Best engine for Class 8

chris88

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Nobody really posts down here so I figured I'd give it a shot. What do you think the best engine for HD applications is? It can be a new Cat or an old Detroit, makes no differnce as long as it was in a truck. The only engines I have really encountered so far have been a 550 Cat C-15 and Mack E-7's in trucks but plenty of 3306's in machines.
Chris
 

EMD Diesel Power

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No no no no.

Detroits leak oil. CATs just steal money when its repair time. (gold plated parts). :D

From my experience and what I;ve heard... CAT and Cummins are the best as far as torque and just plain pulling the heck out of stuff. Detroits are great for running like a ***** ape (80 plus mph)--- once you get em up there. LOL
 

NJKen

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I gotta agree with EMD. Cats usually are not big oil leakers. When something does start leaking it just looks bad because the engine is so bright from all the gold plated parts.
I personally like any big cat. They seem to be a little heavier (AKA built a little thicker) and give a nice smooth torque curve. A lot of the cummins engines have a long lag and then come on like a raging bull after they build a lot of boost. The cats seem to pull just as good but smoother.
Ken
 

budtoh3zo

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are cat leaks wonder why? only 71,000 km on it and its had 5 major leaks. o well they do got alot of power and a smooth torque curve for sure
 

Bigfootpsd96

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im a fan of the drip-troits myself. the truck i drove for a year plus my dads truck both had 60 series in them. both trucks leaked kinda good from the pan and vavle cover. other wise not a problem 1 with em. my truck was a cabover with an 8 speed and 3.37s soo it didnt get non where in too much of a hurry, dad has a 10 and i forget what rear ratio in his frieghtshaker but it pulls like none other and screams :rock:

i dont have much experience with other motors. im 21 and only had my cdl for 2 years and every truck dad has brought hopme has been a frieghtliner with a series 60 in it sooo im slightly biased. only other thing i know is what was mentioned above.....cats will run forever but better be ready to open up fort knox when they do break :eek:
 

maniac

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Well I've only run Cats, and had pretty good luck with them.

Oil leaks were never a problem with them, only big thing I can think of was the exhaust manifold studs like to break, I'm getting good at replacing them though.

My buddy just turned 1.2 million on his Cat powered KW, NEVER been apart, 2 water pumps and thats it.

Mines got 700,000 on it and only had to have the camshaft replaced (under the warranty) and 1 water pump.

This is my 5th truck since 1977 with a Cat and I've NEVER had the head off any of them.

Check out my front plate :thumbsup:
 

NJKen

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I have only had to take a cat a[art once and that was an injection pump on a 3206. I have not had that luck on any other engines. We run them all. Cat is the way to go in my opinion. The Perkins built labeled cats are another story but they are not in class 8 trucks.
Ken
 

highest_vision

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All the caterpillars I have seen leaked pretty bad once opened up or run for awhile, but no problems.
At the shop we just did an inframe on a 60 detroit. First time it was opened up, almost 900k. Not too bad ;Sweet Cracked head brought it in though.
James
 

rickgmi

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My thinking after 20+ years of driving, If your on the road with running 80.000 gross go ******'s Black box n-14, if your in michigan running 154-160,000 go cat, cats will last, inframe at those weights around 500,000 and the ******'s wont last, nearly that long, thinking of both with 10,000 oil changes
 

PackRat

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We had some red top N-14's, when I started @ K-W. Always seemed to be one through the shop, for leaking pan gasket. Very few problems with the 3406E's, and C-15 bridge motors. The ACERTS seem to run o.k., but make crappy mileage, and don't seems to work well with Eaton autoshift systems.
I know a couple guys with Drip-troits. One dearly hates his. No power and less mileage than he was led to believe. The computer was even set up for the wrong tires, when he got the truck. Cost him a shop stop, to get that fixed, and it still pulls like a sick dog.
The other is one of our O/O's. He doesn't brag about it, and has started running between 60-65 all the time, for mileage, especially when he goes out west.

Just $.02, from the company grease monkey.
 

chippy

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Purrrr...

Once you've had Cat, you never go back.

Nothing walks down the Big Road like a kitty Cat.

A Signature Six can keep up with a Big Cat, but its gonna burn more fuel, and you dont wanna get an aluminum head hot.
(They both need a 4 pass radiator if you're gonna operate a lot in hot mountians.)

Detroit isn't in the same class. It's an accountant's engine.
Accountants buy them because of the inflated specs, like fuel economy.
Drive them @ 11-1200 and they **** through fuel, like anything else.
Even though they develop more torque per hp than the other two, they'll be last up the hill, all other things being equal.


Just my observations
 

Hoss6.9

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The Big Question!

CATERPILLAR! All The Way!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's my opinion!!!!!!!!!

Changed big trucks a couple of months back! And now have a bigger ittty bitty kitty that before. This one is about 590hp with an 18 spd.....

Nothin' like it!!!!!!!

Hoss.... ;Sweet
 

apextrans

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I've had Cummins, Detroit, & Cat. The cummins was OK but nothing to brag about. I've ******* about the freakin ACERT before. @ 550hp it does real well but mpg sucks. I liked my detroit the best. It had enough blow-by out of the drool tube to make people ask if the truck was on fire, but that truck RAN. Got pulled over in SC doing 102 :backoff
 

chris88

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What engine was that detroit? What do you guys think of old mechanical engines. Like Macks E9 or a detroit 12v92 or other big engines in trucks. I think that mack superliner with the E9 is an awesome truck

Chris
 

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