Posted on 06/06/2022 4:26:46 AM PDT by MtnClimber
Edited on 06/06/2022 6:16:47 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
It’s one thing for truckers to pass on their high fuel costs -- it is quite another if things don’t get shipped in the first place because there's no fuel.
I pulled into a Walmart gas station in Locust Grove, Virginia, this weekend and lo and behold, there was a sign on all of the pumps informing patrons that they were out of diesel fuel. While my vehicle doesn’t take diesel, it struck me as strange. The signs clearly had been up for at least a day.
After a quick perusal of the internet, I learned a great deal. Time magazine and Reuters both recently reported that the oil industry, in order to produce more gasoline and jet fuel, were compelled to cut back on diesel production. This cutting back on the supply of diesel has helped accelerate the inflation of the price of this type of fuel. When the government gets involved there are always unintended consequences.
One of my social media acquaintances works at an independent trucking company. The high fuel cost had forced them to park their fleet. His company is not alone. You would think that this lack of demand from such actions might impact supply, but apparently that is not the case. If anything, it poses a new threat to our supply chain woes. Adding to a shortage of truck drivers, now we have many not driving at all. You can almost hear the supply chain moaning in agony as a result.
They should just temporarily suspend that requirement. I’d rather see some black diesel smoke than no food.
All the guys that decided to rip out most of our rail lines in the 70s-80s should be slapped.
“ The Staggers Rail Act, passed in 1980, deregulated the railroads and made it easier for them to abandon lines. Although railroads were then able to streamline their operations and diversify successfully, this deregulation also triggered a mass wave of rail line abandonments. Before deregulation, 38,000 miles of track were abandoned in the 45 years from 1930 to 1975. Yet, in the next 15 years until 1990, railroads abandoned nearly double that amount—65,000 miles—in only a third of the time..”
"Hi, I'm from the government, and I'm here to help."
Gasoline is delivered by DEISEL trucks.
The DEF system can be removed, but it is involved, and likely would end up permanent. The EPA would never go for that, they would rather see the vehicles parked.
How can this be?! Won’t the trannies and the gays be disproportionality affected???
They are now fixing air and interstate travel.
Yeah, but look at all the nice bike paths we got in exchange!
Jet fuel before diesel? F*** jet fuel. Jet fuel is kerosene. Ground all the airlines and private jets before you shut down the trucking fleet. Our FOOD comes by truck...not by airliner. America can easily survive without airliners. It cannot survive without trucking.
DEF sensors can be disabled. The diesel engines can run forever without DEF. I drive a diesel pickup made before the DEF requirement. Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) goes into the exhaust system. It is made of mostly urea and water. It does not go into the engine itself.
I was at a demonstration of a Corvette engine 10 years ago running on diesel. What a beast. You could feed it any octane of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, kerosene, biodiesel, etc. A pure fuel or mix, it would take it.
I am not aware of any existing commercial implementation of this multifuel technology. There might be some government specialty applications in current use.
In the last few years, there have been several smaller size diesels showing up in midsize and 1/2 ton pickups and the Wrangler. I think all these are Jeep, Chevy and I think Ford. Some or all of these engines are spark ignition and it wouldn't surprise me if these could easily be adapted to multifuel via ECU programming and a few mechanical swaps.
“Yet, in the next 15 years until 1990, railroads abandoned nearly double that amount—65,000 miles—in only a third of the time..”
I wonder how many millions of square feet of manufacturing building were torn down in the USA since 1990.
“Great. My kid is trying to get a job at one of the big flatbed trucking operations.”
I don’t mean to one up you, but my son just bought a brand new Ram 2500 diesel (that he can’t afford) and will start work as a mechanic at the local Kenworth dealership next Monday. Great timing.
“The vehicles are hardwired to require it.”
I’m not an expert on diesels, or vehicles in general, but I am familiar with DEF delete kits which are expensive, generally illegal, and time consuming. I find it hard to believe, though, that manufacturers could not reprogram the ECU to eliminate the need for DEF if they could legally do it.
True, but under martial law the Traitorjoe kakistocracy won't care.
Not one upping at all. Somebody’s got to do the work to keep the road King’s operating. Just messing with you. Some friends are diesel mechanics. It’s a great career.
Sorry about the diesel truck though.
Mine sold his Jeep Saturday for a F-150.
I felt bad for him. He posted pictures on our family chat of him all happy with his new truck five minutes before me and two other kids stole all his thunder by posting skydiving pictures.
He’s been a trucker for a about three years. His current job is local for a lumber yard. He’s going regional over the road with the new job.
While we didn’t import very much Russian crude, my understanding is that this crude is IDEAL for refining into diesel.
...so now we see another effect of ‘sticking it to Putin’ (while he sends this crude to India and China instead).
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