Kevin Rutherfrauds $200000 Signature glider truck has complete engine failure!!!

I actually had a FASS on the ISX in my '06 Pete 379. It did pick up a little fuel mileage... maybe 2/10ths. Kept having problems with fuel leaks though, so it wound up in the circular file.

I find it odd that guys like KR can talk someone into spending $200K on a truck that goes BOOM, while there are a couple of pretty well known trucking companies out there that are getting KILLER fuel mileage with just some basic tweaks and a few aerodynamic addons. MVT comes to mind. Heck, they even found a way to make MaxxFarce equipped ProStars live for more than 80,000 miles at a time.

Considering the utter failure that was the FIRST Signature truck, what the heck would possess someone to shell out even MORE money for the "err, well, we THINK it's even better" Signature Truck 2.0?

What's the deal with all the pictures of (supposedly) PP building the engine from a bare block, just to find out 100k miles later that it was COMPLETELY screwed up and misrepresented even before it was started for the first time?

If KR is any kind of human being at all, I'd expect that he's embarrassed to death about this debacle and doesn't want to subject himself to the severe tongue lashing that most if not all of us would give him. Not that he's blameless in all this, far from it, but it seems to me that PP screwed the pooch far worse than KR did. The shops that the truck went to after communications with PP broke down can't be held responsible for how badly the engine was assembled in the first place. That's on PP. If I were KR, I'd be on the horn with Bruce telling him to make it right or risk being completely discredited on the air. At least if he did that, he might be able to salvage whatever's left of his reputation. He might even gain a little respect from US.

If you're reading this, Kevin and Bruce, here's a bit of free advice for you: get in front of this thing and find a way to make it right, cost be ######. Talk about EXACTLY what went wrong live on the air and quit with the finger pointing and butthurt. Get the owners and Bruce live in studio with you and show us ALL that you actually ARE the experts/professionals you SAY you are. Or you could ignore that advice and never be able to show your face at MATS, GATS, or any other industry show again without being harassed and harangued by everyone.

 

I cannot believe someone was ignorant enough to pay $200k for that sham of a truck.

 

Can't blame the bearings on the tune. It was only two cylinders messed up from what I remember. The rest looked much better, not like they should as it seemed like there was dirt embedded in them, but still runable.

 

I thought this was the first signature truck. It's the second one? What was the first one?

 

Well here's my take as a new(ish) driver who will never be an o/o. When I was OTR I used to listen to KR because I thought it was interesting. His show initially appealed to me because when I first started driving, I was surprised to find out that 99% of drivers out there are completely full of #### and have no idea what they're talking about. Anyone who's ever sat down for dinner at the iron skillet counter knows what I'm saying. So KR appealed to me because he seemed to call out BS and take a more scientific and mathematical approach to things. I eventually stopped listening to him when a somebody called in and suggested putting a wind turbine on the hood of the truck to charge batteries when the truck was in motion. KR said this was "something interesting to consider", he didn't seem to understand that this would be a form of perpetual motion and not any more efficient than an alternator. So I can see KR's appeal to new drivers who are sick of the BS, before they realize KR pushes his own BS.

Now with that said, I have a hard time taking KR to task on this signature truck disaster. The concept was supposed to be straight forward. The signature truck is the culmination of everything we know about rolling resistance, aerodynamics, and engine efficiency/reliability. Sure the double frame for the lift axle was dumb, but the point was always to push the cutting edge of fuel economy, even if the ROI wasn't there. Premiums were paid not only for fuel economy, but for the learning experience. So what went wrong? PP ###### up big time on this engine build. I feel that they've completely ruined their reputation and I wouldn't want these guys changing the oil on my honda civic. And any responsibility KR has lies with his support for, and recommendation of, PP. In my opinion, KR could completely absolve himself by coming out and saying that PP has demonstrated a lack of QC, has lost the support of KR and his show, and KR will be working directly with an OEM to find a higher quality engine for the signature truck at no cost to the owner. Let's see if this happens. PP is a sinking ship, will KR go down with it or escape in a life boat?

 

They built the first Signature truck for a fella named Vance Vest, around 4-5 yrs ago I believe.
Maybe it was talked about on KR's radio show, but even when I had XM radio, I had better things to listen to than KR.
I don't know much about it (has anyone?) but heard there were many problems with that signature truck also. Not much told/published on it.

I did find a 2009 article, by BM, that includes some talk about being in the process of building that one.

10-4 Magazine Article, June 2009

 

Is Malinson an employee of PP of does he own the shop?

 

Bruce Mallinson is the owner/founder of PP.

 

Crud, can't sleep. Y'all get to suffer for it, too!

You're forgetting IP, the high-pressure common rail engines don't return anywhere nearly the amount of fuel as the older engines. Prior to HPCR, the transfer pump would create a slight vacuum as it pulled fuel through the filter, leading to bubbles in the fuel galley, which could get into the injectors. As those injectors depended on pressure to fire, those bubbles could cause substantial variations in injection rates and timing. With HPCR, the injector is merely a nozzle, rather than a pump/nozzle, and it's going to fire based on an electical signal. Also, the fuel pressure is so high within the engine that any bubbles generated between the primary filter and the transfer are 'stuffed' back into solution by the very high pressures in the rail, so even though bubbles would cause spray pattern disruptions, there likely aren't any present to do so.

tl;dr Air was a bigger issue for pre-common rail engines.

Dissolved air isn't in bubbles, it's actually in a liquid state. Dissolved gases have only minor effects on compressibility, whereas bubbles have a major effect. Bubbles in fuel (AKA entrained air) will make the fuel milky, rather than clear. Dissolved air is unnoticeable.

I also noticed that both FASS and AirDog tend to act as if entrained and dissolved air are the same, with the reference blurbs they use to back their claims. Not the same thing.

Oh, my! There's some gems in that article!

Uh, no. HP at the wheels doesn't change, only torque. And the engine doesn't know what gear the transmission is in, it takes the same power to go down road regardless of gearing! (Yes, there are minor efficiency gains running in direct, but as you'll see in a moment, that's not what our guru is speaking of)

Again, overall gearing is what matters. Yes, the 'lost power' in OD gears is a common misconception, but you would expect more from an 'expert.'

Just to make sure y'all understand (because Bruce sure doesn't,) it doesn't work this way. If you have a couple differently geared trucks running along together, and their speed and rpm are matched, they are both putting the same power and torque to the ground. The truck in direct will be putting more torque to the pinion, but its lower gear reduction in the rear will not multiply the torque as much as the truck in OD with the higher gear reduction rear ends. Yes, the direct is slightly more efficient do to lower gear loses with the tranny, but if you measure at the road, you'll only find a minor difference (Couple HP,) not the huge drop Bruce seems to think exists merely because you are in overdrive.

Gearsets multiply or reduce torque, the don't reduce power output. Just some numbers so you can see it, we'll use a 1000 ft-lbs at the crank:

Direct: 1000 x 1 x 2.59 = 2590 ft-lb of torque at the axle end. (I know that's not a real ratio, but I want the over gearing to be the same and 3.55 x .73 = 2.59)​

Overdrive: 1000 x .73 x 3.55 = 2590 ft-lb of torque at the axle.


​

And since HP is merely torque at given rate, the HP is also identical as the trucks are moving at the same speed.

Yeah, sure Bruce. That calculates out.

Just because it was the easiest to use, here's the vorblade technical doc http://www.vorblade.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/VorBlade-TechInfo-full-document1-1.pdf, and you'll see on the first page that various studies have found that roughly 10% of your fuel burn goes towards overcoming rolling resistance. Let's say you're getting 8 mpg now, and let's just toss rolling resistance out of the equation, and pretend it doesn't exist. That jumps your mileage to 8.9 mpg, which is still a far cry from a 2 mpg jump pushed by our guru. And he's claiming that for picking up 40% of your tires.

You can take almost anything Bruce has published, any just about any topic, and find these same kind of back row fallacies.




And if you need one more nail, jump to about 1:00 minute in and listen to his answer to the guy who asks about added stresses to his engine if he added the box. You'll hear the most non-answer answer possible.



"O/O's are never using your full power."

Then what's the point of sending you my money? Just sayin'

 

Who is Clayton Mallinson and how does he fit in?
I read Bruce's write up in Movin On newspaper in hopes of him mentioning the Signature drama (he said nothing) and at the end of article it said "Edited by Clayton B Mallinson"