October of '07, I sold a '96 W900, 475 3406E w 13 speed;
1.3 million miles, and that truck very, very , very, VERY rarely saw rpm above 1500. It pulled strongly from 1150 til ..... I don't even remember the top rpm. I was hauling grain with a 100,000 # agriculture permit, and to a dumb cajun, that meant 100,000 "in the box". With those loads, most times I shifted UP at around 1250 or 1300 in the lower gears, and NO PROBLEM building speed!
By the way, did I mention that it rarely ran above 1500 RPM?

My next truck was a '01 W900 flattop C15 500 10 speed, which I drove the same way, only leased to a carrier, so I was legal weight ways.
In March I traded the '01 on a '04 W900 with the dreaded bridge engine. Power band on it is quite narrow, 1200 to about 1550 max. above or below those numbers, it's gutless, and I do mean GUTLESS!

Most fellows in my area that have Cats have the same type of performance as the first two trucks I mentioned, maybe they are configured different in your neck of the woods?

Droy that sounds exactly like my 96 3406E and 00 C-15.

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while i dont know much about deisel's, i have been driving (on 3rd trk now) international 9400's for 1.5 yrs now. i seem to get best pulling/acceleration on hills between 1300-1700
couldn't the difference in tranny gear ratios affect how some percieve the "pulling power"/torque? or are they all geared the same in the tranny?

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tip for new truckers: to err is human, to forgive is not D.O.T. policy.
"if you don't HAVE the money to buy it, YOU CAN'T AFFORD IT"- DAVE RAMSEY

I got the shop guy to change the fuel filter, it didn't fix it, had it taken to a dealer, they changed the fuel filter, guess what, didn't fix it. It starts and runs fine until the fuel in the tanks gets hot, no explanation other than a leak on the vacuum side of the fuel line,after the prime pump but before the charge pump, foam in the fuel would cause the problems as described. The prime pump had a leak but that leak was even when it was cold, the last thing was they changed that($1200 part), swapped the #6 injector, which was misfiring, with the #5 which wasn't, and the 1 in #6 was missing, even though it had worked in #5. Supposedly they changed the o-rings. #6 had been replaced five months before.

Truck has 870k, runs really strong for a low end ISX until the fuel warms, then it couldn't get out of its' own way. Shudders and shakes the whole drive line, it is undriveable. They could use it for a yard mule, but it is unhandy because the dump valve is automatic, can't be done manually and can't be stopped from dumping either

The Cummins guys I know do not like the ISX, it's not a N-14.

Dump valves can be converted to manual.

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Whats the CAT you drove? 3406B? sounds right.

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LOAD EM LIKE RAIL CARS, DRIVE EM LIKE RACE CARS!!!!