Diesel News 8-19-19

Ride of the Week

Compound Turbo Mega Truck

For a lot of reasons, mega trucks are cool. Even better yet, a ton of them are propelled by diesels these days. However, the one owned by Kyle Rainey is a bit different. His sky-high Chevy features a rear engine setup and now—thanks to the help of North Coast Diesel Performance—sports compound turbos. That’s right, the Duramax is parked in the bed and an S475 feeds the valley charger all kinds of air. Though a lot of mega trucks are oil burners now, very few that we’ve seen are packing two turbos. We look forward to seeing this Bow Tie boost its way through head-high mud.
Source: https://www.facebook.com/NorthCoastDieselPerformance

Highlights

8.50-Certified Ford Flareside

After spending some time at Firepunk Diesel, Unlimited Diesel Performance’s 6.7L Power Stroke-powered OBS Ford is nearing completion. While in Firepunk’s care, the old-school Ford went from two-wheel drive to four-wheel drive, was back-halved, four-linked, and fitted with a cage certified for 8.50-second quarter-mile passes. It also received a rack and pinion steering arrangement and coil overs at each corner. Perhaps the best part is that the truck is equipped with a 6.7L Power Stroke, and not the compound turbo’d 7.3L that once sat between the frame rails. Look for Unlimited to turn some heads with this unique, blazing-fast creation.
Source: https://unlimiteddiesel.com/

Events

Pull Town USA

Renowned as one of the biggest and best truck and tractor pulls in existence, the National Tractor Pulling Championships put on by the NTPA are held each year in Bowling Green, Ohio. In 2019, the Wood County fairgrounds once again played host to the 7,500-pound Super Stock diesel trucks, the crowd-favorite 20,000-pound Super Semis, 10,000-pound Pro Stock tractors, and even 8,000-pound Super Stock diesel tractors. In the 7,500-pound Super Stock diesel truck class, Shane Kellogg would dig his way to victory on Friday, take Third Place the following night, and claim a well-deserved Championship ring in the process. Finishing ahead of Kellogg on Saturday were brothers Brad Deeter (First Place) and Josh Deeter (Second Place).
Source: https://www.pulltown.com/

Horsepower in Horse Country

The inaugural Horsepower in Horse Country went down in Shelbyville, Kentucky over the weekend. Hosting a handful of classes, the Pro Pulling League sanctioned affair brought 10 of the strongest running Pro Stock diesel trucks in the country out to compete (3.6 smooth bore). Top honors would go to Matt Penn in the Penn Farms Dodge, and Cody Thomas finishing just a few inches behind Penn, in the Chapter 11 Cummins-powered OBS Ford. The Limited Pro Stock trucks also took to the dirt at the Shelby County fairgrounds (3.0 smooth bore), with Austin White getting the win aboard the Second Hand Smoke Dodge.
Source: http://www.propulling.com/

New Fleece HQ

Fleece Performance Engineering will soon call this 65,000 square foot facility home. Located roughly six miles west of its current location, the Pittsboro, Indiana mecca will house all of Fleece’s operations under one roof: drive-in service, product development, engine building, and testing and validation. The Freedom Racing Engines side of Fleece’s operation will also reside in the same building, with four (separately poured) engine dyno cells—with solid-filled, 12-inch block walls—to play with. To fill its new headquarters, Fleece is also hiring at the present time (and accepting resume’s at jobs@fleeceperformance.com).
Source: https://fleeceperformance.com/

OEM News

Ram to Offer the Least Expensive Half-Ton Diesel

It’s official, the most affordable way to get into a diesel half-ton for 2020 will be to order a Ram. By offering its VM Motori 3.0L V6 in every configuration, Ram will be able to sell a diesel 1500 for some $6,600 less than the most affordable 3.0L I6-powered Chevy Silverado 1500. Though most buyers will likely kick in the extra money for higher trim models, Ram’s Tradesman trim Quad Cab configuration starts at just $36,890. In addition to being the most obtainable diesel half-ton for the average consumer, the diesel-equipped Ram 1500’s will pack 260 hp and 480 lb-ft of torque now (vs. 240 hp and 420 lb-ft previously).

GM Diesel Lawsuit

General Motors has been hit with a class-action lawsuit for its CP4.2 failures in the LML Duramax. The lawsuit alleges that GM sold hundreds of thousands of diesels with the Bosch high-pressure fuel pump that distributed metal shavings through the fuel injection system, thereby damaging the fuel system and the engine. It also alleges that American diesel fuel is thinner than the makeup of European diesel, which provides less lubrication, allows air pockets to develop inside the CP4.2 during operation, and causes metal-on-metal contact to be made within the pump. With so many ’11-’16 Duramax owners experiencing this failure, it will be interesting to see how this one plays out.