Posted on 09/04/2016 4:48:13 PM PDT by NRx
MONTROSE, Colo. — There is a new menace on America’s roads: diesel truck drivers who soup up their engines and remove their emissions controls to “roll coal,” or belch black smoke, at pedestrians, cyclists and unsuspecting Prius drivers.
Sgt. Chris Worthington of the Montrose Police Department here is out to stop them.
“You can hear those trucks across town, driving like idiots,” he said on a recent Friday evening patrol. He is among the first law enforcement officers in the country to be trained at “smoke school” to pick up the skills to police the coal rollers.
He lost sight of one truck cruising in the opposite direction, trailing plumes of smoke. But another, a Ram 3500 fitted with two steel smokestacks, was parked in a Walmart parking lot. The owner, Pryce Hoey, insisted his truck was emissions compliant, but nevertheless agreed to demonstrate its smoke-generating prowess.
“I just wanted something different,” Mr. Hoey said, revving the engine and releasing two black pillars of smoke into the evening air before Sgt. Worthington shut him down. “People who see it giggle. They think it’s funny.”
Depending on whom you ask, rolling coal is a juvenile prank, a health hazard, a stand against rampant environmentalism, a brazen show of American freedom. Coal rollers’ frequent targets: walkers, joggers, cyclists, hybrid and Asian cars and even police officers. A popular bumper sticker reads “Prius Repellent.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Is yours and older 12v Cummins? Unless you have a turbo with variable geometry, you are going to get smoke out of a Cummins on the low side until the turbo spools. In the end, more boost is the solution to black smoke.
It’s a 12 valve. You must be correct about the turbo. I can feel the power come on as the turbo spools up in 4th and 5th. The truck really accelerates.
I’ve already added almost 800 pounds in armor to the body. Which is why I’m upgrading the motor.
Since I had the parts truck, I took panels off the old truck and will be sandwiching those over the existing steel panels on the result car.
Doors, rear quarter and roof panel. The front is going to be lightened by making a perforated steel hood.. but that’s only shaving a pound or 10. I’m building a solid rear hatch that I can swap out if SHTF.
They are jerks. Rudeness shouldn’t be celebrated.
No, you’re wrong. It’s funny.
The 5.9 is an amazing engine. High performance fab shops machine the entire 5.9L engine out of billet now for pullers and drag racers. They are very durable with 6 in a row. No opposing forces.
If you ever have the need, consider a turbo with 1.5 to 2x the CFM of air it will pump.
There is a story about some GPS related disaster about once a month, to the world's amusement. Everyone conveniently forgets the one time they blindly followed some mindless electronic idiot. My personal fave is the one from England where all the commercial trucks off the ferry were trying to go through a village on a road so narrow that the mirrors were being torn off on the buildings.
Life is cruel. If you HAD keyed his truck, a shotgun load of #4s to the knees would have been justice. One of the advantages of intellect is the ability to pick your fights. It's why I'm a backshooter. And proud of it.
Wow only 300# difference, would have guessed more. I put my motor in with the 5 speed transmission attached... before body was put on, but the K30 frame has a 6” lift & 37” tires, my cherry picker was maxed out, with top tube bowing... I just know there was a lot of weight above me..
It’s not just modified trucks... My 89 dodge bone stock 12v Cummins would black out the freeway by downshifting and stomping the gas... probably did it a few times by accident just making a pass until I looked in the mirror, then I used it a few times to let people know they were driving like an idiot... seemed to make the point better than honking a horn.
I have your bumper sticker.
I do agree that blindly flowing GPS is never a good idea. However, you over exaggerate the number of those who get into trouble vs. the number of people who use it successfully. In my case, I had to take a detour to get around a road closure. The GPS helped me navigate back to the main road. My only other options would have been to sit for hours waiting for the accident to be cleared or trying to read a road map, in the dark - while I was driving, which would have been much more stupid and dangerous.
Life is cruel. If you HAD keyed his truck, a shotgun load of #4s to the knees would have been justice. One of the advantages of intellect is the ability to pick your fights.
As I said, I thought about it but didn’t for obvious reasons. But what about my “justice”? This guy did something incredibly rude, something that could have caused me to wreck and did so without any provocation on my part.
It's why I'm a backshooter. And proud of it.
I am sure you are. A lot of people are proud to be a-holes. You sound like you need a bumper sticker.
By the same token, however, I judge my enemy. Some coal roller is beneath my annoyance level. If he's following too closely, he might even have a good reason to want to get past. If he just got a call from his wife about something, he's upset. I'll pull over. I haven't had an collision in 30 years...
Road rage is for kids.
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