Direct drive future?

[rob allen]

Chevy Express vans only have little over 3 years before being discontinued and moving to the Euro vans like all others. That being the case, what will happen to direct drives? Will the X Drive style be the wave of the future?

 

[brian3180]

Where are Euro vans made?

 

[mrotto]

dont care. Im getting ready to purchase new in a couple weeks and that one will be my last.

 

[Jim Davisson]

Has Butler tipped their hand? They HAVE to already on be a working prototype as we speak.

 

[Dafloorman]

Don’t know? But Chevy and GMC are so far behind!

 

[SRD]

I believe manufacturers need to get serious about ptos. They need to throw some R&D money and time into a true hydraulic pto, other industries have them that function flawlessly for thousands and thousands of hours.
Sad thing is prochems half ass attempt at one years ago prob left a bad taste in many peoples mouths as those u its were absolute junk. If they would team up with a major player like spicer or dana and develop a well thought out good pto it would be industry changing stuff, i mean imagine a truckmount with the power of a vortex that is basically the size of a cds powerpack and rarely if ever breaks down and would install on any tranny with a pto plate.

 

[Anderson]

i did a little research again on cds.....the last week or so....

i absolutely do not understand this industry why they think that everyone is going to trigger for 3 seconds....dry stroke for 5 seconds....and rate their heat on this senario.......

i havent pulled a trigger in 8 years...always have a tie off on the handle and use the bypass if i need to ..........
as i do mainly commercial with a bonzer.....

i talked with a distributer and also butler this week....
if I am correct they refuse to put a HX on the engine exhaust because it is too much heat or because it will void the warranty?????

So they take out the radiator thermostat and change it from 180' thermostat to 195 degree thermostat....instead....

I have this verified from 3 distributers......as I was in a long discusion on another board on this very issue 5 years ago, so i thought i was wrong(dont think so)....1 distributer has direct connections with enginears at saphire.../prochem.......

in other words I was making all this info. up......
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so they can change the thermostat and not void the warranty but cant put a HX on the engine exhaust?????

if i am correct all the large companies do this..hydramster, butler......

 

[SRD]

One issue I could see with the exhaust heat exchanger on a cds is it freezing during the winter, or having to run it into the van to prevent freezing wich would create some other unique issues in itself. If i ever put together a pto like im talking about id go diesel heat ...thing would be a freeking beast with no limitations. Would also do a 5 or 6 gpm at 3500 psi pump that would allow pressure washing with high heat.

 

[Jim Davisson]

I've put a 210° thermostat in the van and a desert 3 row aluminum radiator that increases the heating capacity of the system by shear volume, as does adding more pre heat exchanger heater hose and focusing heat from the water pump directly to the heat exchangers then through the heater core (which is opposite of how PTO machines prioritize heat). You CAN extract more heat from a PTO if you want to, but you can't worry about worthless warranty stuff.

 

[Jim Davisson]

One issue I could see with the exhaust heat exchanger on a cds is it freezing during the winter, or having to run it into the van to prevent freezing wich would create some other unique issues in itself. If i ever put together a pto like im talking about id go diesel heat ...thing would be a freeking beast with no limitations. Would also do a 5 or 6 gpm at 3500 psi pump that would allow pressure washing with high heat.

Running exhaust into the van is a terrible idea, even though the heat would be insane. On the job it wouldn't be a problem, only road miles is when it would be deadly.

 

[Anderson]

One issue I could see with the exhaust heat exchanger on a cds is it freezing during the winter, or having to run it into the van to prevent freezing wich would create some other unique issues in itself. If i ever put together a pto like im talking about id go diesel heat ...thing would be a freeking beast with no limitations. Would also do a 5 or 6 gpm at 3500 psi pump that would allow pressure washing with high heat.

so you are saying in cold weather the hoses would freeze underneath the van???????

but some of us live in texas ...rarely gets below 32.....
but i do understand...
looks like there is someway to get a diverter and work this out as you are wasting mega BTUs on they engine exhaust.....put the HX in the van and then divert to muffler going down the road?????

i woudnt get a pto down here as we had a 114 degree day last summer....cant imagine over heating the radiater to 195 plus it being parked and running it at 30 mph?????

might be OK up north.....

 

[SRD]

Running exhaust into the van is a terrible idea, even though the heat would be insane. On the job it wouldn't be a problem, only road miles is when it would be deadly.

Completely agree it would be a mess.

 

[Jim Davisson]

PTO machines will run cooler on hot days with solution flowing at RPM than idling with the AC on. The key is after the job to blow off the built up heat at max volume through the system, before putting it on the road. Just putting 2 blank QC's on the reels at top rpm for a couple minutes is enough to pull out the heat while you reel up vac lines. In parking garages in the summer we put one blower at the front of the truck on the ground blowing at the rear doors, this prevents trapped heat under the vehicle under load that eats motor mounts or in my case passenger side stabilizer strut bushings.