Dissimilar Metals

[ronbeatty]

The use of different metals on the Vortex units has been expensive and time consuming. They were built with copper heat exchangers, brass jic fittings, s/s sleeves in the female jic fittings. The pickup for the Speedhut pressure gauges is steel. The sensor for the Speedhut temp. gauge is brass inserted in the s/s heat exchange, once it corrodes it stops working (2 months). I would like to see as much s/s as possible on any new premium truckmounts.

 

[Bill Bruders]

Ron we couldn't agree with you more!!
Honestly this is one reason why all the talk about non proprietary parts sounds good but actually works against people over time. In many cases it results in fittings that are designed for residental plumbing (and may barely pass a spec) being used in industrial applications causing problems. The exhaust diverter valve is especially an issue today with increased exhaust temps of 1400 degrees resulting in dissimilar metals expanding and cooling at different rates creating issues. The question was asked of the truckmount forum as to why more stainless wasn't used. Mike Roden noted that choosing the proper metal is critical and commonly overlooked.

 

[Jim Martin]

I forget who I was talking with the other day and was telling him that the tolerance on the new diverters were to tight and that the metal was expanding and causing them to stick.............

Some company out of no where called me..and we were going over different issues.......

I don't even know if they even come to the boards......

 

[ronbeatty]

Bill, My reason for posting is not to be critical, it is just to show what happens down the road a year or two. When I spoke with Mike he was aware of this issue and I agree that it was disgust on the forum. This one issue has been a real pain, and it would be nice not to have to deal with it in the future. By the way, I liked what you had to say on your post about making the trucks require less maintenance. It would be nice to work with them, not on them.

 

[Bill Bruders]

Ron
I didn't feel you were criticizing just making a very valid point. Vortex owners spend more time and money fixing their trucks than we think is practical or should be necessary. I can't fix what's been done but Im confident we can provide better solutions moving forward