Better Roads Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/85911
You'll find those articles listed in the Rec- ommended Reading box on the opposite page. (Or go to this article on equipment- world.com/digital and click on the active links.) But here in a nutshell is what you should be paying attention to: • The biggest change you're likely to see is the addition of a diesel particulate filter (DPF) that will scrub particulate matter out of the exhaust stream. These filters periodically purge themselves of the trapped particulate matter, but over time ash from the engine's lube oil will accu- mulate and require cleaning. For engines equipped with DPFs, expect an ash clea- nout procedure at around 4,500 hours for engines greater than 174 horsepower and 3,000 hours for engines 173 horsepower and below. • You must use ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel and low-ash lube oil (designated with the American Petroleum Institute's CJ-4 certi- fication) to prevent premature clogging of your DPF. • Many engines will increase the amount of exhaust gas recirculation and generate more heat. In addition to larger cool- ing packages, many of these will come with new extended life coolants (ELCs) as the factory fill. These new ELCs form a much thinner coating on the inside of your radiator surfaces and hence do a better job of radiating heat out to the atmosphere. Just don't make the mistake of putting conventional coolant in these machines and negating all the positive effects of the original ELCs. • Pay attention to the quality of your fuel. Most of these machines are common- rail, high-pressure injection with multi- ple injection events. The openings in the injectors are too small to tolerate much water or debris in the fuel. Costs and other considerations The machines that get the new technology will see price increases. Again, the OEMs are playing this one close to the vest, but most industry observers think that overall machine prices will increase anywhere from 5 to 15 percent. A lot of these will 27c March 2012 Better Roads be model changes with significant other upgrades and improvements, but most of the increase will be to cover the costs of the emissions technology development and implementation. When you consider that an engine is roughly 10 percent of a machine's cost, that means in some cases the price of the engine is more or less doubling. Fleet managers respond "If the fuel savings and improvements help offset the increase in cost, that will be a benefit, but I'm somewhat skeptical of that," says Robert Merritt, CEM, director of maintenance at URS, Boise, Idaho, a large construction services firm. Maintenance for the new exhaust emis- sions systems is also presenting new chal- lenges. "The field technicians have diffi- culty diagnosing problems today, much less new technology," says Ron Sharp, equip- ment manager at Armstrong Coal, Madi- sonville, Kentucky. "Dealers will have to increase training above the levels we have today, and that only adds cost." Both men say the emergence of the new technology will change how they look at equipment lifecycles and acquisition strate- gies. "We will retain equipment longer and strongly consider pre-Tier 4 equipment says," Sharp says. Dan Samford, vice president of corporate equipment at St. Joseph, Missouri-based Herzog Contracting, accepts the inevitabil- ity of emissions-compliant equipment, but says when the lifecycle allows it, he may also hang on to older equipment longer than before. He anticipates a few bugs be- ing worked out in the first few years, and plans to rely on dealer and OEM for some maintenance and technical assistance. v access these articles: Tier 4 Interim, September 2010, page 43. Hauling Ash, June 2011, page 23. Five questions, September 2011, page 39. The new cool, November 2011, page 35. New year-new engines-new oils, January 2012 (digital edition) RECOMMENDED READING Go to equipmentworld.com/digital and click on "issues" in the top menu bar to