10 years since SCR technology on trucks

Reliability is going way up in emissions. Lots of the earlier problems have been fixed. We currently have trucks running to Cali and back with 800,000+ km and I don't think they have even had a CEL yet.
2011-2015 had some rough times but even then I've seen over a million out of 2350 Cummins.
All you ever hear about are the bad trucks. Peoples whose trucks keep running have no reason to join an online forum.

I even pulled out a set of ceramic plungers today out of an oilfield truck with 15,000 hours. Looked brand new. Its not all a ticking time bomb like some people think. Regular oil changes and maintenance goes a looong way.

 

Common rail fuel systems are far superior to anything else. The fuel burn is so precisely controlled (much better than EUI, HEUI, EUP etc). Honestly EGR is the thorn in everyone's side. CAT is already removing EGR from their next generation of T4F compliant engines. I think you'll see the on-road manufacturer's follow suit soon enough.

 

Electronics are just as reliable as ever. Many of these emission issues I've personally come across are caused by mechanical faults (failed EGR coolers, oil passing from the turbo into the DPF, improper engine cool down causing DEF nozzles to melt and screw with NOx conversion etc).

 

I run oil samples every 25k on my A26 and it’s super clean. Even the lab puts in their notes they’re impressed how clean it is. Fuel mileage at 72-73k average gross weight and 16% DH is 8.63 this past quarter with a lot of East Coast and South East running. That is actual mileage of total gallons and hub miles.
The key is keeping horsepower down and using the torque these new motors make at rpms. Use enough horsepower to keep momentum going and use downspeeding and you can get big mpg numbers.
There is a guy, I can’t remember his first name but last name is Niss, he pulls flatbed, specialized aircraft parts and engines in a T660, with a Pittsburgh Power Signature Series 60, he has done all sorts of stuff with his truck and trailer on top of that, and averaged 8.5 mpg. His weights are light and has a highly modified truck, motor, and trailer. Impressive? Yes, but not typical of a pre emission motor, again, it’s heavily modified from Pittsburgh Power.

 

I'm driving a 2017 Freightliner with DD13 258,000 miles and no problems yet. It even does automatic parked regens when the computers say it needed. That is every 6 hour of idle time. It only takes 20 minutes.

 

If you’re running an older truck with older axle technology that would be true. The new axles on the market and their U Joints and Yokes are designed with downspeeding in mind to handle the much higher torque stress. I read awhile back that some of the downsped motors put over 13k ft lb into the driveshaft(s). That driveshaft isn’t going to last long, but with new technology they are lasting as much as the old models.
I’ve said before you can’t look at these things in isolation and these parts work as a system. The manufacturers have worked together to put out products that can handle the greatly increased torque stress of modern downsped specs or are suited for more traditional specs running moderate rpms. You just have to do your research before buying one so you don’t end up with system that’s going to fall apart from poor spec’ing. Most of the truck makers have this stuff programmed in their spec’ing programs when you sit down with them to build a truck.

 

I have yet to drive a truck that required a parked regen. Anything produced after 2010 should not require a parked regen unless it is in a sever service application with very low highway miles. If you’re having to do parked regens, that is an indication something is not working at optimal efficiency. If you’re operating a highway duty cycle, it should be all passive regens.