New 1 Ton P/U on the Market. Sterling Bullet

[Dmace]

Do you guys get the Sprinter as a single or dual rear wheel version ?The single wheeled version is the 3,5 ton version and the dualled is a 5 ton.

You can get either configuration, I especially like how the dual rear wheel setup doesn't make the rear wider like it does on trucks. Our local electrician has a dual rear wheel Dodge sprinter and a local landscaping company has a dump truck version. Pretty sweet little trucks!

 

[KICK]

I don't understand how anybody can call the old american/english system of measurement stupid.

Outdated and obsolete would be a better choice of words.

it predates the metric system, and for that it is noteworthy.

do you want a bushel, a peck or half a peck of tomatoes?

a gallon, a quart or a pint.

anybody can figure out metric, its all based on length and mass and uses a base of 10,

seen one knucklehead I know measuring hydraulic oil on a scale, asked him what he was doing, said it took 15 ounces of oil, had to ask him if he ever thought they might have meant fluid ounces?

its gotta be confusing if you werent brought up with it.

 

[Bird]

I've seen a dual rear wheel Sprinter, I think it was in Freightliner configuration.

The local Dodge dealer has dual wheel model Dodge Sprinters sitting on the lot. The only ones I noticed were cab/chassis models instead of vans.

 

[patrick_g]

Ahh, a great segway into electrical conduit... I inch heavy wall electrical conduit (rigid-threaded) is a nice slip fit for going inside of a light duty 1 inch PVC pipe (forget the schedule... probably sprinkler pipe or whatever) Handy because it is hard to paint the galvanized conduit to make it look like shiny brass and have it stay but you can easily paint the plastic and use it for a cover on the conduit which is right-sized to make extra long down rods for ceiling fans for high ceilings. I made a couple 10 foot down rods that way for my cathedral ceiling (12:12 pitch peaking at about 28 feet.)

The point being that very often things are not sized as actually labeled and you either have to have had the experience, stumble onto a fit, or get lucky finding someone to suggest something to you (often wrong.) We all know that dimensional lumber is not the size it is named (not in this century anyway.) Lets see a show of hands of folks who remember where and when they found out that a 2x4 wasn't 2x4? Ahh, I thought so, several hands went up! About the only wood sized as named is strangely measured in 1/4 inch increments. You can go to your hardwood supplier and buy 5/4 or 6/4 lumber or whatever.

You can buy a dial caliper or digital readout caliper that measures in fractions of an inch but the selection is limited. Even if you do get one your measurements might come out in 128ths or 64ths and then you end up adding something like 121 17/64 to 21 17/32 and subtract out the thickness of the plywood which is sold as 1/2 inch but is actually metric and slightly undersized and if you are lucky and not particularly innumerate you may get it right within the first 3 tries. So another fun activity for we sufferers at the hands of the old English system is doing math with fractions and often making mistakes or double and triple checking to be sure we didn't get lost in the insanity.

I guess the concept of a meter being 100 centimeters and that a centimeter is 10 millimeters where most of us know centi is a hundreth and a milli is a thousandth is not hard enough to satisfy those among us who insist that we have difficult and nearly meaningless connections based on antiquated arcane relationships. What would you expect when the spacing between railroad rails is based on the width of a horse.

Does a pound of lead weigh more than a pound of gold? No, but an oz of gold weighs more than an oz of lead since it is customary to weigh lead with 16 ounces per pound but gold with 12 ounces per pound so an oz of gold is heavier than an oz of lead. (avoirdupois or troy)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_weight

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carat_(mass)

But wait, there's more... We have grains. Grains are used as units of measure for weights in pharmaceuticals and in powder charges and bullet weights for firearms. That is except for shotguns where we get into drams of powder (yet another popular system of English weight.)

Now cleverly segwayed into shotgun ammo we consider the gauge of a shotgun. Few sportsmen can easily answer from memory just what the heck gauge is. Sure, just about every shooter knows that the larger the gauge the smaller the barrel and ammo for that shotgun but what is GAUGE?. 410 gauge is actually a contradiction in terms as the size is 0.410 inches so it is actually a 0.410 caliber NOT A GAUGE and the reason for that is simple... IF YOU KNOW what gauge is.

OK, dropping the other shoe... Gauge, in shotguns, was a system of barrel sizing that could be accurately reproduced by various gun makers widely spread from one another using simple means which did not include accurate measuring devices such as dial calipers. Standard weights were commonly available so weighing was an easily used method. You weigh out one pound of dead soft lead (not alloyed much, basically pure lead.) You divide that pound of lead into 12 equal pieces which you can do easily with a balance comparing each to another till you get it divided into 12 equal amounts. These 1/12 of a pound quantities of lead can be fashioned into lead balls. These lead balls are 12 gauge in diameter.

If you make 16 equal sized lead balls that total 1 pound in weight then each of them is 16 gauge and so on except for the .410 which is caliber not gauge. Great system for frontier or village gunsmiths to maintain consistency but not how it is done these days.

There is only one international standard language for air traffic control and all international flights have to conduct their air traffic control communications in that language regardless of the country of departure or arrival. This avoids the severe safety concerns of the "tower of Babel effect."

Similarly, the metric system makes sense to be used in all international commerce but since there is a blurring of domestic and international commerce in these times of increased globalization it makes good sense to adopt the metric system as the US standard system of weights and measures. After all, ENGLISH was selected as the official language of air traffic control so can't we compromise just a tad on metric? Are we afraid that math would be too easy or that engineering and science would be too easy and the position of the priesthood would be challenged?

Pat

 

[cp1969]

Yeah, but....if you want to cut 3/8" steel with your torch, how many kPa oxy and acetylene do you use?

I just bought a made in the USA Smith torch, and I'll be #%_&!ed if the regulators' primary units aren't in kPa. The inner, coarser, harder to read graduations are psi. And of course, what does their tip chart use? PSI, naturally.

I personally could have done without the advantage of metric graduations on this.

 

[patrick_g]

Yeah, but....if you want to cut 3/8" steel with your torch, how many kPa oxy and acetylene do you use?

I just bought a made in the USA Smith torch, and I'll be #%_&!ed if the regulators' primary units aren't in kPa. The inner, coarser, harder to read graduations are psi. And of course, what does their tip chart use? PSI, naturally.

I personally could have done without the advantage of metric graduations on this.

Your problem isn't metric units, it is mixture of units. If only metric units were used, it would not be a problem. All English units works too, mostly. All the rest of the world is metric so it isn't going away. Having everyone else give up a rational system for our inherited English lunacy is not happening. The best choice is for us to go metric.

Pat

 

[Bird]

The best choice is for us to go metric.

Like many others in this country, I grew up with the English system, so many times metric measurements are a nuisance, but going entirely to the metric system seems to be the only "logical" thing to do. I figure it's inevitable, and that's fine with me, but I really doubt it'll happen in my lifetime.

 

[RobertN]

I grew up with regular US/English standards. Working in high tech though, most things are done in metric. In the couple of chem classes I took, everything was in metric.

Once you get away from high tech though, everything is up in the air.

Personally, I think the biggest obstacle to going metric would be cooking, and the dozens upon dozens of cookbooks we have. Although I do a lot of cooking by feel, a pinch here , handful there, I still follow most recipes the first time

I've driven in Canada and the Virgin Islands. Litres of fuel and driving in kilometers were no big deal. Might be hard to break from a Pint glass of beer though

Like many others in this country, I grew up with the English system, so many times metric measurements are a nuisance, but going entirely to the metric system seems to be the only "logical" thing to do. I figure it's inevitable, and that's fine with me, but I really doubt it'll happen in my lifetime.

 

[Renze]

hmm, many questions, i'll try to remember them:

We do have lots of low geared high revving 4 cylinder vans because the weight is a big issue: For anything heavier than 3,5 ton you need a truck license. With all the other paperwork and licenses for truck, you pay about 8000 euro and need to know a lot of technical details about trucks. you allmost need to be a truck mechanic to get your truck drivers license.

A van with a plywood box and a hydraulic load platform will hardly have 500 kg of load capacity left, if its a 3.5 ton vehicle. that's why most of them are 5 ton vehicles (dual rear wheeled Sprinters) which are approved for 5 ton technical, 3,5 ton legal weight.

Many if not all sprinters on the road, are overweight. You can get a fine for it.

What we do at the company i work, is converting these 5 ton Sprinters to 3,5 ton (small drivers license) 5th wheel tractors with air brakes.
suddenly the max. CGVW of the, still small drivers license truck, is 7.5 ton
If the driver has a professional drivers diploma (just theory exam, cost about 1000 Euro) the weight of the 3.5 ton tractor is only limited to the max gvw permitted by the vehicle manufacturer. For a Sprinter this is 8750 kg.

funny thing eh ? Well this is European law.
It's a big thing in Holland, also because there are more jobs than actual truckers.
Many self employed people drive their lawn mowers and mini excavators around with a Sprinter 5th wheel tractor trailer combination on small drivers license. also rental companies have them because anyone can drive them.



I guess the 3,5 ton limit for the small drivers license, plus the huge cost for getting the commercial drivers license, is the major factor for high revving 4 cylinder vans in Europe.
A 440 kg cummins takes just too much off of the 3,5 ton GVW.....
Also, our lightweight vans consume less fuel than your heavy pickup trucks...
Maybe the lifespan of a Euro Van is limited to 300.000 km, but what professional company would want to keep their vans that long ?


How much are you guys allowed to tow on your passenger car license ?
And is getting your commercial truck license, still as easy as "drive around the corner and back, and if you dont hit something you're passed" as it was when my brother got his license when he was with family in Canada for holiday ?




....Oh ja i remember what i was going to say:

Pipe diameters: Wheel rims, and pipes inner diameter are also measured in inches.

 

[Z-Michigan]

I think obtaining a CDL legitimately is much more difficult than the "drive around the block" test you are referring to. No genius required, but some actual study and a meaningful road test.

There have been a few states - Florida and Illinois in particular - with scandals about CDLs being sold to unqualified people (i.e. bribery).

In my state I can legally operate a vehicle with a GVWR up to 26,000lbs, OR a rig (tractor-trailer) with a total GCWR of 26,000lbs, as long as it's not for commercial purposes. My state even allows me to operate certain types of double trailers with a simple endorsement on my private driver's license! As some other threads have explored, including a recent one in the construction forum, state laws control and vary significantly. Many states would require a CDL for operating smaller vehicles and towing smaller loads.