Best engine for Class 8

RLDSL

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In a nutshell, if you just want to go fast on flat ground, a detroit will run.. but don't let it get a look at a hill off in the distance or it will get scared and start begging you to drop gears :D
Detroits are also very friendly. They like to take regular and long visits to the shop so they can spend time with the mechanic and visit with all the other detroits.

Cats will out last and out pull anything..if driven properly. for a personal truck I wouldn't own anything but a cat, if I was purchasing for a company, I'd buy cummins. The cummins won't last as long, but it's cheaper and a bit more forgiving of poor driving habits, and when a company driver just plain abuses one, it doesn't cost near as much to fix.

I remember when I bought my Kenworth many moons ago with a 1693TA Cat in it, the service manager at the cat dealer took me aside and spent about 45 minuits to an hour re-educating me on driving to the engine.. Last time I saw that thing it had about 1.2 million miles on it and had not been apart yet.
If you drive a cat the way it wants to be driven, maintnence will consist of oil changes fuel filters and belts. if you drive them like a detroit or cummins, they will protest and fuel mileage will suffer.

------------Robert
 

BigRigTech

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Non EGR I would go for a C-15, 60 series Detroit or an N14....For all out power by today's standard I would go with a 565HP Cummins ISX....Detroits leak - true, Cat's are expensive to fix - very true and N14 Cummins also leak bad and have front cover cracking/leaking issues.....We see a lot of Detroits at work, not a bad engine but not great either.....The Mercedes 4000 is a pile of junk, can't keep head gaskets on them.
 

Cowboy2199

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Give me a Kitty.. MEOW... LOL

I go to school at Pittsburg State University, and we got a master truck tech as an instructor here that used to turn wrenches for Joplin Freightliner. He always seemed to like the N-11's. I cant remember why, but he was a definite Cummins man.

Personally, there ain't nothin like a pretty kitty C-15 or 3406 under the hood. I am goin to work for Granite Construction out in Reno here in about a month, and they aint got nothin but Kitty's under the hoods on all their equipment, cept the Deere equipment they buy from time to time. They have a nice large fleet of Cat equipment.

One other reason I like CAT. You can't beat their customer service. Everyone I know that owns a CAT, raves about their great customer service. Guess I will get to experience it first hand here shortly when I take my position as Asst. Equipment Manager for Nevada Operations, with Granite.

ISX is a good one too, but I saw a Volvo the other day that had an ISX in it. Whole rear of the engine had exploded, missing the #6 piston, and crank journal, not to mention all of the block where #6 was supposed to be. The trans behind it got dropped on the pavement and dragged under the truck.. LOL It's not a pretty site. The Volvo go donated to PSU by Cummins, and they let us have everything with it.

Just my $.02..
 

Camstyn

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From my limited experience, I'm happiest driving a truck with a yellow block under the hood. To be fair I haven't driven an ISX, but the N14's I drove pulled hard when you drove them like you stole them, but didn't have the nice torque curve of the Cats.. Plus they were noisy as hell and always blew the dipstick out of the tube.. Drove a Freightliner with a S60 515 Detroit last year for a few months, it was an 05 with the EGR and I was solidly unimpressed. It leaked, had no power, was noisy as hell and got bad fuel mileage. There was no upside to the engine that I saw. I bought a ne truck with the 625hp Cat and I love it! Its not great on fuel but it does better than the Detroit did with a heavy load (140,000lbs), its smooth, and it pulls great from 1100rpm up. I've always liked the way a Cat runs. I'd have to drive a new ISX to really compare but I'd have a hard time believing I'd like it more than the Cat.
 

killer

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Cats will out last and out pull anything..if driven properly. for a personal truck I wouldn't own anything but a cat, if I was purchasing for a company, I'd buy cummins. The cummins won't last as long, but it's cheaper and a bit more forgiving of poor driving habits, and when a company driver just plain abuses one, it doesn't cost near as much to fix.

Another reason I'd consider a Cummins over a Cat is that there are more applications for an N-14 (that I can think of, anyway) than there are for a Cat. Case IH, New Holland and I think Agco tractors use N-14s, if I'm not mistaken, which gives you a few more options for labor.

Those makes of tractors also use or have used 5.9 Cummins' in them as well, so if you don't want your Dodge dealer to do ny engine work you can try some tractor dealers instead. A guy I worked with took his '95 5.9 to the Case IH dealer in town and they charged him half as much to replace the head gasket as the Dodge dealer in town wanted.

I don't believe Cat has any non-Cat applications like Cummins has, but I might be wrong.
 

Cowboy2199

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Ummm, correct me if I am wrong here.

I don't believe Cat has any non-Cat applications like Cummins has, but I might be wrong.

So what about the application of CAT engines in OTR trucks? About half the OTR trucks have CAT engines in them. I believe that would be considered a non-CAT application, as OTR trucks are universal to which engine you use. You can pull a Cummins out and throw a Detroit or CAT in, and it wouldn't change anything about the makeup of the truck, other than the engine.
 

killer

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As far as I know, Cat doesn't have a non-Cat application that a Cummins engine is not available in. Yeah, a Peterbilt is a non-Cat application, but you can get a Cummins in one too. You won't find a C-15 in a New Holland tractor, and the New Holland dealer won't service it for you. They might take a look if you have an N-14.

I guess the question I have is, is there a place you can go to that will service a Cat engine that isn't either a Cat dealer, or a truck dealership (like a Pete or Freightliner dealer)?
 

BamaSixGun

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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

we had 3 1989 379 pete's, all with 425 mech. CAT's. all of them ran awesome and pulled down the road like a fine oiled machine.

one in particular was like a hot rod, that truck would fly like the wind.

CAT's all the way for my dad & I
 

BamaSixGun

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As far as I know, Cat doesn't have a non-Cat application that a Cummins engine is not available in. Yeah, a Peterbilt is a non-Cat application, but you can get a Cummins in one too. You won't find a C-15 in a New Holland tractor, and the New Holland dealer won't service it for you. They might take a look if you have an N-14.

I guess the question I have is, is there a place you can go to that will service a Cat engine that isn't either a Cat dealer, or a truck dealership (like a Pete or Freightliner dealer)?

i personally think that comparing trucks to tractors and the engines they may have in them, there is no comparison.

you are talking about two totally diff. applications. JMHO
 

killer

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i personally think that comparing trucks to tractors and the engines they may have in them, there is no comparison.

you are talking about two totally diff. applications. JMHO

Different applications, but the same engine.

It will be up to the service department of wherever you take yor truck to decide if they can work on it or not. There might be cases where they can't. Probably they wouldn't be able to scan for codes or diagnose an electrical problem. But a lot of the mechanical parts are going to be the same. As an example, see my buddy's 12 valve 5.9 I posted earlier. He took it to a Case IH dealer to replace the head gasket, and spent half as much to do it.

Will it work every time? No, probably not.

Would it offset whatever advantages a C-15 might have over an N-14? That's going to depend on you as the owner.

Should it be considered as a possibility? I would.
 

killer

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A pretty fundamental part of my post is that you can find the same engine in a farm tractor as you can in a highway tractor, and I thought I had this in the N-14. I decided to look to be sure, and now I can't find anything to confirm that.

Edit: Apparently John Deere had a sileage cutter a few years ago with an N14.
 
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Captain Morgan

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C-16 Cat was the new way to go, discontinued the 625hp after only two years.
E-9 Macks are capable of 1100hp at the rear wheels with some fine tuning. the 3508 CAT can make an easy 800hp with the right arrangement. I prefer CATERPILLAR but then again im partial. The last E-9s we had were set at 850 hp an ran for 9 years, nothing could pass you even at 145K lbs!
 
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