dual_sport_dork

dual_sport_dork , 12 days ago (edited 11 days ago) to Showerthoughts in Why doesn’t Paddington, who is famously from "Darkest Peru," speak with a Spanish speaker’s accent?

Your yearly reminder that the original Paddington Bear stuffed toy was designed and made by Shirley Clarkson and given to her son: Jeremy Clarkson.

Yes, that Jeremy Clarkson. You know, the "Speed and Power!" guy.

(Although this was not the origin of the character himself. Michael Bond bought a generic toy bear from a toy shop and named it after nearby Paddington station. He wrote some stories using the bear as a character, and then they got published, and then he probably got very rich.)

dual_sport_dork , 13 days ago to Technology in McDonalds removes AI drive-throughs after order errors

Apparently they don't need him because Ronald was fired... Er, "retired," in 2016.

The final vestige of the clown that I know of was his silhouette being used in the "throw this into a trash can and not on the damn ground" message on the bottom of their paper bags, but even that seems to be gone now.

dual_sport_dork , 13 days ago to Technology in McDonalds removes AI drive-throughs after order errors

Provided they're fine with cutting off 100% of their business coming from customers older than 50, that'd probably work great. I don't think they're quite there yet.

dual_sport_dork , 16 days ago to World News in Chinese cars are pouring into Mexico — and the U.S. is worried - Autoblog

Ah, I see. So it's cool when we do it (fossil fuel and ag subsidies, the auto industry bailout in 2008, etc.) but not when they do it.

Got it.

dual_sport_dork , 16 days ago to World News in Chinese cars are pouring into Mexico — and the U.S. is worried - Autoblog

undermining regional carmakers

I think the word they're looking for is in fact "outcompeting."

Yutaro-Katori-with-butterfly-meme: Is this capitalism?

dual_sport_dork , 17 days ago to Ask Lemmy in What's your clickbait headline that describes your life right now?

You Won't Believe This Guy's Crazy Knife Collection!

dual_sport_dork , 19 days ago to Technology in Move over, Ford and Chevy: Kei trucks are pulling up as customers opt for smaller, cheaper vehicles

What, so now you're trying to split hairs over the regulatory differences between the US and Europe to attempt to distract from the fact that you still haven't addressed making the following demonstrably false statements?

• Your notion that automatic transmissions "need" active cooling that they "don't" have when in fact they do, and
• Your claim that torque converters "can't" be locked during acceleration when they provably regularly are, and
• Your claim that your engine "will stall" if the transmission can't "slip" even while the vehicle is already in motion. (Hint: Get your car rolling, don't touch the clutch, and take your foot off the accelerator pedal. Did it stall instantly? Did it stall when you got back on the accelerator, either? Of course it didn't, because inertia is a process that exists.)
• Bonus points for blathering about "trying to slip the lock of the converter," which also makes no sense because that's not how torque converter lockups work nor attempt to work, nor has anyone proposed they work that way.

 

For the benefit of anyone else reading this, the difference in rated tow capacities between US spec and Euro spec vehicles is, as you have almost correctly observed, down to regulations and the trailer designs and not the tow vehicles themselves. There is no difference between the cars or their transmissions mechanically (nor the laws of physics -- anywhere on the planet, I guarantee it). European regulations have two critical differences between the US, to wit:

1. Vehicles towing trailers are typically limited to ~60 MPH or the equivalent, whereas in the US they are not (at least outside of some specific state laws).
2. Tongue weight requirements are significantly lower, because nobody owns a body-on-frame truck which is necessary to support a high tongue weight.

 

This is because it is dangerous to tow a low tongue weight trailer at high speed. America has no such speed or tongue weight restriction, and we also have interstates with 85 MPH speed limits. Thus our target tongue weight is roughly 15% of the total load, largely in order to keep the trailer under control at speed and prevent it from snaking all over the place and rolling itself and the vehicle. All other things being equal this ultimately winds up in the tongue weight being the limiting factor for most unibody vehicles. If your tongue weight is limited at e.g. 200 pounds, which it is for my bog standard Subaru Crosstrek, solving for the estimated tow capacity assuming 15% of it is 200 lbs would be roughly 1333 lbs. What's the US spec rated tow capacity of a Crosstrek? Oh wow, it's 1500 pounds. Imagine that. (For both the manual and automatic/CVT versions, by the way.)

FYI, we also have trailer brakes over here, and many states require them to be used on loads exceeding 3000 pounds. Below that, the trucks most people use have adequate mass and braking capacity to handle towing trailer loads in and of themselves. It turns out, the actual reason Americans tow with trucks is because Americans tow with trucks, and our towing regulations and trailers are designed around the expectation of towing with trucks. It's a just a cultural thing. No need to try to make it complicated nor make up fictitious bullshit about automatic transmissions.

But none of this has anything to do with your original assertions re: automatic vs. manual transmissions. I'm not arguing any other points with you.

As a matter of fact, I'm not arguing any more points with you at all. You have no idea how cars work. Go away.

dual_sport_dork , 19 days ago to Technology in Move over, Ford and Chevy: Kei trucks are pulling up as customers opt for smaller, cheaper vehicles

And is the cooler in cars big enough to have noticeable towing capacity

Yes, it is. Do you realize that manufacturers publish a maximum towing capacity as part of their specifications for every vehicle? This is publicly available information, right there on the internet. It's not a secret. The required surface area for the cooler is designed right in by the manufacturer for the transmission to work for the vehicle's application. This not a case of something "extra" being added. It's just how cars with automatic transmissions are built to begin with.

The published towing capacity for most vehicles that are available in both automatic and stick are exactly the same. Would you care to guess why that is? You could have figured it out for yourself if you would bother to actually do some extremely minimal internet research instead of continuing to shoot your mouth off on whatever this ill-informed little crusade of yours is.

Your initial claim is false. End of discussion. Just stop. You're making a fool of yourself.

dual_sport_dork , 19 days ago to Technology in Move over, Ford and Chevy: Kei trucks are pulling up as customers opt for smaller, cheaper vehicles

And? Come on, you're almost there. Just two more neurons to put together:

That's why the transmission cooler is there.

Wrap up: Your original claim that Americans "can't" tow due to predominantly driving automatic transmission cars, in addition to being an uncreative and tired thinly veiled attempt at insulting Americans, is not only wrong but also prima facie absurd.

dual_sport_dork , 19 days ago to Technology in Move over, Ford and Chevy: Kei trucks are pulling up as customers opt for smaller, cheaper vehicles

Which is why automatics have torque converters and manuals have clutches. It's almost like we've come full circle or something!

Millions and millions of vehicles are driving on the world's roads right now, happily tooling along under the sound mechanical and physical principles known as "reality," completely heedless of your apparent inability to understand it.

dual_sport_dork , 19 days ago to Technology in Move over, Ford and Chevy: Kei trucks are pulling up as customers opt for smaller, cheaper vehicles

Tell us you didn't read what I just wrote without telling us you didn't read it.

The engine will only stall under load if it is at so low of an RPM that it is generating insufficient torque to overcome the inertia. Which if you are moving and in the correct gear for your speed is never.

Which is why your transmission has more than one gear.

Remember back 30 seconds ago when I told you to think? Actually try it this time. Or maybe plug some of your bullshit into Google first before continuing to make a fool of yourself in front of everybody.

dual_sport_dork , 19 days ago to Technology in Move over, Ford and Chevy: Kei trucks are pulling up as customers opt for smaller, cheaper vehicles

Wow. The remaining 7,950,999,999 people on this planet now have something to be thankful for, because none of them are as wrong as you.

You clearly did not actually understand what your mechanic told you.

A transmission cooler is exactly what it sounds like. It is built exactly like a radiator and works the same way. It is mounted in front of or next to the radiator for the engine. On a lot of newer cars it is actually part of the main radiator. Transmission fluid flows through it and excess heat is dumped into the air. On many vehicles it's also served by the radiator fan, i.e. for situations where the vehicle is not getting airflow because it's not moving.

The torque converter is part of your automatic transmission literally operates by moving the transmission fluid. There is no separation between the transmission fluid used in the torque converter and the rest of the transmission where the hydraulic valves use it to actuate the clutch bands, etc. to shift gears. The same bath of transmission fluid is circulated through the torque converter, the rest of the transmission, and the transmission cooler.

This is not a truck thing. Even my dinkum Saturn SL I had when I was a teenager that was so pathetic it was literally made of plastic and did not crack 100 horsepower had a transmission cooler -- as designed from the factory. The vast majority of passenger vehicles made in the last half century or more with automatic transmissions have transmission coolers built in. It has nothing to do with towing, either.

Your torque converter absolutely can be locked under acceleration and in fact, nearly all vehicles equipped with a locking torque converter do so as part of their normal shifting pattern when moving up through their gears. This is observable from the driver's seat if you know what's happening. The locking and unlocking of the torque converter feels like an "extra gear" in between the gears. Some Japanese cars from the 80's have a "TC Locked" light on a dash that illuminates when the converter is locked and you can watch this happen in real time. The usual pattern is 1st gear, shift to 2nd gear, lock converter, unlock converter and shift to 3rd, lock converter, unlock converter and shift to 4th, etc. A traditional automatic transmission only has 4 gear ratios, but it will feel like it has seven. Guess why.

Think about it real hard for a minute. A locked torque converter is the same, mechanically, as a fully engaged clutch. If you could not lock the torque converter during acceleration, by the same logic you would not be able to fully release the clutch pedal during acceleration on a manual transmission car, either. It is glaringly obvious that this is not the case.

I am not a "random lemming." I have four decades of actual real world mechanical experience and have disassembled and rebuilt more transmissions, engines, and vehicles in general than you have probably sat in throughout your entire life.

dual_sport_dork , 20 days ago to Technology in Move over, Ford and Chevy: Kei trucks are pulling up as customers opt for smaller, cheaper vehicles

?

Every automatic transmission car sold since the 1970's and probably earlier has had a transmission cooler, right there alongside or in front of the radiator.

dual_sport_dork OP , 23 days ago to 3DPrinting in Alternative Printer Uses

90 degrees was the spec for this job. 240 is way too high.

dual_sport_dork OP , 23 days ago to 3DPrinting in Alternative Printer Uses

And, I don't own a hairdryer. (Or much in the way of hair, these days.) But I do own a 3D printer...