Cummins N-14 Celect Plus or Cat C-15 Acert?

surelly simple and reliable n14

 

A friend of my sons has a factory 525 n14 celect plus with a RTLO16913 and 3.55 on low pro 22.5. To hear him tell it it won't pull to suit him, but it does a dang good job in my opinion he is not comparing apples to apples he thinks it should run in the hills with c16 cats that have ecm tuned and my old B model that I have way too much money in. I asked him earlier bout his fuel mileage he said 5.5 keep in mind the kid drives it like a race car hauling grain in state so he is at 80000 all the time.

 

You won't have any issues with pulling hills with the n-14. Back in 2000 I had a few guys that I ran with a lot one had a 97 460 Cummins and one had a 470 Detroit I had a 475 CAT. We pulled 6 axle trailers grossing 135,000 and up. The detroit was left for dead as soon as it saw a hill. The Cummins was close to my truck and consistently got 3/4 mpg better than me. To me thats a good tradeoff. IMO any engine at 1 million miles is on borrowed time. I've heard of the fretting issues but at 700,000 i think thats down the road a ways. The K-W would definitely be the better truck other than the mileage. I'd try for a little better price on the IH.

 

Some of the higher hp n-14 with higher mileage that pull heavy seem to have an issue with the main bearing saddles in the crankcase going out of shape. It seems to be discovered when you do a bearing roll and promptly spin a main bearing. The cure is to align bore the block. Unfortunately that means the crank has to come out which means out of frame=$$$. That doesn't mean all have this issue but it's not unheard of.

 

these both owner op trucks? if so ask if they have prev oil samples they've taken, ask em where they get their work done and call their mechanic and ask him what he thinks mechaniclally of the truck. those kinda miles they would have had to have some stuff done id think.

if you need a truck right away then roll with it, but their are trucks out there with a little more miles that already have the overhaul done. I wouldn't b afraid at all to buy a 1.2 mil mile truck that had an overhaul done already with paperwork to back it up. just know if you get one these and no major work has been done...its around the corner. me personally i would NEVER buy a truck with these miles that hasnt been touched unless ive got plenty of cash laying around or i get a steal of a deal on it. the guys are prob selling them now cuz they know they gonna have to overhaul soon