Meanwhile, Detroit had almost 600k customers (residential and businesses, definitely over a million residents) without power at one point over the weekend, and 53k are still without power today, 5 days later. I’m surprised that there’s no mention of that in articles like this.  

The Osprey was a different situation. I’ve had some interesting conversations with a few different crew chiefs on Ospreys. Most of the failures early on were due to pilot error or crew chief error, not faulty design. All they did was add extra safety measures in the software to prevent these issues from happening.…

Exactly this. Grew up on a gravel road in the country, and we could never keep the tonneau covers locks from binding up on a normal day, let alone expect something this big to slide easily. You can’t make it too loose, or it’ll bounce around and not be durable enough.  

I’ve worked for some R&D teams before at some big automotive companies, along with supporting the “Merger and Acquisitions” groups. There are incredible obstacles to overcome in bigger companies to organically develop new technologies when the established technology makes sooooo much money.

It’s been over 10 years that I’ve had her, and she’s almost 20 years old now with 240k miles, but my 1999 F250 “Heavy Half” will hopefully be my forever car. I’ve overhauled the stock 10.25" rear end and all of the suspension over the years. Next is a rebuild of the stock 4R100 transmission and maybe a rebuild of the…

This is insanely accurate. Michigan has special plates that say “Manufacturer” on them (also called “M-plates”). They’re expensive, but it means that you can get away with almost anything with a vehicle. 

So, all hybrids and eV’s utilize kinetic energy recovery...so can we also reference F1 car technology with Prius’s too? Or a Nissan Leaf?

There was a point of time in college where the local liquor store quit carding me and my roommate. It’s not that it was a small town kind of thing, cause place was busy and had lots of different people behind the register.

This resonates so strongly with my feelings too. I’m an auto engineer now, but I still miss the farm. I’m only a few years in, and I’ve been lucky to have been raised with that sense of responsibility and work ethic that is taking me up the corporate ladder faster than other colleagues my age.

I’m looking at a newer (used not new) pickup right now, and this is exactly what I want. I think that most leather seats in non-luxury brand vehicles are horribly designed and uncomfortable. I want nice and comfy cloth seats, but you have to go with the lower trim levels of the vehicles to get them, which means you…

I had something similar happen to my older F150 recently. Got in, turned key on (lights come on, good so far), turned into start and...nothing, just like you said. Then the key fell out, but the switch was still in run, and the lights stayed on. I stuck the key back in and went to turn it off and...nothing. Went back…

A short story from me:

Yep, I’m in the same boat, since I didn’t get my first credit card until after I left college. I have $300 left on my oldest student loan, and I only put the minimum in every month, rather than pay it off.  If I keep my oldest student loans, instead of paying it off, it keeps my credit age years longer.  

I grew up on a farm, and this is 100% why we got a Ford Excursion with the pass through second row. It can pull a fertilizer trailer, plow through the snow on country roads, and haul 6 adults cross country comfortably. It was my mom’s car for 10 years, and now it’s my extra vehicle that has 320k miles.

I have my original ‘99 F150 (5.4L) with 240k, and my spare is my mother’s old‘03 Excursion (V10) with 330k on the odometer. Her’s is in better shape than my pickup, and had never had a major repair. (Note that she’s from the countryside where they never use salt).

For actual passenger cars? Probably not necessary at this point. But since many larger work and fleet vehicles use Diesel because of the efficiency under torque, it would be very difficult to separate the regulations between them.

On tractors with traditional engine/transmission combinations, you probably could do something. In most cases, the engines are designed to run at maximum 3000rpm, and the highest speed is based on the highest gear in the transmission.

I grew up on this machine on our farm (we actually had each generation of the 88 series combines over the years). The complexity and awesomeness of these machines are why I ended up becoming a Mechanical Engineer.

Yep, it’s a good example of how most of America is still kind-of the “Wild West”, since the population density in the countryside is much lower than most places in Europe.  If there’s no traffic on the road, who really cares to do anything about it!

A lot of machinery that isn’t a tractor or a vehicle are made with hydrostatic drives. Speed control at full power is more important on those than a tractor typically needs. Also, hydrostatic drive allows for more complex architecture, so you can design the machine in the best way.