2012 Ram diesel with over 1million miles

[noteven]

Clicky

[Cummins12V98]

BenK wrote:
Most of the wear is from extended off time, where the oil film drips off of surfaces

As long as whatever oil used has enough film strength for that start...it won't be dry start

Today's dino oil is much better than just a couple of decades ago...when folks who cared and/or knew installed pre-oiler systems before synthetics were the norm

Just IMO...

Dino oil has plenty of synthetic materials to meet the API requirements.

[BenK]

Most of the wear is from extended off time, where the oil film drips off of surfaces

As long as whatever oil used has enough film strength for that start...it won't be dry start

Today's dino oil is much better than just a couple of decades ago...when folks who cared and/or knew installed pre-oiler systems before synthetics were the norm

Just IMO...

[ppine]

The owner of the Ram truck mentioned diesel quality motor oil.

[valhalla360]

pnichols wrote:

colliehauler wrote:

valhalla360 wrote:
Long continuous runs are the best for getting lots of miles out of an engine.

For your typical user, a million miles would be 40-60yrs, so not particularly relevant.

Most engine wear is the start/stops and moisture build up from short trips. On another forum a V-10 in a airport shuttle that run almost continuously was reported to have gone 900k miles.

.... And I'll bet that shuttle V10 spent a lot of hours idling, too.

So ... why do I read so much in the forums that "it's not good for an engine to be idled"?

(Recently I've started partially charging my RV batteries every other day or so when drycamping by merely idling the V10 for about an hour. The alternator dumps a lot of current into the batteries during that short time and the V10 can hardly be heard or felt at idle.)

Most airport shuttle vans don't start, just sit idling for an hour then shut down. Do it occasionally while camping, I wouldn't expect a noticeable impact on engine longevity. Do it all the time with only rare days actually putting the engine under load and it may be different.

Shuttle vans sit idling for a few minutes (10-15 tops) and then are driving with higher power output. That higher power output helps get the engine fully up to temperature and it never fully cools while idling. Plus there is always oil pumping thru the system.

It's a bigger deal in diesels. They are incredibly efficient at idle burning almost no fuel. No fuel, no heat, so the engines never really warm up if you just idle. Once you get them on the road even lightly loaded with gentle acceleration, you are dumping a lot more heat into the engine block and it quickly comes up to temperature.

This is why the modern recommendation for winter starts is to give the engine 15-30 seconds to get oil moving thru the system but then start driving with moderate acceleration until the engine warms up.

[TravelinDog]

larry barnhart wrote:
regular oil must be good enough. Nice story.

chevman

Yes it is. Just think of how many billions of miles truckers had already logged before the advent of synthetic oils.

[pnichols]

colliehauler wrote:

valhalla360 wrote:
Long continuous runs are the best for getting lots of miles out of an engine.

For your typical user, a million miles would be 40-60yrs, so not particularly relevant.

Most engine wear is the start/stops and moisture build up from short trips. On another forum a V-10 in a airport shuttle that run almost continuously was reported to have gone 900k miles.

.... And I'll bet that shuttle V10 spent a lot of hours idling, too.

So ... why do I read so much in the forums that "it's not good for an engine to be idled"?

(Recently I've started partially charging my RV batteries every other day or so when drycamping by merely idling the V10 for about an hour. The alternator dumps a lot of current into the batteries during that short time and the V10 can hardly be heard or felt at idle.)

[Cummins12V98]

"All of you that change your oil and fuel filters at 3,5 or 7 thousand miles need to take note of when he changes his oil."

His truck requires 7,500 mile oil changes. Reality when towing and running solo for long distances these numbers can easily be increased.

[larry_barnhart]

regular oil must be good enough. Nice story.

chevman

[deltabravo]

Me Again wrote:
Are log book and other things like hours of driving negated in a solo/empty return run?

Nope.
I had to log my hours from the time I dropped off a rig at the dealer until I got back to my home base (running empty).

You could do some time off (unlogged days) and call it a vacation at or near point A but you still have to account for the time it takes you to movefrom the drop location (point A) to return to your home base (point B), or to the next pick up location (point B), otherwise your logbook will raise a red flag.

[deltabravo]

Turtle n Peeps wrote:
Anybody know why there is no commercial hauling numbers or lettering on the side of this thing?

Magnetic signs are probably what he uses. That's what most RV trasnporters use when they are working for a transport company.
That's what I used.

[deltabravo]

LanceRKeys wrote:
When hauling RVs, are half the miles empty going back to the factory, or do they have other things they haul to get back to the manufacturer?

Generally speaking, yes, IF you go back the same factory every time.

I hauled RVs out of Oregon for two summers. The transport company I worked for picked up at 4 locations in Oregon.
One trip I did, I picked up in Pendleton, delivered to Tacoma, headed south to Dallas, OR and picked up there, then came back to Spokane for a delivery.
On that trip I had more loaded miles than empty miles.

That same transport company works with factories in Indiana. In a perfect world you could head east from Oregon with a rig, and then pick something up in Indiana and head west with it.

[Turtle_n_Peeps]

Anybody know why there is no commercial hauling numbers or lettering on the side of this thing?

[Me_Again]

JIMNLIN wrote:

LanceRKeys wrote:
When hauling RVs, are half the miles empty going back to the factory, or do they have other things they haul to get back to the manufacturer?

Some may find back loads....some don't want back loads. My neighbor lady ran transport for a couple of years then made the move over to LTL work.
I'm on I-44 almost every day and quite often see one transporter pulling another with a tow bar headed back toward Indiana. Its a long pull from Indiana to the west coast.
We also see good size roll backs carrying one TT and pulling another....and even long GN flatdeck trailers loaded with all types of camp trailers going west and maybe a couple of buddies trucks on the trailer going back. Even the roll backs can carry another tow truck going back.

Are log book and other things like hours of driving negated in a solo/empty return run?

[JIMNLIN]

LanceRKeys wrote:
When hauling RVs, are half the miles empty going back to the factory, or do they have other things they haul to get back to the manufacturer?

Some may find back loads....some don't want back loads. My neighbor lady ran transport for a couple of years then made the move over to LTL work.
I'm on I-44 almost every day and quite often see one transporter pulling another with a tow bar headed back toward Indiana. Its a long pull from Indiana to the west coast.
We also see good size roll backs carrying one TT and pulling another....and even long GN flatdeck trailers loaded with all types of camp trailers going west and maybe a couple of buddies trucks on the trailer going back. Even the roll backs can carry another tow truck going back.