Driving a truck with a DT466E

[BrandonMag]

I drove a 2001 International 4900 line truck equipped with a DT466E today. It was backed by an International 6 + tranny (I'm not sure if that's the actual name of the tranny, but that's what it said on the shifter knob). It had some problems with the self-leveling cables and I had to drive it from Arlington to Gresham, where Altec's yard is. All told, I drove it about 130 miles. Here's my thoughts:

It spun great from 2K to 2.5K in first, second and thrid gears. Fourth and above took a while to get up to speed, but we are talking about a truck that has a 54,000 GVWR.
I wasn't a huge fan of the way the transmission gears were spaced so close together. It was technically a 7-speed tranny, the pattern looked like this:

R 1 3 5
L 2 4 6

When stopping for a light, I accidentally almost shifted into reverse a couple of times. I don't know if that was particular to this truck or the way all of these transmissions are, but it would take some getting used to. Also, no need to double-clutch. I found that out right at the tail-end of my drive. That surprised me.

I cruised at about 55-57 mph most of the way. What disappointed me was how this truck would lose some serious speed on slight grades. I'd hit a small rise going 55 and by the top I'd be doing 45. I'm talking about a 2% grade that lasted less than half a mile. Lame. I don't know if that was this particular truck or the nature of lugging so much weight around. I'm not 100% on this, but I'm assuming it was the 215 HP version. At least, I hope it was.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take a picture of the truck, but it looked pretty similar to this (except in place of the digger-derrick it had a bucket):

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When I did my pre-trip inspection, I opened the hood and WOW!!! That is a huge engine! I'm no diesel expert, but it looked like a Cat C15 sizewise. The rear cylinder and a good portion of the second-to-rear cylinder were underneath the cowl, where an indention in the firewall had been made to fit that giant sucker.

How would you shoehorn something that big into a F250/350 chassis? It looked like a semi engine. I assume it would involve stretching the frame a good amount and getting creative with the engine mounts.

 

[Diesel JD]

The DT466 is a great powerplant but 54,000 gross is probably at the edge of it's capabilities especially with only 7 gears to play with. No one knows yet about shoehorning a 466 into a 3/4 or 1 ton Ford. Hesutton is going to find out when time and money permit him to do so. I used to think I wanted to do this swap but nowadays I'm happy with my 6.9 and either a really wicked rebuild of that or a DT360 swap when/if I wear it out or blow it up. The 466 is a big boy and it seems like too much work. Thanks for the review.

 

[NJKen]

It probly has the fully synchronized spicer 7 speed in it. That trans is OK at best. It should have a double spring in the shifter. Its a little resistance to get first and more resistance to get reverse (if that makes any sense). BTW, you can get a lot more power out of that engine than it is tuned for in that truck
Ken

 

[BigRigTech]

466 - too fast for the field and to slow for the road........Run forever, just not over burdened with power.

 

[Diesel_brad]

I drive a DT 466 all day. I work for a sub contractor for power company and weather it is a digger, bucket, tandem or single axle they are no speed deamons. A single axle weighs in at close to 30k and a tandem close to 45k. They get the go==job done but they are underpowered in these big trucks. hell we have a digger F800 with a 5.9 cummins in it. 65 is max speed on the leve and on any hill it drops to about 50. that is about where the 466 are too
Here is the F800 with the 5.9

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[BrandonMag]

It probly has the fully synchronized spicer 7 speed in it. That trans is OK at best. It should have a double spring in the shifter. Its a little resistance to get first and more resistance to get reverse (if that makes any sense).

I probably should have been a little more clear: when I wanted to shift into first while stopping I didn't actually shift into reverse, but the grinding sound quickly let me know that wasn't where the shift stick wanted to be.

 

[FordGuy100]

I drove a water truckfpr the farm. It had the tank full though I don't know how much it weighed. It had a DT530 in it.... And I thought that thing was slow. Granted a couple thousand gallons of water weighs a crap ton. It was an automatic though

 

[GRU]

the dump truck dad drives at the farm has the dt466 allison auto combo in it. there was times he almost couldnt get pulled up onto the road. the tranny wouldnt put any power down to get it moving. the guy that hauls the milk for them also runs a dt466 and loves them. they also have pulling tractors with those motors too. they turned up the dump some but not much. their milk trucks on the other hand run like ***** apes!! so the potential is there...

 

[Diesel_brad]

the dump truck dad drives at the farm has the dt466 allison auto combo in it. there was times he almost couldnt get pulled up onto the road. the tranny wouldnt put any power down to get it moving. the guy that hauls the milk for them also runs a dt466 and loves them. they also have pulling tractors with those motors too. they turned up the dump some but not much. their milk trucks on the other hand run like ***** apes!! so the potential is there...

you sure the milk trucks are 466 and not a 530?

 

[BrandonMag]

I had to drive this truck yesterday and managed to get some under the hood pics:

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As you can see, there ain't much room in there. Trying to fit one of these engines into the engine bay of a F250/350 would requires some work.

 

[SparkandFire]

You'd be surprised how much cleaner the DT466 is versus the DT466E.

That "E" adds a whole lotta stuff under the hood...

 

[hesutton]

These are long motors.

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I'll have to get creative to do it. It has been done before. I've seen pulling trucks with DT466's ('00, late 70's, and an OBS bodystyle). They are a tight fit for sure. Eleminating the long v-belt pullies and the mechanical fan/fan clutch on the front will help save about 6 inches. The firewall will need a bit of modification. I've seen a '83-'86 F250 with a John Deere 466 (very similar size to the DT466) as well. Gotta get creative with the firewall and front of the engine accessories, but it can be done.

Like stated by JD, the DT360 is a much better fit for these trucks (not really larger than a 5.9 cummins). But I've wanted to do the DT466 swap for a long time. I just need more cash, time, and parts to get started on the repower.

It'll pull pretty good in the F250 once I'm done bombing it a bit (to the tune of about 700-800HP).

Heath

 

[johnboggs21]

I drove a water truckfpr the farm. It had the tank full though I don't know how much it weighed. It had a DT530 in it.... And I thought that thing was slow. Granted a couple thousand gallons of water weighs a crap ton. It was an automatic though

1 gallon is 8 lbs, so if ya got 2000 gallons ya got 16000lbs or 8 tons.

 

[ghunt]

hell we have a digger F800 with a 5.9 cummins in it. 65 is max speed on the leve and on any hill it drops to about 50. that is about where the 466 are too
Here is the F800 with the 5.9

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What tranny does that F800 have in it?

At my work we have a '97 F800 flatbed with a 12V Cummins and a 4 speed Allison. The Cummins is the 160 hp version, and that particular engine needs a lot more gears than 4. 1st, 2nd and 3rd aren't TOO bad but when it drops into 4th it drops wayyyy down. It's slow even when it's empty, but it can haul almost 12,000 lbs and with that much on there it's REALLY slow.

 

[plywood]

Years ago I drove a Beer truck with a DT466. When it was fully loaded and heading over the Coast Range it would slow down to between 20 and 25 MPH, but I never let up and it always kept going, well, that is til one of the Supervisors drove it and killed the turbo, at least it didn't happen when I was driving it.