UPS going to gas rigs

[p-Bar]

Thought I would post it here because of the other threads of good byes and fuel concerns. Saw my UPS guy yesterday and he is driving a gasser Chevy with an LS1 and automatic. I asked why no diesel and it was said to him that they wern't getting the longevity out of the engines as they thought they would. So all the new rigs they buy now will be gassers unless it the large oversize model which will remain diesel. I'm sure it had to do with the rising diesel prices too.

 

[KLockliear]

Sweet. According to their own info, they delivered 15. 6m packages/documents in 2006, with a fuel cost of . 1059gals per. That equates to roughly 1. 65 MILLION gallons of diesel.



Take their demand out of the picture and I bet diesel prices go down a little.

 

[EBung]

Thought I would post it here because of the other threads of good byes and fuel concerns. Saw my UPS guy yesterday and he is driving a gasser Chevy with an LS1 and automatic. I asked why no diesel and it was said to him that they wern't getting the longevity out of the engines as they thought they would. So all the new rigs they buy now will be gassers unless it the large oversize model which will remain diesel. I'm sure it had to do with the rising diesel prices too.

I believe they were running International (Powerstroke) engines also.

 

[EEdmondson]

Take their demand out of the picture and I bet diesel prices go down a little.

I wouldn't bet on it.

 

[betterthanstock]

There will be some new direct injection gassers coming along. These are like diesels, except with a sparkplug and run on gas. I believe mazda 626 has had one since the 90's.

Economy is up by 10-15%, and while diesel has more energy per gal, with the higher diesel price there is no advantage per BTU. The expensive trap filter, and higher initial cost and maintenance may make it not worthwhile to run a diesel.



Keep in mind the political element of fuel pricing, and also the fact that if a large user switches from diesel to gas, the price of diesel will drop and the price of gas will rise.



Also it seems the supreme court has authorized the EPA to regulate CO2, so it's interesting to see what that would do to diesels in cars and light trucks. Some say the only way to comply is to go diesel, and if UPS trucks are heavier than the light trucks, then the limit does not apply to them.



Maybe they foresee a very near future where diesel price is going up even further as all manufacturers scramble to introduce diesels to meet CO2 regulations, while heavy trucks will convert to Gasoline since they may be temporarily exempt from the regulations? Who knows?

 

[JVackiner]

UPS has always run the Ford 300 straight six out here. I can't remember how many miles they were getting out of 'em but it was more than any other engine they had tried in the past.

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

As the natural lubricity is removed from ULSD - and the enhanced engine longevity that goes with it - it will be interesteing to see how long diesel engines continue to have a longevity edge. decent and recent gas engines from 4-bangers on up often see 300K miles to overhaul - and cost less to buy and operate, compared to diesels.



Sure does erode the "diesel advantage"...

 

[TFucili]

UPS has always run the Ford 300 straight six out here. I can't remember how many miles they were getting out of 'em but it was more than any other engine they had tried in the past.

A friend of mine has a machine shop and was talking with UPS about becoming an authorized rebuilder. Their requirements were too much for a small shop like his. They were running the Ford 300 six, and the GM 292 six. The guy told my friend that they were averaging about 180K on the 292, and about 150K on the 300. The annoying thing to them with the Fords was that Ford was forever changing things which hampered parts interchange. Obviously, on a fleet like that standardization is a very good thing.

 

[p-Bar]

UPS has always run the Ford 300 straight six out here. I can't remember how many miles they were getting out of 'em but it was more than any other engine they had tried in the past.

I haven't seen the old 300 six in a long time . I have seen , powerjokes, mercedes, cummins,

 

[p-Bar]

Thought I would post it here because of the other threads of good byes and fuel concerns. Saw my UPS guy yesterday and he is driving a gasser Chevy with an LS1 and automatic. I asked why no diesel and it was said to him that they wern't getting the longevity out of the engines as they thought they would. So all the new rigs they buy now will be gassers unless it the large oversize model which will remain diesel. I'm sure it had to do with the rising diesel prices too.

I think the driver said because of the large fleet EPA was making them take the older rigs and install smog stuff on them

 

[jelag]

People... . please understand that UPS makes decisions based on long term studies... . I can only assume they are not getting the life out of the chassis and body to justify the long life diesel... in every aspect of the formula the diesel will win even when fuel pricing is 50 cents a gallon more for diesel.....

Let me offer my thoughts... . I own a nice Jeep with a 5. 7L Hemi, I love and drive it... . but it costs more per mile to drive than one of my 3500 duallys... . even with diesel more money... . the key here is that the diesel truck empty at the same road speeds gets better mileage... and I expect to keep my trucks 450-500K miles... this is the key issue... . life of the engine and over all cost per mile over 450K miles... . The jeep will never make it to 450K miles... but the jeep is a kick in the A** to drive..... and is the greatest to park... my wife loves it..... you see the picture... .

Now if I traded off for gassers..... I bet I'd loose $3500-$4500 per truck in the trade..... to move to less fuel economy and higher cost per mile... . no way am I going to do that.....

Also, there is nothing we are going to do to lower fuel costs until we start pumping more oil on our homeland and install some refineries...

Think about the 2 most populated countries in the world... India and China... did you read that TATA the largest manufacture of cars in India will offer a $3500 car for their people later this year... they intend to sell millions of them and manufacturing in China is doing the same thing... they are now selling cars to people who have never, owned a car... never purchased fuel other than hay for horses and bicycle tires and tubes... . this new base for fuel will keep driving up the world market for the next 20 years... .

I was at a manufacturing plant in India... . 600 people working there and 6 cars in the parking lot that belonged to the owner and 600 bicycles parked in a row... . health care is not available so the owner has 2 doctors on staff with a clinic to care for the workers and their families... . he also owns an ambulance to take very injured workers to a local hospital because the ambulance service is not acceptable... .

 

[SKing]

This is what a tried to tell others before and I got laughed at and told I was crazy. Diesel fuel is screwing up motors.

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

I haven't seen the old 300 six in a long time . I have seen , powerjokes, mercedes, cummins,

There's a few UPS trucks around here with gasser sixes including the one that delivers my BOMB parts

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

AS 6 cylinder gassers go, in my opinion, the Ford 300 was one of the best - you could lug those til they dropped, and they still chugged smoothly on all cylinders.

 

[TFucili]

People... . please understand that UPS makes decisions based on long term studies... . I can only assume they are not getting the life out of the chassis and body to justify the long life diesel... in every aspect of the formula the diesel will win even when fuel pricing is 50 cents a gallon more for diesel.....



Let me offer my thoughts... . I own a nice Jeep with a 5. 7L Hemi, I love and drive it... . but it costs more per mile to drive than one of my 3500 duallys... . even with diesel more money... . the key here is that the diesel truck empty at the same road speeds gets better mileage... and I expect to keep my trucks 450-500K miles... this is the key issue... . life of the engine and over all cost per mile over 450K miles... . The jeep will never make it to 450K miles... but the jeep is a kick in the A** to drive..... and is the greatest to park... my wife loves it..... you see the picture... .



Now if I traded off for gassers..... I bet I'd loose $3500-$4500 per truck in the trade..... to move to less fuel economy and higher cost per mile... . no way am I going to do that.....



Also, there is nothing we are going to do to lower fuel costs until we start pumping more oil on our homeland and install some refineries...



Think about the 2 most populated countries in the world... India and China... did you read that TATA the largest manufacture of cars in India will offer a $3500 car for their people later this year... they intend to sell millions of them and manufacturing in China is doing the same thing... they are now selling cars to people who have never, owned a car... never purchased fuel other than hay for horses and bicycle tires and tubes... . this new base for fuel will keep driving up the world market for the next 20 years... .



I was at a manufacturing plant in India... . 600 people working there and 6 cars in the parking lot that belonged to the owner and 600 bicycles parked in a row... . health care is not available so the owner has 2 doctors on staff with a clinic to care for the workers and their families... . he also owns an ambulance to take very injured workers to a local hospital because the ambulance service is not acceptable... .

I see your point, Jim, and here in AZ they do run mostly fresh stuff from what I have seen, but back east they were still using some phenomenally old chassis that they just kept repowering over and over and over, and replacing whatever components required. You are 100% right that they do everything based on long term studies, and not on a whim. They really do have it down to a science.

 

[jakprince]

Every UPS truck i have been around every time the driver gets out they shut the engine off. If you do that 100's of times a day that has to take a toll on the engine,especially the turbo.

 

[DWeiler]

Well after 10 years of the Ford 7. 3"s our bakery/bread company is going back to gas(Chevy 3500 cube),one truck is now on the road and mine is in the shop getting graphics installed, more to come,hope to have it soon. My 2001 7. 3 is getting tired,underpowered and a pig on diesel----best is 10-12 MPG load/unloaded. Out of the 10 or so Ford diesel trucks we have had this one has lasted the longest---to date is is near 250,000 miles+ thousands of idle time hours too, guesstimate(4000+HR). It is still on the original turbo/glowplugs/injectors and the motor has never been opened up ,but all the support things have been replaced many times(alternators/starters/transmission etc). Hope the new ones make it 5 years or more. DW

 

[Regcabguy]

AS 6 cylinder gassers go, in my opinion, the Ford 300 was one of the best - you could lug those til they dropped, and they still chugged smoothly on all cylinders.

I agree about the 300 six. The only thing lacking on them was that the carburation sucked which was cured with fuel injection. My friend bought one new in 1989 and it's still running well in Oregon. He purchased another new F-150 with a V-6 which is delivering excellent fuel economy. Can't tow zilch,but that's not what he bought it for.

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

Don't know so much about the Chevy 292 but the Ford 300 is basically the Cummins of gassers- not for the power but for the durability. A buddy has a '67 Ford truck with around 420,000 that's beat to heck, but the original 300 still gets it down the road.

 

[cahammer]

talking to my friend that works and drives for ups the old diesels that they are and were running could do a route useing 11. 5 gal. of diesel the new gasser on same said route used 26. 3 gal. of gas i dont think they did it cause of fuel prices