TeamsterGrrrl

I suspect the 'american half ton pickups in standard trim would do even worse then these compact Utes. Most of the half tons sold here have back seats... Max out the 4-5 ton tow rating with a minimal 10% of the trailer weight on the hitch ball and you'd have the rear axle capacity maxed out before you plopped any passengers in the back seat. For serious towing, you want to get the hitch point forward and as close to the rear axle as possible.

Come on, you guys can come up with better conspiracy theories!

Ok, we want a cabover heavy truck back and we needed the Ranger back yesterday. The Fiesta and Focus automated manual transmissions need to be sorted. Otherwise, he's doing fine.

That's the Diamond Reo version of the White Compact cab, looks like it might be the wider "Expeditor" version that White made to accommodate the big block diesels.

Wrote about this a month ago in my Gearhead Grrrl blog. "Diesel Cars Disappearing? Was perusing the Energy Department’s just released 2017 Fuel Economy Guide the other day and noticed a dearth of diesel cars. Other than Jaguar’s 5 diesel powered models which I don’t believe have even hit showrooms yet, there’s nothing listed. Just last year we had 24 models from BMW, Mercedes, GM, Fiat Chrysler, and even Rover to choose from, even after VW’s diesels were given the boot by the EPA. It’s already an open secret shared by displeased customers that Mercedes has pulled it’s 2017 diesel lineup. With rumors suggesting that VW may not be the only emissions cheater circulating, have most all the diesel car makers pulled their offerings before they step deeper into the do-do? Or are the EPA and CARB giving them extra scrutiny before certification, like they did last year? And here I was, happily ready to hand over the title to my ’13 TDI for what I paid for it, assuming that I’d just turn around and buy another, then diesel on in peace for another decade or so. Perhaps EPA and CARB think that if they deny me a diesel, I’ll give in and accept one of their limited range throwaway electric cars, or at least a throwaway hybrid? Sorry, but even with hybrids being rebated down to the price of their gas equivalents I’m not about to buy a car that will annoy me with “replace hybrid battery” warnings for over half it’s time in my possession. If I’m denied a diesel, the cost of fueling a gas car makes turning in my TDI vs. letting VW “fix” it a wash. And if the EPA and CARB refuse to approve a “fix”, maybe I’ll just have to drive my “dirty diesel” another couple decades… And did I mention that I’ve got another TDI, a 2003? And if pushed, I ‘spose I could transplant the really dirty diesel out of my ’86 Golf into bodyshell that still has a full floor, then pull out a wrench and screwdriver and crank the injection pump up to “coal roller” setting…"

Had a mayor in Minneapolis who thought it was just awful that CDL drivers in Public Works got paid a bit more than drivers without a CDL, and he thought getting a CDL was "too tough". So for years he had Public Works buy below CDL trucks with crew cabs so they could pack the maximum number of low skill workers in them and publicly display how many young men he'd taken off the street and put on the city payroll. By the time he was in his 3rd 4 year term the real Public Works workhorses, the tandem dumps, were rusting away. And thanks to retirements, they was hardly anybody left with a CDL to drive them. He then ran for governor and I'm proud to have helped defeat him before he ever got on the ballot. Fortunately the current mayor knows better, and they've instituted a CDL training program so they'll have drivers for the real tandem dump workhorses of the fleet.

If a politician was totally honest, you'd never elect them. At the federal level, an honest politician would tell you that we need to both raise taxes and cut waste to drive the deficit down, and we'd never vote for them. At the state level, an honest politician would tell you that we need to raise gas taxes and utility fees to fix our infrastructure while cutting waste in healthcare, and we'd never vote for them. Same at the local government level, with $$$ going to questionable environmental projects while the infrastructure fails... Tell the voters you need to increase taxes to fix the infrastructure and we won't buy any more solar arrays until that's done, and good luck getting elected. We get the politicians we deserve...

Trump is a con artist who will say whatever gets him elected, etc....

Neither. The Bakken boom is over, and with U.S. oil consumption dropping, there may never again be a need for "oil by rail" or additional pipelines from the Bakken. This is a reality we all need to look at- world population is peaking, we're consuming less energy, meat, etc., so expanding capacity in fossil fuel production, farming, etc. is becoming foolhardy. If it's ever completed, this pipeline may in fact be mothballed for years because there's no great need for it.

Sorry to disturb your conspiracy theories with reality, but this is entirely the native americans doing- In fact they're mad at Obama and Clinton for staying out of the controversy. The tribes quite rightly see this poorly engineered pipeline as a threat to their water supply and people, and they're uniting to fight it. As a small town water system operator, if they tried to build such a poorly engineered pipeline upstream of our water supply, I'd be fighting it too.

Commie? Which one of us? The Soviet Union don't even exist anymore, they gave up on communism damn near 3 decades ago, only place you'll find "commies" there is in a museum. The eastern bloc countries followed the USSR's example. China? The leaders may still make all the party banquets and even the occasional party meeting, but they behave like capitalists with a vengeance. Let's see, where might we still find any "commies"? Cuba's going capitalist ASAP, so none left there. North Korea? Sounds more like a corrupt megalomaniac dictator there than communism. So looks like you'll have to visit a museum to find any "commies". Guess you'll just have to find someone else to hate...

That's the risk that comes with a free press- Look at how VW's excess diesel emissions have been blown all out of proportion by the media. But thanks to the same free press, the story of Watergate came out and corrupt Nixon left office. They may get it wrong some times, but I'll take a free press over propaganda any day!

Pointing a firearm at someone for taking a picture of you is a good way to get some free room and board.

State law don't matter, it's a constitutional issue. Most of the west is federal, state, or native land anyway...

To successfully prosecute a trespassing charge and get a conviction, it's essential to prove that the property owner made available notice that unauthorized entry is not allowed. The pipeline company owns almost none of the land the pipeline is on and does not even have a lease on it. So the pipeline company cannot say who can enter the "easement" the pipeline is in. Much of the pipeline is on private land, so in most cases anyone may freely enter that land. The portions of private land the pipeline is on around the Standing Rock Reservation are largely deserted grasslands, so as long as you don't leave a fence gate open the owners could pretty much care less if you wander across their land. Keep in mind also that the Standing Rock and other tribes have treaty rights to access water, gather, hunt, worship, etc. beyond the reservation boundaries... Thus a trespassing charge will be difficult to convict on and will likely be overthrown on appeal in these instances.

The issue for the tribes is not global warming or $$$. It's water and their access to it, plain and simple. The pipeline is poorly designed and being built with pipe that's been sitting in a field for over a year rusting. This is Bakken crude, with 4 times the benzine found in conventional crude. The EPA only allows 5 parts per BILLION of benzine in drinking water, so any spill is going to shut down the water for everyone downstream for miles. And the first town downriver is the Standing Rock Rez, which explains why they're fighting this pipeline. I'm not opposed to pipelines, but this one needs to go back to the drawing board.

And if they're vandalizing, that's what they should be arrested for and charged with. But these are peaceful protestors and journalists covering the news.

"Illegal entry" is trespassing, and in civilized places just a misdemeanor.

Is the '11 any more reliable than the '08s? The '07-'09s were sort of particulate filter 1.0 and had a lot of problems, I wouldn't buy one.

Should add that as a writer I'd like to travel to North Dakota and interview the pipeliners as well at the native americans, but I can't afford to get thrown in jail and have my equipment and vehicle stolen by the North Dakota cops.

The oil companies damn near own North Dakota and the republican party there. The oil business is in a recession, especially in North Dakota, thanks to OPEC flooding the market with cheap oil. So the oil companies and North Dakota are desperate, and they're trampling the civil rights of anyone that gets in their way .

Ethisphere, the authority on ethical corporate governance, has included GE in their 2016 list of the most ethical companies. The only auto and truck makers to make the list this year were Ford and Oshkosh.

Might make sense to sell the vans, pickups, and SUVs as VWs and/or Internationals, but for heavy trucks Mack and International should be the only brands used. Would make sense to market International as the value brand and Mack as the premium brand, and focus Mack more on heavy trucks and International on mediums. The dealerships are a problem, thanks to Volvo's dualing most of the Mack dealerships with Volvo. There's also the problem of supplying Volvo "legacy" parts, as Volvo has corrupted Mack with their engines and more for over a decade now. Then again, I bet a lot of Mack marketing people and dealers would love to be rid of Volvo's muzzles!

OK, so Volvo isn't hanging around bankruptcy court yet, but they could use some cash. And while VW has bought a couple of the best with MAN and Scania, and maybe International too... They still need a conventional cab truck with a good reputation. So would VW buying Mack make sense? The Pros: The legendary Mack V8, now in Scania custody, would be awesome in the Titan. Scania's 13 liter SCR only 6 gets 10 MPG in their old cabover... In a Pinnacle It'd beat the heck out of Freightshaker's latest "Evo" Cascadia. And out of Volvo's shadow, Mack would be free to compete with no worries of upstaging Volvo's pathetic offerings. The Cons: There ain't much left of Mack to save- Volvo has thoroughly "tagged" the powertrain plant as their's, and most of the chassis is Volvo with some Mack fixes. About all Scania would get would be the aging conventional cab and the MR and LE, which are even older but the customers seem to like that. What's your opinion...?