And even though the $375 tailgate step provides the safest way to get in the bed of the truck, I much prefer how quickly I can get in using something like GM’s bumper step.

Yup front of one tire going down bumps back of other tire going up and away you go.

This is a very surprising and very good answer. I’ve seen some $10k+ non-racer commuter type bikes and they stand out like any other high end luxury good. Exotic materials and construction, excellent performance AND everyone knows how to ride a bike so you have no problem letting people try it out. Everyone, EVERYONE…

Don’t even fret on the eBay thing, just go to your local Specialized Dealer and plunk $7k on the Turbo S

You have people in this country supporting a buffoon like Trump, and wants him in the White House. Does this shit even surprise you?

This is good stuff.

I knew the gear oil in the diff is thicker than manual transmission oil. Plus, that cooler is shared by the diff and the automatic trans, too, and there’s no way in heck that rear diff is filled with ATF.

Definitely should have mentioned the internal HX.

It’s very rare to find a power steering cooler on anything that isn’t a truck. Everyone’s going to EPS (electric power steering), and many hydraulic systems don’t use coolers at all.

That said, I agree. Today’s heat exchangers can last the life of the car.

To answer your question directly, two years ago when a rock punctured my A/C condenser, but that can happen on any car.

Those metal oil lines should be somewhat resistant to damage from debris - even if they do seem suspiciously exposed. Most time metal lines can take a fair beating. You don’t see them unexposed all over construction/farm equipment for no reason. On the plus side they offer a not insignificant amount of surface area…

DING DING DING DING DING!

Thank god.

I sometimes worry that I’ll write these nerdy things, and literally zero people will care.

Now I know at least one will!

Every time I read a technical piece by you, I think “wow its scary how much we’re fascinated by the same things” then I remember you’re an engineer too, and that stuff like this is what makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside.

When the Germans do it, it’s “engineering brilliance”. When Americans do it, it’s a “cluster fuck”. Because let’s be honest here: if the car was an M3, the comments section would be filled with people proclaiming BMW as geniuses for doing it.

Have you picked up a dana 60 out of a new ford truck recently? No? Ok well i have and that fucker fully dressed is pushing 800lbs....so just because it has less moving parts doesn’t make it lightweight...It has massive axle tubes and a huge center section casting. Lightweight is not one of its selling points.

This is the big one. The semi truck will do that all day long, day after day, through whatever heat or grades and not skip a beat for much longer distances than the mega pickup trucks.

These are light duty truck engines, just look at them up close.

Have you compared these to a DT466? it’s night and day. The constructions methods, mindset and engineering objects are substantially different.

Technically they might be in the same class but no commercial fleet operator would run one of these in lieu motor…

If Americans leaned to do a lot of things better, a lot of things would be less of an issue.

Cooling.

shhh; let the troll be

(thats the joke)