Cat, Detroit, or Cummins

Opening that can o' worms, eh?

I've always preferred Cummins. Never cared for Detroit, but maybe that's because I owned an 11.1.....

 

As far as fuel mileage goes, I am completely sold on the 12.7L Detroit. I put a million miles on a 97 KW with one. I could get 12 mpg bobtail, 10 mpg with an empty flat, and averaged over 7 mpg running all kinds of terrain loaded.

In my book, you are making a mistake buying a government mandated pollution choked truck. I would look for something older
(or one of theses - http://www.fitzgeraldgliderkits.com/default.htm ) and save yourself a lot of headaches.

 

Just my opinion, buy an 07 or older or buy a DEF 10 or newer. The DPF trucks are nothing but a pain in the rear. You WILL have problems with the regen system and it's not cheap to fix. I don't have a newer truck but I have an 08 with a CAT I wish I never layed eyes on. The 07 Det 60 series I have has been ok but I put a new EGR on it last year and got the bonus of the EGR going bad and screwing up the turbo so got a new one of those too. Fortunately, it was covered under warranty (just barely under miles) so it only cost me about $700 out of pocket but the total repair was close to $5000.00.

Was at a dealer the other day looking at a new truck and he told me the NEW emission system is "designed" to last the life of the truck BUT if it goes bad it's about $12k to replace. Scared the heck out of me!!!

 

Detroit for fuel ,cat for power and Cummings are junk.

 

You know so much about CUMMINS but cant even spell it right, sure guy.

 

I have driven all three, I like the cummins on mostly flat ground and long hauls, the RPMs drop slow and the engine runs smooth. Driving in the mountains and with heavy loads the cat has a lot of power, also does well going down long grads with the right transmission. The Detroit is a good over all engine, city or long haul. I don't know about the newer ones, but back in the day they burned a lot of oil and you had to shift quick in the low end with heavy loads.

 

iv only drove a Detroit a few times did not like it just because you have to rev them so high.

i like the cummins they do have some issues with the egr but when taken care of will run over a million miles without ever having any major problems. they pull good and get decent fuel millage

cat's are the best pullers imo also seem to get the worst fuel millage and seem to have to be overhauled early. the power is down a little lower in the rpm than the cummins

anything 500 and up hp with a 13-18 is gonna pull real good the isx would probably get my vote for a O/O truck, now as far as driving someone else s truck i like yellow over red

 

Sounds like you're talking about the old 71 and 92 Series, which were 2 strokes.

The 60 Series are quite a bit different, and are similar in driveablity to the others.

I had old Big Cams and a 444XT. Good motors back in the day. I can't chime in on the ISX's because I'm not familiar with them

A properly tuned CAT will get some decent mileage. 2006 and 2007 are Acerts, I believe and they have a lot of potential.

I'm shopping around for a pre-2004 C15 or C16 myself. Prefer the single turbo Kittys over everything.