Stop the Madness (article on truck torque output)

[Daox]

Its good to see articles like this coming out. My father in law drives a Chevy diesel for his business (electrician) and he even thinks that things are way out of control with how much power these engines are putting out.

The Blue Oval raised the industry bar by nearly 100 lb.-ft. (136 Nm) with last spring’s rollout of a new-generation Power Stroke. It promised peak torque of 735 lb.-ft. (997 Nm).

Weeks later, GM trumped its crosstown rival by launching an upgraded 6.6L Duramax V-8 rated at 765 lb.-ft (1,037 Nm).

Ford responded almost immediately by upping the ante to 800, matched now by Chrysler’s Ram brand.

What kind of diabolical force is at work here? The nuclear arms race was slower to escalate than this outrageous tug-of-war. (Or is it a war of tug?)

There now is enough collective oomph loose to alter the Earth’s rotation. And yet we idly stand by.

Worse, we applaud the trend.

Stop the Madness | Eric Mayne

[theycallmeebryan]

My dad has a 99 F-350 Superduty 7.3L turbo diesel. He has a dual axle Haulmark 7 foot wide trailer loaded with all of his plumbing equipment (including industrial pipe threaders, lots of tools, tons of hardware, etc)... basically it's his workshop on wheels. If i had to guess, the trailer weighs close to 13,000 lbs.

We upgraded his turbo to a larger 66mm ball bearing unit, installed 5" exhaust, installed a water injection kit, and installed a bullydog tuning system.

Stock, the truck struggled tremendously to pull the trailer. Now, he can literally pull anything.

If i had to guess, the truck has around 700ftlb torque at 30psi... stock is around 400ftlb. Also gets 15mpg pulling all that weight....

[MetroMPG]

We will never have enough torque.

Because someone will always try to tow something even larger. And the new engine "won't quite be enough."

Moar! Moar moar moar.

The end result, unfortunately, is a small fraction using the trucks for work.

And the rest? Well, you get idiots like the guy in town who floors his diesel torquemonster pickup at every opportunity, just to snap off the accelerator so he (and the whole neighbourhood) can hear the "cool" sound of the waste gate opening.

Over. And over and over and over...

[MorphDaCivic]

Back in the 60's I remember trucks in the right lane, flashing lights, going 15 miles an hour while pulling trailers up a steep grade.

Now it seems that if a truck can not go over the speed limit while pulling a trailer up a steep grade, they need to upsize the engine or add a larger turbo.

If you look at the high cost of all that torque, that is rarely used, or for that matter the cost of a car that can do 0-60 in 4 seconds, rather than 10 seconds? Is 6 seconds really worth 30K or more in upfront costs?

[almightybmw]

Did you happen to read the article comparing Ford and Chevy's newest 1-tons?
Chevy vs. Ford in Heavy-Duty Rumble in the Rockies - PickupTrucks.com News

Loaded to the max capacity, about 28,000lbs each I do believe. Drove them up Eisenhower Pass in CO, a 7% grade for 6 miles. A very good read, but somewhat excessive, as they are passing semi's that are going 15mph while going 45mph themselves. With a 1/3 the load of the semi's. Maybe I'm just crazy, but if you're pulling that much weight, GET A SEMI. Don't need a 51Ton rating? get a smaller single axle, say only 35 Tons, like the ones that run around cities instead of the OTR trucks.

Maybe it's just me, but once you exceed 20,000lbs for towing on a regular basis, it's time to uprate your towing vehicle to one that isn't testing its limits at 14 Tons.

Bah. I could rant all day, having been on both sides of the door. Once in a while, sure, the need to pull 14T is there. Deal with your slow rig, it's damned heavy! But all the time? Get a bigger truck and stop trying to pass off your daily driver as a 14 Ton towing machine.
....jack of all trades, master of none.

[Frank Lee]

It's all just a big pi$$ing contest; nothing more.