How big of deal is the Tier III emissions in your area? Some areas I travel it is a HUGE deal and other parts it is not even mentioned. Some manufacturers out there are really waving the T-III flag (ie Caterpillar) and others are briging it in "under the radar" (ie Volvo). I was just wondering if this is a big deal to your operation or if the OEM's are making a bigger deal out of it that it really is.
I don't even know what half that stuff means....... TierIII ......I musta missed Tiers I and II. :beatsme My point , emissions regulations really don't come into play to much in my area.
Big issue here in Ca. The ARB (Air resource board) is tightening the screws on unregulated engines. Just put a tier3 C15 in my 623E under their program. It was a $123900.00 upgrade and the ARB paid all but $10000.00. thats how serious they are about it. DP
farm_boy... I don't believe that Tier III is state of region specific and I think the manufacturers have little choice. Engines in new machines have to meet Tier III emission standards by deadlines according to the EPA calendar based on engine HP and may have to pay fines if they don't comply. There is some credit system whereby manufacturers may duck the regulations on some products if the majority of other engines comply. In Canada our government agreed to adopt USA EPA regs and machines sold in Canada have to meet current EPA standards. I also think Tier III technology is varied but on mid-size construction equipment Cat is using ACERT, Komatsu is using special cooling and EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) and Volvo is using V-ACT (Volvo advanced combustion technology) which looks like EGR through funky exhaust valve timing.
It's nationwide, and older construction equipment is starting to become covered. I watched Quinn (local Cat house) in Bakersfield install new 3506 engines in old 651B scrapers a couple of years ago for some contractor down south (LA area). This was a factory engineered deal and was pretty slick, but as with all field installations, not everything fit perfectly. I must say though, these new engines looked real nice and ran excellantly, virtually no smoke, very quick, fairly quiet too. These ole scrapers were fairly late model B's in sound mechanical condition, but they all had a zillion hours on them total. The state picked up most of the cost, not sure if the feds were involved. Believe Quinn did at least ten and were expecting to do many more. I'd like to run one of these beasts to see how it compares to the D346 version.
linkbelt/isuzu warning i just got a heads up from one of my linkbelt dealers' field mechs,he just got back from a factory school.seems isuzu's tier 3 injection pressures are 4000+psi.their warning mechs not to crack injection lines to bleed fuel systems,it ruins the lines,and could pierce skin,or eyes.they have "procedures" for restarting machines that have run out of fuel,but,no warning labels on valve covers.
Huge deal here in So Cal. I see many small owner operator/ small fleet company's just selling everything off. One of the larger dirt movers here in the Indio area recently sold their entire spread. 37's 9's 623's mechanics & lube trucks, blades, the whole ball of wax. I know the owner and asked him why? He said it wasn't worth the trouble, sleepless nights, and money to re power.:Banghead Lower performance with higher fuel prices... I cant blame him. Now they rent everything. Below is a mid 50's vintage drill rig that belongs to a partner of mine. Last year we were FORCED to re power with a tier 3. $40.000.00 later and Ol Betsy still lives. IMHO, just another scam sponsored by big brother. :cool2
What do you drill for Pete? Looks like a water rig to me.
The rig belongs to Palm Springs Pump. They have been drilling for water here in the low desert since the 40's. The rig came off the oil fields. I remember seeing 1950 something somewhere on the rig. They drill using mud....and its amazing. Almost comical. That old rig just drills well after well after well... 24 and larger.... as deep as 1500 ft. She grunts and groans and just keeps drilling... So far, the only downside of re powering with a Cat is that now you have to do oil changes. With the Detroit, you just added more oil. Notice the lack of a hard hat on my part :ban
As many have stated above, California is gobbling up the Tier I, II, and III emissions standards. I didn't see this mentioned above, but California recently(November 2006) passed a bill allowing reconditioning and restructuring of the state's infrastructure. Over $50 Billion and yes thats Billion with a B has been released to state, county, and city governments to improve and build new roadways, levees, schools, etc. However, one of the largest stipulations in this bill is that all the equipment on these jobs, must be Tier II and eventually Tier III compliant. If a contractor bids a job and doesn't comply with the regulation, their bid can be forfitted and money lost. It's also coming down the pipeline that state will be mandating the registration of all off-road equipment. This way they can keep tabs on the equipment and its emission history, all the while collecting registration taxes from every contractor in the state. One of the biggest issues in California and other border states, remains that the state has tried so hard to regulate the emissions of equipment and over the road trucks, yet they have failed to regulate the hundreds of thousands of transient cars and trucks that frequent the roads of California on a daily basis. Makes no sense. :soapbox Here is a picture of a recently repowered (TIER III) CAT 623E Scraper. Re-Power was done at HOLT CAT in Sacramento. Was done using a portion of the state's incentive. Notice the much larger air cleaner and turbo. The fuel filter looks very different as well. I will take some better pictures. Only had my cell phone at the time.
RentinEquip, welcome! I just left Bakersfield a year ago. Air got too bad for the family you know. Lots of folks don't know about the many hundreds of millions of dollars Bill Thomas obtained for transportation in Kern County just before he retired. Now, if only the Bakersfield authorities will use some common sense in using it. Ha Ha, just kidding! Common sense left those folks long before I hit town! See Bakersfield hit #2 on most polluted air list again, nice that LA regained the #1 spot. But the Central Valley is in a tough position for cleaning things up. Don't know how that will be accomplished with so many people still moving there and all the industrial growth at the foot of the Grapevine. The federal money will disappear if real index numbers don't decline. Cleaning up construction equipment engines will help, but I'm sure that will be more than offset by increased transport on the 5 and 99. I see recently that 48% of the pollution there is caused by agriculture, whereas here 45% is caused by construction. Some folks in either place are going to have to cut back a lot, or spend a bunch more money to comply. Maybe the government will eventually mandate that farmers will have to certify their equipment to Tier III before they can sell their products. That'll throw a polecat in the stew! But how does a farmer keep the dust down, and the Valley already having water shortage problems? It's a sure bet that the state will require registration. As I understand it, if you do an engine update now, you have to report a bunch of numbers for five years to the state, on a quarterly basis I believe. I looked into that program several years ago, but the boss said "Hell No" when he saw the reporting requirements. I would have had to add another clerk to my staff just to handle the paperwork. Not withstanding that I already needed another one as we expanded our operations statewide and out of state as well. I don't know that the state spending gobs of tax money to enable folks to re-power older equipment is a good idea. It's a half measure. I know why they are doing this, which is because they never expected contractors to hold onto their equipment so long for one thing, that and the fact that much of it just flat out keeps on tickin (state people figured ten years as life expectancy). But it appears to me that the state may have been better off to mandate the tier III levels without involving payment for re-powers. That way, contractors would have been forced to update to new equipment, and the increased efficiency and lower operating costs, not to mention lower emissions levels would make a better situation for everyone. But California will go it's own way.
As they always do. Thanks for the welcome. I've been surfing this forum for a while now, but just decided today to join up. What company did you work for in Bakersfield? Where did you move to? Have a good one! :beerchug
KS Industries. Now living outside Phoenix.
Rentin, do you still have 623 super E 6YF0378 from Fiore in Denver Co. ? DP
I think we do. Was it yours? My father owns the company and I am away at college right now, so I'd have to check for sure. I remember getting it though, I assisted the mechanics as they rebuilt the hitch, the engine, floor, etc. The machine has been great for us.
No it wasn't mine I told John Peters about it, they had 2 for sale and I could only swing one so you guys bought the other. Just wondered how it turned out. Just finished a tier 3 install on mine. There are some pics of it under Other Excavating Equipment about half way down the page. DP
Yea, John is my dad. I need to call him and check, but I think he did a Re-Power kit on it, or it is next in line. I'm going to take my camera home next weekend and take some better pictures of our Re-Power kits. Good to hear from you. Which company are you affiliated with? :beerchug
Welcome to HEF RentinEquip! :drinkup
Thanks countryboy! I'll drink to that....