Find out all about Lori Darlin’ here. She is the most wanted hardhat sticker in the oilfield. Everybody loves Lori Darlin’.

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Check out our “forums” section.  We cranked on it a little bit, making it easier to navigate through.  Our goal is to create a place where Caterpillar enthusiasts can ask others question, post Caterpillar equipment related items you need or may have for sale, tell your stories, etc.  Whether you are into oilfield diesel engines, natural gas engines, tractors or trucks, feel free join and tell others!  Caleb and Samantha want to hear from you and it costs absolutely nothing to join.  Also, feel free to email us any time at crankmycat@gmail.com

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That’s a quote from Caddyshack 2 by Peter Blunt (played by Randy Quaid). It’s 2009 and Barack Obama has just been given the controls of the most powerful, most sought after diesel engine ever created. She’s beautiful for her age. She was commissioned in 1776 and has been running for almost 233 years (that’s over 2 Million hours) and has never failed in the long run.

In the beginning, she was a low compression, slow speed engine. She was constructed from the finest recourses of her land. A naturally aspirated, simple engine, she was able to provide for most. She has had some 44 different styles of governor controls in her lifetime, some better than others.

She started out as a 13 cylinder chugger and has grown to a 50 cylinder powerhouse. In the 1920’s, turbochargers were added to her combustion system. Her power output was doubled in just a few years and she became much more efficient. However, in the 1930’s she was faced with awful problems. The rings around her pistons could not stand the intense heat from the high boost pressure produced by the turbos. They began to crack. The gasket material was not capable of withstanding the intense heat from the high combustion pressure. She began to smoke and had an enormous amount of blow-by, which resulted in a severe loss in horse power. She was sick and tired of being abused, but did not know what to do about it.

Then, on December 7, 1941, an outsider kicked her radiator fins in. This made her really angry. She realized that she could not depend on anyone but herself, so she did something about it. She put herself to work. She troubleshot her weaknesses and began to make herself stronger adding innovation and technology to her structure. This overhaul would last almost 20 years.

As with any diesel engine, she has had her fair share of problems. This cycle has been in motion for a long time now. Every economic high is a result of a fresh overhaul and every downturn is due to either normal wear and tear or lack of maintenance (usually both). She just happens to be in another downturn and it’s time for another overhaul. She is going to be down for a while, but don’t worry, she’ll be back.

Day after day, year after year she has been running on her fuel of choice called the American people. As with all fuel, there is always the possibility of contaminants. These contaminants have wreaked havoc on her unit injectors, due to their extremely close tolerances.

It’s going to be a very rough ride. We’ve all screwed off at least a little bit over the last few years and our engine is worn out. We are all going to have to cut back in order to make it through this. Case in point. We would usually be making a cool video about this, but instead are having to type it out. Everyone is going to have to learn to take personal responsibility for their own actions and stop blaming everyone else their problems. It is YOUR responsibility to take care of YOU and YOURS, no one else’s. If you have got yourself into a mess, get YOURSELF out and don’t expect someone else to do it for you. Fairness is keeping what you’ve earned and using it at your own disposal, not spreading misery equally, dragging down the producers (that was borrowed from Rush Limbaugh).

The bottom line is, the economy has taken a severe dump, but don’t get discouraged. It will come back just as it always has, even though it may take a while. Look on the bright side. Humiliation is a wonderful character-building tool. Maybe we all needed this reality check so as not to forget where we came from.

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