mercer transportation

I idle about 15-30 minutes every morning to bring the engine to operating temp.
And it varies depending on temp. But never over 4-5 hrs/day, that's only in extreme temperature conditions. I utilize couple fans in the summer and lots of blankets in the winter.
Last 4 weeks I'd guesstimate maybe 10-12hrs...

 

My C15 Acert had almost 37000 hours and a close to 1.1 million on it when I had it rebuilt this past February. A small piece of the liner flange on #5 came apart and it was putting compression in the coolant. No other issues and ran like a top. On teardown there was a little carbon packing on the fire rings and a little bit on the tops of the pistons but the sleeves looked just fine as did all the main and rod bearings. The cam was well within spec and there was tiny amounts of sludge in the head.

I bought it with 825k on it and around 25000 engine hours. I used it the first year I bought it to pull a hopper. I never shut the truck off anywhere until I got home, unless a shipper or receiver needed it off. Otherwise it ran. I worked for Oakley doing pneumatic work. Again, idled every night and ran at 1150 rpm when unloading. It could be a whole 3 weeks before it was cut off longer than 4 hours. Since the rebuild I run it the same, though the first 20000 I avoided idling where I could stand it and kept loading heavy. Since then I've run it like I always have. I idle just about every night. At around 10-12k it will use a gallon of oil, but I change it every 10k or once a month using regular 15W 40 Rotella. That's what we've always done on our trucks.

My father has an 05 379 with the exact same engine and drivetrain (his is an MXS tho where mine is an NXS). Same deal, same results. He averages 4.5 pulling a hopper all the time and idling at night. I average 4.9 pulling flat and,idling all the time. We could save probably 1-1.5 mpg per truck equip them with APUs but we aren't out here for fuel efficiency. You call us when you need the horsepower and reliability to get your goods where they're going.

The older pre emission engines can idle just fine and see little to no appreciable additional wear. I bump my idle up to ~800-900 rpm to bring the oil pressure up to 50-55 psi to keep the turbos lubed good and let that get it.

 

This was my experience with the APU

Before I got it I only idled when I needed. When I got quite hot or cold in the truck or when it was time to charge the batteries.

After I got the TK I found myself using it all the time. Comfort was king. Fuel savings for me was almost non-existent (I kept very accurate MPG records)

I would not want to own a truck without one because of the comfort factor.

But spending that kind of money and making it back on fuel savings and engine wear, isn't going to happen.

That's my experience based on my pre-emissions trucks that I installed them on. No experience with the newer trucks.

 

My first time hauling a airplane wing. Should be interesting

 

Agreed. If I had an APU I'd use the heck out of it, but for me, I can't justify the cost. For someone else they might, and no problem with that at all...

 

I hauled some F35 tail sections from Lockheed Martin last year...they didn't even give me a seal for the trailer.

 

It would not use that much more fuel and those old Detroits we're good for a million plus miles even with all the idling. I know some claim there are tests showing extra wear, and it may be true, but the only tests I have is personal experience and trucks I've been around. There have been way more Detroits hit million miles with excessive idling than there will ever be these new motors hitting million miles without the idling. It just didn't seem to hurt that old motor. Mine would get started up when I left and literally not turned off until I got home. I might turn it off once or twice in a week period. I know I've had trucks without APUs and I've had them with APUs and I'll never buy another APU. If they were only a few thousand dollars then they might be worth it but they aren't worth $10k. At least not to me.

 

Not sure what these are for. all i know its about 16 ft long and gotta tarp. Gotta pick it up in tinker AFB which i've never been there. They say its a WINGFLAP but i ddin't know they are about 6 ft tall lol

 

Probably in a crate. Should be relatively easy. Wheres it headed? No AC units for ya in that area? LOL.

 

AC loads were paying dog poop lol. the loads coming out of the house not a fan of that place as it can take easily 6-7 hours to load lol