talking about a small diesel tractor that gets around 60-75 hours per year in both summer heat and winter cold. My F250 with the 7.3 diesel used 4 gallons of Rotella for every change and I hated doing them every 3,500 miles. All of my gas engines, motorcycles, ATVs, UTVs and snowmobiles get full synthetic oil and do fine with it. The correct type and viscosity is my real question but it was kind of fun to poke a bear with my original post title and I sure did expect the first response.


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## SidecarFlip (Mar 25, 2021)

I use 5-40 T6 in everything. Tractors, cars, trucks, lawnmowers, tillers motorcycles (no hardley's here), everything and I buy it in 55's from my jobber. Empty one out and fill one up at the same time. Being an Archoil person, I do add their Nino-Borate to my oil. Blackstone tells me everything is good to go, always. I could run my changes out longer but oil and filters are the cheapest stuff you'll ever use. Get my hydraulic oil the same way, 55's. Use Chevron THC All Weather Synthetic.

I use either K&N filters or Kubota filters and far as I'm concerned, Baldwin blows but then so does Fram. Only thing a Fram filter is good for is screwing on your gun muzzle as a hillbilly muffler.

That was fun, wasn't it?


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## unsquidly (Jul 13, 2021)

GaryL said:


> Thanks to all. I am talking about a small diesel tractor that gets around 60-75 hours per year in both summer heat and winter cold. My F250 with the 7.3 diesel used 4 gallons of Rotella for every change and I hated doing them every 3,500 miles. All of my gas engines, motorcycles, ATVs, UTVs and snowmobiles get full synthetic oil and do fine with it. The correct type and viscosity is my real question but it was kind of fun to poke a bear with my original post title and I sure did expect the first response.



Why are you doing an oil change every 3,500 miles on a diesel pick up? I have had Ford diesel pick ups for years.....7.3, 6.0 and 6.7 (skipped that POS 6.4). Anyway.......I used Rotella, Delvac or Delo and changed every 7,500 miles and never had an oil related problem......My 2004 F-350 with a "Bullet Proof" turned up 6.0 has about 100K since the "rework" and 0 problems.....


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## Bob Driver (Nov 1, 2017)

GaryL said:


> Thanks to all. I am talking about a small diesel tractor that gets around 60-75 hours per year in both summer heat and winter cold. My F250 with the 7.3 diesel used 4 gallons of Rotella for every change and I hated doing them every 3,500 miles. All of my gas engines, motorcycles, ATVs, UTVs and snowmobiles get full synthetic oil and do fine with it. The correct type and viscosity is my real question but it was kind of fun to poke a bear with my original post title and I sure did expect the first response.


With regular CK-4 dinosaur squeezin's, Cummins is out to 60,000 miles and PACCAR is out to 40,000 drain intervals in line haul operations. You don't gain any additional benefits from running full synthetic, only the added expense....


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## unsquidly (Jul 13, 2021)

Bob Driver said:


> With regular CK-4 dinosaur squeezin's, Cummins is out to 60,000 miles and PACCAR is out to 40,000 drain intervals in line haul operations. You don't gain any additional benefits from running full synthetic, only the added expense....


I think that our Detroit's are 30 or 40K now running conventional......We run DD-15's Even Volvo is 30K on conventional now and we all know how high quality those D13 and D15 Volvo's are......LOL.....NOT


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## Bob Driver (Nov 1, 2017)

SidecarFlip said:


> I use 5-40 T6 in everything. Tractors, cars, trucks, lawnmowers, tillers motorcycles (no hardley's here), everything and I buy it in 55's from my jobber. Empty one out and fill one up at the same time. Being an Archoil person, I do add their Nino-Borate to my oil. Blackstone tells me everything is good to go, always. I could run my changes out longer but oil and filters are the cheapest stuff you'll ever use. Get my hydraulic oil the same way, 55's. Use Chevron THC All Weather Synthetic.
> 
> I use either K&N filters or Kubota filters and far as I'm concerned, Baldwin blows but then so does Fram. Only thing a Fram filter is good for is screwing on your gun muzzle as a hillbilly muffler.
> 
> That was fun, wasn't it?


_*"far as I'm concerned, Baldwin blows"*_

That's because you've never actually spent the time, or money, to find out any different. It's easy to formulate an opinion, it's a whole other story to go do the testing and actually get the facts.

Got in 150 new tractors one year. Ran Baldwin filters on 50, Fleetguard on 50, and Donaldson on 50 for the first 150K miles. There was very little difference in the metal particulates in the oil samples between the filter brands over the course of the test. The major difference was 20% less in the cost of Baldwin filters compared to the other two.

*"oil and filters are the cheapest stuff you'll ever use"*

Tell the CEO & CFO that when they're seeing the invoices for a 1,000 truck operation and you're spending $350,000 a year on filters


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## Bob Driver (Nov 1, 2017)

unsquidly said:


> I think that our Detroit's are 30 or 40K now running conventional......We run DD-15's Even Volvo is 30K on conventional now and we all know how high quality those D13 and D15 Volvo's are......LOL.....NOT


DDEC is also currently saying 60,000 mile drain intervals on line haul operations. Volvo is being tricky as usual..... "If idle time exceeds 30%, use the next lower drain interval". That would be any solo-driver in a condo sleeper.


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## GaryL (Nov 9, 2021)

unsquidly said:


> Why are you doing an oil change every 3,500 miles on a diesel pick up? I have had Ford diesel pick ups for years.....7.3, 6.0 and 6.7 (skipped that POS 6.4). Anyway.......I used Rotella, Delvac or Delo and changed every 7,500 miles and never had an oil related problem......My 2004 F-350 with a "Bullet Proof" turned up 6.0 has about 100K since the "rework" and 0 problems.....


My best answer to the Why change every 3,500 miles? would be I'm anal! My F250 with the 7.3 had to last a long time and sure would have if the body hadn't rusted to pieces here in the NE rust belt.
I am the same with my Kubota tractor BX2370. At 70 years old this machine has to be the last one I need to buy to maintain my property so I just decided to change the engine oil every fall after the mowing season is over and before the snowblowing begins. Basically 3.5 quarts of fresh oil and a filter won't break the bank for me and I enjoy wrenching on it anyway just to keep things working and in good shape. The Air filter gets pretty loaded from the mowing dust so I just do it all in the fall. Maybe I am just better off buying the Kubota filter kit and the Kubota oil and call it done each year.


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## SidecarFlip (Mar 25, 2021)

I'm anal too...

My tractors get changed when Blackstone tells me it's time.. That is usually in the fall. My 97 7.3 has no rust anywhere and it also gets changed yearly, transmission too. Mine is highly modified all done by Ford SVO in Dearborn. 323 to the rear wheels on their dyno. Only gets driven maybe 5K miles a year and is garaged all winter. Never seen snow or salt. All it does is pull the Gooseneck and haul farm stuff and haul the camper up north to our property a couple times a year. Like I said, oil and filters are the cheapest replacement items you will ever use and my drain oil helps to heat the shop.


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## GaryL (Nov 9, 2021)

Wish I had the luxury of keeping the 2002 F250 out of the salt and snow. I could watch it out in the driveway just falling apart from the frame and had to send it down the road. Loved the 7.3 motor and was sad to see it go. Anal is good as long as we can afford it. I figure at around $80 a year for the tractor it's a cheap price to pay. I still wonder if my preference towards full synthetic oil, mostly for winter duty, is a good idea. It seems to me that all my other motors start easier when it is -20 with the lighter synthetic oil than with the standard dino stuff. I also think there is a lot of difference between a lawn tractor diesel and the type Bob D is well acquainted with. Mine powers only a mower or snow blower at around 3,000 RPM for about 2 hours each time.


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## SidecarFlip (Mar 25, 2021)

Bob Driver said:


> DDEC is also currently saying 60,000 mile drain intervals on line haul operations. Volvo is being tricky as usual..... "If idle time exceeds 30%, use the next lower drain interval". That would be any solo-driver in a condo sleeper.


Not really. Under DOT and most state regs, idling a diesel is no longer permitted. You have to have an on board power pack (small diesel engine) powering an alternator for the batteries and plumbed into the cooling system to keep the main engine warm. Most Tier 4 final engines are equipped with ECM's that shut down the engine after 15 minutes of idle time anyway (unless the PTO is being operated).

I believe my buddy Tom is running the fleet trucks 80K between oil changes and of course he's doing oil analysisan and he's using Delo I believe.


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## SidecarFlip (Mar 25, 2021)

GaryL said:


> Wish I had the luxury of keeping the 2002 F250 out of the salt and snow. I could watch it out in the driveway just falling apart from the frame and had to send it down the road. Loved the 7.3 motor and was sad to see it go. Anal is good as long as we can afford it. I figure at around $80 a year for the tractor it's a cheap price to pay. I still wonder if my preference towards full synthetic oil, mostly for winter duty, is a good idea. It seems to me that all my other motors start easier when it is -20 with the lighter synthetic oil than with the standard dino stuff. I also think there is a lot of difference between a lawn tractor diesel and the type Bob D is well acquainted with. Mine powers only a mower or snow blower at around 3,000 RPM for about 2 hours each time.


Only 'mower' mine powers is a bat wing chopper. They are both ag tractors and they both are for farming. I believe you are right when it comes to cold starts. Both my Kubota M9's crank much easier on 5-40 T6 than they did on 15-40 dino Rotella. So does my pickup truck as I do start it ever couple weeks in the winter and warm it up and it's kept in a marginally heated garage.

It's not the salt that gets them it's the calcium chloride that is mixed in. My opinion is, hot sand is much better but road boards prefer to use salt or cacl and salt or brine instead. Should not be a huge issue this year as I've read that plow drivers are in great demand and there isn't nearly enough to go around now. Me, I'll be staying home and sitting in front of the fire. being retired has it's advantages, one of the biggest is not dealing with ice and snow covered roads and idiot drivers. Turn the scanner on and listen to all the chatter about all the wrecks.

My 97 F350 4x4 crew cab long bed 7.3 is increasing in value every month. OBS trucks, especially rust free ones are in great demand. Been offered 30 for it already. Not for sale. Same with my pre 4 tractors. Pre 4 large tractors, especially with front wheel assist in well kept condition are fetching a high price. Was offered 32 for my OS by my dealer. It isn't for sale either. My 97 is just about to 'go to sleep' for the winter.


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## GaryL (Nov 9, 2021)

I am in a precarious position here. My county road right out front sprays the roads white with the calsi garbage and my town does the rest of the secondary roads with a sand/salt mix, screwed either way.
I just bought the wife a sweet Lexus RX 350 as a retirement present and the deal is it stays in the garage and off crappy roads until spring or on nice winter days and clean roads. Will the 5-40 T6 do fine in hot and cold?


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## unsquidly (Jul 13, 2021)

SidecarFlip said:


> Not really. Under DOT and most state regs, idling a diesel is no longer permitted. You have to have an on board power pack (small diesel engine) powering an alternator for the batteries and plumbed into the cooling system to keep the main engine warm. Most Tier 4 final engines are equipped with ECM's that shut down the engine after 15 minutes of idle time anyway (unless the PTO is being operated).
> 
> I believe my buddy Tom is running the fleet trucks 80K between oil changes and of course he's doing oil analysisan and he's using Delo I believe.



Some states do have this law but it is very rarely enforced. We have the Tri-Pack apu's on our Penske leased trucks but they are not working half the time so when I stay in the truck, I idle and I have never had any issues anywhere I have been......Also, the Tier 4 engines will idle longer then 15 minutes if you bump the cruise unless your company has it locked out which most do not right now.....There are still a lot of drivers on the road that idle their trucks every night they are out.....

The only thing that long idling will do is make you have to do a regen sooner and burn a little bit more fuel and def.....


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## Bob Driver (Nov 1, 2017)

unsquidly said:


> Some states do have this law but it is very rarely enforced. We have the Tri-Pack apu's on our Penske leased trucks but they are not working half the time so when I stay in the truck, I idle and I have never had any issues anywhere I have been......Also, the Tier 4 engines will idle longer then 15 minutes if you bump the cruise unless your company has it locked out which most do not right now.....There are still a lot of drivers on the road that idle their trucks every night they are out.....
> 
> The only thing that long idling will do is make you have to do a regen sooner and burn a little bit more fuel and def.....


Fleet Managers that are held responsible for corporate fuel mileage do a lot of things to increase MPG. Idle timers is one of them. Most drivers have figured out how to beat the idle timers. On most OTR engines, idle timers activate with the IVS (Idle validation switch) ON and the tractor park brakes set. Do any combination of things to change that scenario (Chalk block/curb, just set the trailer brakes, or set "high idle" with the cruise control) and you can idle all you want. Not uncommon to see 30% idle time on a sleeper unit. Can't fault the driver, it's almost 100% for "climate control" in the cab (heat, A/C).

Idle fuel consumption averages about .8GPH. A $12,000, OEM installed APU, goes about .25GPH. A reefer unit consumes .4 - 1GPH, depending on temperature setting.

Last week the national average for ULSD was $3.40... At 1.2GPH (tractor + reefer), that's $4.08 per hour idle cost. 800 sleepers/reefers idling 10 hours over night cost $3,264 per hour, $32,640 per night, $11.9M per year in non-revenue generating fuel expense..... It adds up to a lot more than _"regen sooner and burn a little bit more fuel and def" _on the bottom line profitability of the company.


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## pogobill (Jan 31, 2012)

I was on the unloading end of the "Ice Road Truckers" business..... not the "Reality Show" foolishness, but the real deal. When the Ice road was open each year, it was cold enough that the trucks never shut down. The temps could drop to as low as -70C.... I experienced those temperatures myself! 
We had a no Idle policy at the mine site I was working at, and the rule was "If it was above -20C then you weren't allowed to let your vehicle idle.... If it was below -20C then you were required to plug it in and shut it off." Either way, no idling allowed for company owned pickups. This was preached most every day in the winter months, to the point that a company employee took that wisdom home with him on his rotation off site and proceeded to climb aboard a idling transport in Yellowknife, NWT, shut the truck off and took the keys!! I believe he showed up at the trucking companies office in the morning to inform them of the on site no idle policy and returned the keys. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when that confrontation happened.... of course all the fly's were frozen at those temperatures!


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## Bob Driver (Nov 1, 2017)

pogobill said:


> I was on the unloading end of the "Ice Road Truckers" business..... not the "Reality Show" foolishness, but the real deal. When the Ice road was open each year, it was cold enough that the trucks never shut down. The temps could drop to as low as -70C.... I experienced those temperatures myself!
> We had a no Idle policy at the mine site I was working at, and the rule was "If it was above -20C then you weren't allowed to let your vehicle idle.... If it was below -20C then you were required to plug it in and shut it off." Either way, no idling allowed for company owned pickups. This was preached most every day in the winter months, to the point that a company employee took that wisdom home with him on his rotation off site and proceeded to climb aboard a idling transport in Yellowknife, NWT, shut the truck off and took the keys!! I believe he showed up at the trucking companies office in the morning to inform them of the on site no idle policy and returned the keys. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when that confrontation happened.... of course all the fly's were frozen at those temperatures!


 I worked with a guy at a ski area shop in Colorado that had worked at Point Barrow on the Alaskan pipeline. He taught me a hell of a lot about operating diesel equipment in cold weather. He told me when he got home at night, he used to drain the oil out of his company service truck into a steel 5 gallon jerry can and take inside next to the wood stove. Next morning, he'd dump it back in and head out for the day. He said he never shut the truck off unless he was home for the night.

Worked with a guy from Poland that had worked in Siberia. He said they never used ether to start equipment. They took the air filter out, put a rag on the end of a stick, and soaked it in gasoline. Lit the rag, one guy held it, and another guy cranked and sucked the flames right into the engine. 

Damn I'm glad I live in MS now... Wife is freaking out because it got down in the high 30's last night


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## SidecarFlip (Mar 25, 2021)

Used to cold start my old 6.9 International naturally aspirated diesel in the old, long gone pickup by taking a rag soaked in gasoline and placing it over the air intake and cranking the motor. Worked like a charm.

Why APU's came about on big trucks.


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## Bob Driver (Nov 1, 2017)

SidecarFlip said:


> Used to cold start my old 6.9 International naturally aspirated diesel in the old, long gone pickup by taking a rag soaked in gasoline and placing it over the air intake and cranking the motor. Worked like a charm.
> 
> Why APU's came about on big trucks.


$12,000, factory installed, APU breakeven point @ $3.40 per gallon is close to 3 years with the all in cost. Best extended warranties on chassis/engines are six years or 600K miles. Best finance/depreciation expense math works out to a 6 year service life on the average OTR truck. APU's don't add a whole lot to trade-in/disposal revenue on a six year old/600K truck. 

We're just now approaching the tipping point with diesel hitting $3.40 per gallon where a Maintenance VP/Director can start trying to sell APU's to the CFO/Board of Directors as an add-on to the build spec sheet on new truck orders. The "kickback" you'll hear from those people is... "What if fuel goes back down over the next 3 years?". I used to tell my CEO & CFO..... "If I could accurately predict the price of diesel fuel 3 years from now, I wouldn't be working for you"

When fuel was $2.50, APU sales guys would come begging me for business, that's not the case at this moment, they smell blood ($$$) in the water.....


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## SidecarFlip (Mar 25, 2021)

Not germane because of the mandated no idle policy that states as well as customer that receive goods via trucks have mandated.

You can crunch the numbers any way you want to. Bottom line is a no idle policy, especially in cold weather with a driver in the sleeper, requires an APU, just no way to circumvent that.

Glad I don't truck anymore except to the grain elevator. Don't have one on my Eagle and don't need one. If I need it during cold weather, it's plugged into the shop power. If it's not, it's in the barn with the starting batteries disconnected.

Not a clue what they cost or the lifetime of one and don't care.


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## SidecarFlip (Mar 25, 2021)

Finally, most if not all new 'Certified clean air' class 6-8 trucks all have ECM's that shut down the engines after a normalizing 15 minute interval, least all the ones I see are like that. I know Tom's 54 Freightliner Cascadia's are like that but then he's running teams in them so there is little to no idle time as the operation is 100% drop and hook with Fed-Ex trailers. None of his Freightliners have them.

Like I said previously, not germane to me at all.


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## Bob Driver (Nov 1, 2017)

SidecarFlip said:


> Finally, most if not all new 'Certified clean air' class 6-8 trucks all have ECM's that shut down the engines after a normalizing 15 minute interval, least all the ones I see are like that. I know Tom's 54 Freightliner Cascadia's are like that but then he's running teams in them so there is little to no idle time as the operation is 100% drop and hook with Fed-Ex trailers. None of his Freightliners have them.
> 
> Like I said previously, not germane to me at all.


20 years at the VP/Director level of managing 800-1,000 unit fleets, the only "idling ticket" I ever heard of any of our drivers getting was a tour bus, idling in downtown Atlanta, at Noon during a smog alert day..... One ticket in probably close to billion miles of OTR fleet operations in every major City/State in the country questions your concept of a "mandate".


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## SidecarFlip (Mar 25, 2021)

Whatever. You ain't in that position today and you need to brush up on the laws as they stand today as they apply to excessive idling. You are old news bud, but then, so am I. You forget that I was the Safety and Compliance officer the last 2 years of my employment and back then, the APU deal was coming about. Of course we only had around 50 units, give or take, not 1000.

What it is today and what it was back then are 2 distinctly different things. Not mandates, only Biden does mandates. They are ordinances enacted by various communities and states. Much like the no engine brake ordinances enacted by various communities that are tired of straight piped diesels rapping their way through their suburban towns.

Never heard of a 1000 unit fleet except maybe Roadway or UPS or a few others and they are all point to point (terminal to terminal) and utilize breakfreight points and local drivers to distribute the freight and none of them idle much anyway. Just like Tom's fleet. They don't idle, all point to point and drop and hook. His trucks do about 500,000 miles a year per unit and when in their domiciled terminal (Toldeo), they are shut off and hotlined if necessary.

You need to stick to lawnmowers and small engines, the industry as well as the enactment of various ordinances has passed you by and passed me by as well. Other than my one Class 8 grain hauler, none of interests me much anyway. My truck is plated farm (log-Farm plates here in Michigan) anyway so I don't have to deal with the OTR aspect at all. I go from here to the elevator and back to the field. No bingo card, no apportioned sticker, no IFTA either. I am only required to run DOT numbers which I do, but then I have them on my pickup truck as well. I'm hauling exempt farm produce only., Intra State.


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## Bob Driver (Nov 1, 2017)

SidecarFlip said:


> Whatever. You ain't in that position today and you need to brush up on the laws as they stand today as they apply to excessive idling. You are old news bud, but then, so am I. You forget that I was the Safety and Compliance officer the last 2 years of my employment and back then, the APU deal was coming about. Of course we only had around 50 units, give or take, not 1000.
> 
> What it is today and what it was back then are 2 distinctly different things. Not mandates, only Biden does mandates. They are ordinances enacted by various communities and states. Much like the no engine brake ordinances enacted by various communities that are tired of straight piped diesels rapping their way through their suburban towns.
> 
> ...


I talk to 3-4 of the guys that I trained to run big fleets over the years every week lately. They know I have dozens of computer models that I developed over the years to make major financial/budget decisions concerning fleet operations. Having sat in an air-ride seat holding a steering wheel for most of your career (Safety Directors don't count, they're not trusted spending $$$ on anything other than dash decals and then they expect you to spend your labor budget installing), you're probably not aware it's "Budget Season" for Fleet Managers right now. I've been reviewing a couple of my maintenance budget spreadsheets I sent them (before they get forwarded to their CFO's) as favors to a couple of guys for the past week. The smallest is $8M, the biggest is $22M. Nothing has passed me by in the 4 years since I retired.

_*"Never heard of a 1000 unit fleet except maybe Roadway or UPS" *_Bud, to put it kindly, you are clueless... Here, I'll help you out so you don't sound like somebody that needs to stick to farming hay and holding a steering wheel.

Here's one version of a "top 100" list for this year. I can name 1/2 dozen 1,000 unit fleets that aren't even on this list.....

Big Truck Fleets


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## SidecarFlip (Mar 25, 2021)

Bob... I really don't care.. I respect your knowledge of small engines but the rest is mostly phooey in my view and I'm done jousting with you about it except to say, if you were so all good and mighty, why are you fixing lawn mowers instead of being in some power position with some large transportation company?

Don't compute with me bud.

Have a nice day....


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## Bob Driver (Nov 1, 2017)

Small engines has always been a hobby just to keep grease under my fingernails and keep me grounded in my roots, never even been close to a primary source of income. The people that really count to me know my career achievements. You ain't really one of them, but I'll give you a little example.... This was from my last job before I retired. I had deliberately step back from the VP level headaches of running a bigger fleet when I took the job because I was planning on retirement and I didn't have to travel unless I felt like it (only 450 tractors, 500 trailers, and 500 forklifts at 38 locations). 

T&L Magazine Interview

If there are still any lingering phooey thoughts, check out the PDF attachment.... That was from 1996 when I was running the Coca-Cola of Indianapolis Fleet and was on the ASE Committee where we eventually ended up writing the stand alone ASE L-2 Engine Test. They invited me because I had scored in the Top 5 in the country on the every Master Technician Recertification test I taken since 1984. It just seems that true "phooey" would be more like when you post your extensive knowledge/experience with diesel engine electronics from a Driver/Safety Director/half-ass mechanic perspective....

You have a nice day also


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## SidecarFlip (Mar 25, 2021)

Bob Driver said:


> You have a nice day also


I fully intend to... Guess living on past achievements is your thing. Not mine. When I retired, I left that arena and I don't want to relive the past. Applying what you did 20 years ago to what is transpiring today in the industry don't work at least it don't work for me, but please keep living your fantasy. Don't want to bust your bubble. Carry on.


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