Plugging exhaust while trailering

[Deere Dude]

That is all news to me. Thanks TBN.:thumbsup: I looked in my owners manual but can't find it, but I will be covering my exhaust up when trailering.

 

[greg_g]

So, is anyone actually following this guidance and if so what are you using to plug the exhaust?

The 3720 manual is unclear, leading the owner to think that practice should apply regardless of configuration. I don't see where it applies to vertical exhaust at all. For tractors that exhaust under the left front, it should not apply if you're towing it facing rearward. For loader-equipped tractors, the bucket blocks the wind. So it shouldn't matter which direction it's being towed. Apparently the manual addresses the worst case issue of a non-loader equipped tractor with bottom exhaust facing forward on the trailer.

//greg//

 

[wolfpack2]

I stuff a standard shop rag in the throat of the exhaust where it is half in and half out. Seems to work well and is easily removed.

I have a vertical exhaust on my 4520 and did the same thing when I brought it home yesterday. I pulled the stack and stuffed a shop rag into the exhaust. The manual states to plug the exhaust, and I would rather be safe than sorry.

 

[Ductape]

Curious if anyone has ever seen real proof of turbo failure because the exhaust was left unplugged. Has a manufacturer ever put a video camera inside an intak or exhaust and recorded the turbo spinning as a piece of equipment was transported on a trailer? Would seem easy enough with todays tiny digital cameras.

By 'proof', i don't mean a dealership thinking that is how a turbo failed because we want the trucking company that hauled it here to pay for.

 

[XSKIER]

I was curious about this phenomenon myself as well. Yesterday while a work, I took a small Aerocharger turbo and blocked the turbine inlet, to simulate closed exhaust valves. My thinking is that there would not be enough air flow backwards through the turbine housing to spin it. Mosley because I thought I would cavitate and not let the incoming air pressure do the work. So I hit the turbine outlet with shop air, and it did spin! However, it turned quite slow, maybe 100 rpms. But a more interesting test was to put the shop air on the compressor inlet. That got things turning into the whistle zone. In my hasty test, it would indicate to me that plugging the intake would be wise. Bottom line, if my tractor ever gets that Aerocharger added to it, I'm not going to worry about plugging the exhaust.

 

[RickB]

I have never seen any proof, (or near proof) of turbo failure from trucking with an open exhaust. I am highly skeptical of the theory altogether. But I have given up debating those with firm convictions. It doesn't hurt to tape the exhaust, and doing so will definitely keep rain out. And it makes a bunch of folks feel better.

 

[RickB]

I was curious about this phenomenon myself as well. Yesterday while a work, I took a small Aerocharger turbo and blocked the turbine inlet, to simulate closed exhaust valves. My thinking is that there would not be enough air flow backwards through the turbine housing to spin it. Mosley because I thought I would cavitate and not let the incoming air pressure do the work. So I hit the turbine outlet with shop air, and it did spin! However, it turned quite slow, maybe 100 rpms. But a more interesting test was to put the shop air on the compressor inlet. That got things turning into the whistle zone. In my hasty test, it would indicate to me that plugging the intake would be wise. Bottom line, if my tractor ever gets that Aerocharger added to it, I'm not going to worry about plugging the exhaust.

In your first test closing the exhaust turbine inlet would simulae closed exhaust valves. Closing the compressor (intake) inlet would simulate a blocked intake.

 

[kuboman]

Seems really weird to be debating this. Does not seem like a big deal to shove a rag in the exhaust. It is like any other maintenance, is there any real proof that changing the oil at 100 hrs will give you longer engine life than changing at 150hrs. So many other factor enter in.:confused3:

 

[Ductape]

I have never seen any proof, (or near proof) of turbo failure from trucking with an open exhaust. I am highly skeptical of the theory altogether.

I am also very skeptical. Even if there were two cylinders where the valves were open, or partially open...... that means the air passing over/ around the exhaust pipe would have to have enough pressure to spin the turbine and go out the intake and back through the air filter. Since that air is always going to take the path of least resisence...... it just seems unlikely its going to spin the turbine enough to ruin the bearings.

I ask because I spent nearly thirty years around trucks, with 14 of them operating a 24 hr towinng service, and have never seen this happen. Though, about ten or twelve years ago.... i started hearing about people I know getting blamed for damaging turbochargers by transporting, or towing trucks without plugging the stack.What happened during the first thirty or forty years that turbocharged diesel were towed/transported the same way?? In my own experience, it was never the big Caterpillar shop looking for them to pay to replace someone's turbo..... it was BillyJoe Jimbob's Independent Truck Repair.

Just seems to me a bad turbo is more likely caused by poor maintenance...... not moving something without plugging the exhaust. I'd really like to see video of this happening...... surely if this is so common that JD puts it in their manuals, an engine or parts manufacturer has studied this. I'd like to see it.

 

[timster2]

Years ago Mack had a turbo problem with the trucks that were piggy backed when delivered. Seems that only the trucks on top not the truck doing the towing were the problem. It was eventually traced back to spinning the turbos during transport. IIRC there was a service bulletin regarding towing. I tried to find the service bulletin but since retirement I have lost access to all that good stuff.

In another situation a truck parked indoors was constantly failing turbo chargers while under warranty but only in the winter. The problem was finally traced to the parking position of the truck. Apparently the exhaust was pointed directly to the outlet of the shop heating system and the high velocity air coming from the duct work was enough to spin the turbo while the truck sat overnight. My tractors are non turbo but if they were I would err on the side of caution and plug the intake or exhaust, turbos are expensive duck tape is cheap.