Big cam 3 400

Saw all the swap info and suggestions. One I didn’t see. You know a 3406 with no hole in it will bolt right in there eh. The ones with holes and the ones with no holes bolt up the same. Just a little curious as to why you wouldn’t just put another Cat in it. I’m a little surprised @wore out didn't question that.

 

I have took Cummins out to put a CAT in but never the other way. I think folks oughta run what their comfortable with and try not to influence their decision. I hear a lot of Cummins and Detroit are cheaper to work on, I understand that money is a factor. I also think you get what you pay for. CATS are more fickle and costly as hell if you try to short cut them. I’m sure you know that but many blame CAT for a piss poor butchers mistakes. Many don’t understand the importance of timing. Many compare a 400 BC to a 310 B too. Not realizing they are not the same. Course you ain’t gonna change a guys mind when it’s made up. I will say if they ever drove mine it would change their mind

 

I’ll never knock an 855. I had a couple that ran pretty good. But then one night, over a bottle of whiskey, I got talked into buying a friend out of financial distress and ended up with a Western Star with a 1693. (never start one of those with a blinding hangover) Been all white and yellow ever since. The whole alphabet of 3406’s, a couple of 28V’s and a C15 over the years. I’ve had good luck with Cat. You’re 100% right though, if you think scheduled maintenance is a good place to save some money, Caterpillar is not your engine.

 

Exactly. Money and availability. I have way too much stuff to keep running. Lol! Seemed like 75% of trucks were Cummins powered and they were the small block Chevy of diesels. In my case everything that has come my way has been Cummins. The only Cat powered truck I have was a 1693. Sadly It is missing. I’d love nothing more in the world than to put that back in there, but with what they go for I can paint or keep three trucks running for the price of that one engine if I can find it. I had bought a FL coe for $500 with a bc4 that burnt down #5 cylinder. I have all the parts to convert it to a bc3. So it’s a no brainer for me. That $500 truck alone supplied me with approx. 30k in parts and still counting.

 

I was just pokin’ at you a bit. Hard to beat an engine you already have. After roughly 3 out of 3.5m miles or more on Cats I’m sold on them. I’d only have the Kitty Kops hunt you down if you were trying to put an 8V92 in there.

 

One of my trucks was built out of two wrecks and a spontaneous financial combustion victim. There’s a pile down back of the yard that’s had an awful pile of money pulled out of it. You may have to take a different tack on the old Cat. The last 1693 project I saw around here started with a blown up 1693 and a good D343 core. Then he only had to hunt up whatever 1693 arrangement parts were damaged in the bad engine. I forget what was ####ed up in the1693 but that worked out cheaper than paying what people with a good 1693 wanted for them.

 

Just to say it I won’t knock a Cummins though I like a Big Cam III better than IV. I was never sold on low flow cooling. The STC engines never scared me really either. The 444 and mechanical N14 had a bad rap but a lot of guys struggle with new technology. Like the PEEC the STC wasn’t around long enough for guys to have to accept them.


My deal with CAT is the full range govnor. It will spoil you. PT fuel system is totally different. You have to look at overall operation and maintenance cost. This is only an opinion but that mechanic in town gives 2 sheets about your fuel mileage or efficiency. He doesn’t care that boost leaks and over fueling a hole can reduce engine life. CAT, Cummins, Detroit doesn’t matter the owner is better off to learn his engine and how to keep it running right. Let the mechanic in town do the things you don’t wanna do.

Pulling a cow bus is not like anything else, it’s not the weight but the aerodynamics of a parachute. Put that in the Midwest or Texas pan handle, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska it gets way worse especially summer. The Big Cams had a lot of trouble with that. I’m not saying they can’t be made to run but I am saying to get them to suite you is costly not in parts maybe but down time. I do not mean to say I don’t have trouble but overall a CAT is less costly. There is a reason you hardly ever see a big cam pulling a rack now, the N14 is an easy swap will do what you need it to do and stay together for the most part.

 

Big Cam IV is where the wheels fell off here for the guys pulling big weight. It was the cooling system not the engines output. They didn’t deal well with the high load rates and guys had cooling problems even in cab overs. The B governor is a work of art. And I’ll say Cat did an amazing job of modelling its behaviour in the electronic engines.