6NZ or Series 60

Harrison sells both Detroit 12.7 and 6NZ...

 

I was just stating price the CATS come from Thompson's and cummings come from cummins reman not sure of there source. I did buy a 389 with a Clarke Detroit not rebuild by Fitzgerald's it failed at 12k blown head gasket 3 liner kits and one week down rebuild by Clarke in Ft Wayne IN. You have a choice of a Fitzgerald or Clarke Detroit same warrenty not sure which way is better. This is my second truck from Fitzgerald can honestly say the warranty parts are overnighted and the local shop is always paid. The only draw back is if they go out of business you are stuck but that can be said of any of dealers that are putting these glider kits together. Im happy but every one has to make there own choices for there needs in a truck.

 

Wow. What is up with all the Fitzgerald glider trucks blowing up before 100k? Stopped in at my local Clarke dealer and they had one in there with 60k already blown and they said this was the 5th one they've seen. If I order a glider I think I would make sure it had a reman longblock straight from Detroit

 

1,300,000 and still going strong with the 6nz. Nothing but oil changes and a turbo upgrade when I did a custom file. 650 ponies. Doesn't burn or leak a drop of oil.
The added cost at overhaul time is peanuts. CAT is the ONLY choice.

 

To my knowledge Harrison uses factory reman Detroit. Do not know what they do for Cat. D&B uses factory reman or new for their Cat products.

I have personally known 2 guys that have had issues with Fitzgerald when it came to getting full rebuilds covered under warranty. The simple fact that so many have rebuild issues within 0 to 200k shows that these motors are only hit with paint before being stuck in the glider. Having a feel good warranty vs the down time a rebuild will cost you ... just doesnt work out for me. Especially when Harrison is essentially the same product for the same price ... yet infinitely better because they use Detroit factory reman engines.

All that said. I'd pick a CAT if I were the OP

 

My Coronado from Fitzgerald now has over 70,000 miles on it. No engine issues. A Detroit engine that was rebuilt by Detroit. Transmission is also a factory rebuild. Fitzgerald just installed the rebuilt engine and transmission.
I've had a couple of issues not engine related but they were taken care of by the local Freightliner dealer. I don't call Fitzgerald. I just deal with the Freightliner dealer who handles the warranty. Last week the rear seal on the transmission was leaking. Freightliner dealer took care of it. Was warrantied through the transmission manufacturer/rebuilder.
I am pleased with my truck. I did not have the best buying experience with Fitzgerald. Mostly due to poor communication on their part but I would deal with them again.
My engine could blow up tomorrow. Who knows? But if it did it would not be their fault because they did not rebuild it.

I'm NOT going to ASSUME what they did or did not do on someone else's engine. I prefer the known facts. I don't like to be the subject of malicious rumors myself so I'll try and refrain from telling them on others.

 

My buddy bought one last year and has about the same miles as you @blessedman he's had no problems with his Fitz build either. I don't believe the third and fourth hand stories about rattle can rebuilds. They seem to attract a lot of haters for whatever reason. They get their CAT motors from Thompson if a customers wants a CAT. Thompson actually has Fitz put gliders together that they sell themselves.

 

I have a Fitzgerald glider and have 120,000 miles on it, 1st issue was AC compressor that was covered under warranty by Freightliner and the second was a broken manifold bolt that I had repaired at shop of my choosing and Fitzgerald sent me a check for. I reported manifold bolt broken at 106,000 miles and they were out of warranty at 100,000 miles but they covered it anyway. Other than that no issues. Most of their customers are repeat customers so that speaks for itself. Most of the haters that I have seen on this forum have never owned one and it seems to always be a friend or a friend of a friend.
For the trucks getting rebuilt at Clarke, were they Clarke rebuilds or Fitzgerald rebuilds to start with?
No company is going to be perfect, you can hear stories of Cat, Cummins and Detroits having problems right out the door but all three are good. Fitzgerald has put out enough to have a few bad apples out there. It's what they do when there is a problem that counts. And once again with most customers being repeat customers that speaks volumes too me.

 

Yes my Detroit was a clarke engine to start with. installed by Fitzgerald. My first truck had a Fitzgerald engine that had the head change at 60k when six valves stems failed the metal was bad. But as stated before Fitzgerald stood behind it all and I totally feel they care about the failure and get you back on the road.

 

well,we tend to pick and choose our justificatioins for what we like and don't like. i don't care for cummins and can come up with stories to bolster my feeling. but really,the N14 is a decent motor too,just like a cat or detroit.

good cat story. and true.

we had a drive on the way out with a load,with an Acert power'd Pete. about 120 miles out he stops at the rest area and notices a coolant leak. this guy didn't know a screwdriver from a fingerless glove. but he thought it looked like the drain #### leaking and was fiddling with it,all the while on the phone with our dispatcher. it would not stop leaking,and was reportedly - by the driver-bad enough that we decided to bring him back to the yard.

it was cool weather,spring time. 40's maybe. he was kinda light on the load.

he gets back and we bring it straight into the shop,our mechanic,tom gets under it to look for leaks,there was none. it was dry. he went to replace the reported leaking drain ####. no coolant came out. he pokes a screwdriver in the hole,thinking maybe it was just crusted over. nothing. no coolant. he tells us all his findings. i say it must have pooped a hose up by the intersection and drained it all,quarter mile away. tom says that would have the whole underside of the truck all wet,which is true.

there was no coolant in the rad,and the underside of the truck was clean. so now we're thinking this truck was driven who knows how long with no coolant. tom refills the motor,fixes whatever the leak was. it runs fine. i said run around town for the week. our other mechanic cuts the oil filters open to see what was in them,saying they were sure to be full of metal.

they were spotless. my dad freaks out and insists we inframe the motor. i wanted to run it and see.

we tore it down,it was just beautiful inside. spotless. ready for a million miles. we inframed a perfect motor.

now,i dunno what happened for sure. the unknowns are long on this story. i have a hard time believing it went potentially scores of miles with no coolant. but i know what we found in the shop.....
...this truck rolled into our shop with nary a vapor in the coolant system,and the underside of the truck was clean and dry. and the motor was as healthy as it was when it was dropped in between the frame rails by paccar. it WAS driven a distance with no coolant.

as i said on page one.cats are over built. and over built is good. and this is from a detroit man.