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Posts: 508 |
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Registered: 03/25/2008 Posts: 2,526 |
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Posts: 756 |
TRACTOR PULLING IS OUR SALVATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Registered: 03/27/2008 Posts: 1,152 |
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Registered: 03/27/2008 Posts: 1,152 |
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Posts: 167 |
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Posts: 167 |
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Registered: 03/27/2008 Posts: 1,152 |
chucky Wrote:
------------------------------------------------------- > Although I believe Europes has > to be easier because Many of the articals in my > Deisel Power magizine state that this engine or > that engine is being used in a European automobile > but is unable to meet U.S. emmisions yet. > Thanks Chucky I think I know how that worked and why there is engines here that were not available in the US: First how it works here: They set a new emission standard here every few years that , in case of trucks, will let you run with low road tax (where I come from you pay by miles traveled & number of axles - checked with onboard GPS units and automatic scales in the roads, that even take pictures of your license plate and will automatically let the cops know if you are cheating). Like currently I think a "Euro 5" truck (that's the ones with the Ad Blue system) is cheaper road tax than a "Euro 4" Truck. You can still register a Euro 4 or Euro 3 truck - but pay more tax on it. That may be a reason why some engines are still sold here but not in the US. Pretty much the same for diesels in cars. I pay car tax by cui multiplicated by a factor, which is based upon the emission standard of my car. Every time a new emission standard is out, the tax for the lower emission cars is raised. Like mine (2002 VW engine) is rated Euro 3. To enter certain "heavy polluted areas" (like city centers) you currently need a Euro 2 car at least. Next year the level will be raised to Euro 3 - then in a few years to Euro 4 -- so by then I could only use that car "in the country side". What was (and to a point) still is a problem with the Diesel cars / engines in the US (and why they were available here but not in the US), too: You probably remember the first TDIs, which all had mechanical injection. When they changed to direct injection with common rail with piezoelectric injectors (euro 4) to meet the tougher emission laws in the EU and US (and make more power) they couldn't sell them to the US, because the average road diesel in the US was "too dirty" and would have plugged the injectors. So those cars / engines never made it to the US and e.G. the VW TDIs were not available in the US anymore. That generation of "Euro 4" Diesel engines, are now exported again, as the quality level of the road diesel in the US was increased and there now is kind of an infrastructure of fuel stations for them. I think for California they also need the AdBlue (goat piss) - which should be alike our Euro 5 specification. The technology in the diesel market just now is incredible. The new Mercedes E Class has a 2.1 Liter 4 Banger diesel with two stage turbocharging, making 204 hp, creating it's maximum torque of 400 ft/lbs at only 1600 rpm. Average fuel consumption is rated at 48 mpg, 0-60 in 7.9 sec, top speed limited to 155 mph. @#$%& the Prius joke... 
Floating Finish - the German Tractor Pulling Web Show and EU Live Streams: [www.youtube.com] Edited 7 time(s). Last edit at 06/10/2009 01:36AM by Sascha. |
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Registered: 03/27/2008 Posts: 1,152 |
Hi!
You are right on the liability problem in the US. That's just part of the story though. We live on EXPORT The standard of living here (Germany) is based upon selling products to other countries. We have like no natural resources and have to import pretty much everything and then turn those "raw materials" into something that other people want. Not as effective and more work as the stock market and "financial products", but it works. So the circumstances in our laws and emission standards (which are automatically increasing every two or three years here) are only valid for part of our production. The "trick" is to build stuff that works on foreign markets (and then import less value than you put out). And in that view, a big part of the US industry just simply fails. There is some business where the US exports a lot and has top notch technology. Apple computers come to my mind there. Then others where actions of "protection of the market" or "do it differently than everybody else" have maybe helped in the first view, but then had disastrous consequences later on. An easy to understand subject is the market of semis / trucks (even though that one if pretty much belly up all around the world right now). Lets go back in time like 50 years. 1950s Kenworth 
1950s MAN 
1969 Kennworth: 
1969 MANs 
And the cabover version: 
Looking at those pictures we have very simple trucks. Completely manual, steel everything... The MAN has a planetary rearend. Not really a power saver, but one axle less is still one axle less to build. The Kenworth probably is the way better ride (more power, Fuller transmission while the MAN probably has a unsynchronized ZF, which is HARD work ), ... What caught my eye though: That MAN has a one piece windscreen, which is not easy to produce. Anyhow.. the Kennworth would be the one to have. But basically there is not "that much" difference in between them. 10 years later (1979) World upside down: 
Kenworth has changed to.. hmm... 
MAN went Fuller Transmission, full air ride (and power steering, power brakes) and put the engine behind the cabin and under the frame. Talking about a SPACEY cabin with flat floor - even though it's butt ugly. A bunch of ugly (but cheap) plastic used. Length restrictions have forced anything but cab overs out of the market. US trucker unions fought the length restrictions (successfully?) because a real trucker needs the engine in the front! EU truckers are sure not happy about running cabovers, but hauling more in the same length makes sense and the spacey cab make up for it - a bit. 1989 Kennworth: 
So it got a plastic hood and probably air ride. 
MAN expanded the cab - you can now stand up. Fuller transmission was replaced with a synchronized ZF manual. 1999 
New design with plenty of space! Below - still the same machine. 
Not that much has changed from the outside. But inside! Cabin is air suspended. Semi automatic (you only "select" gears with a little joystick and engage the clutch). Engine is back under the cabin because the flat lying inline 6 engines couldn't meet emission laws anymore (which was still a popular option on the fore runner) The current models: 
Fully automatic, intader brakes (generator style engine brake, engaged in steps when going downhill), running according to the Euro 5 emission laws (takes the addition of AdBlue liquid to be injected in the exhaust filters) and TONS of electronics you wouldn't want on a long haul through the middle of nowhere. Does about 8 mpg with 40 metric tons (and yes, the emission laws have brought the fuel consumption up)... 400 to 680 hp inline 6 and V8s. Link to product book for those who wonder. Now.. two nice looking units. Problem with the Kenworth unit: In Europe (and many other countries) you pay road tax per axle and exhaust classification and have a maximum length of the complete rig. So you would have to do something to the driver's cabin on the Kenworth to even get enough load on to be a competitive trucker. Then have to pay extra road tax for the extra axle and the lack of an AdBlue injection system... You sure look cooler in the Kenworth, but you can't sell the Kenworth anywhere but in the US / Canada and second world countries anymore. So - different regulations have led to different trucks. Fine and dandy within your own borders - but that's not what's giving a country wealth beyond it's own resources... The US trucks sure are THE choice for the long haul with their simpler general layout and less parts to break, but that's not what the "wealthy" trucking companies in the developed countries pay for (where you don't have to work 20 hours to pay for one hour of the guy assembling the truck). They don't bother the need of highly qualified service mechanics but sure hate to pay for "not usuably for freight space" on the truck and extra road tax. And they don't bother about extra room for their employed truckers (the "free trucker" has looooong gone here). Floating Finish - the German Tractor Pulling Web Show and EU Live Streams: [www.youtube.com] Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 06/08/2009 03:09AM by Sascha. |
