Big Cam Cummins reliability

Where are you located?

 

Find out your problem on Google. I almost never use a mechanic. There's a truckers forum online with a lot of good mechanics that have helped me alot. Oh wait, we're on it.

 

Where are you located at and what’s your shop hourly rate ?

 

Not really soliciting work, happily retired, stay busy enough tinkering with my own hobby vehicles and toys. I still do some work on N series 855 Cummins and tractors occasionally, they were my forte'.
My son is a heavy equipment mechanic, mostly dirt work, but he does work on trucks also. He does work on later stuff he's familiar with, has the fancy computer diagnostic tools, and knows how to use them, I don't.
His rate is 85-100 per hour,depending on what and where it is. He comes to you, has his own service truck with crane, welders, compressor, etc. and every tool known to man. But he is extremely busy, even I have to get on the list if I need something fixed,lol.
We're in central Md.,Baltimore,Harford County.

 

What exactly are you looking to have done?

Unless you are looking for major repairs, you should be able to do most of the repairs yourself. Even the major repairs you could do yourself if you had the place and the time.

That is the real beauty of those engines.

No trips to the dealer. No computer to diagnose and give you false symptoms. No wiring harnesses to make you bang your head against the wall. No Electronic glitches that will make you want to Bang Your Head even harder against the wall. No crazy expensive emissions BS.

There are maybe a few special tools you should buy, but the rest is screwdrivers and wrenches.

You need a good service manual and the guys on the site here will be glad to help you.

 

This is why I would never recommend a mechanical engine to a guy that doesn't have a ton of experience wrenching. Most of today's techs have never even seen an n14, let alone a big cam.

 

Maybe a Cummins Shop ??

 

I could believe that you are correct and I'm not disputing your point.

But my question is even if they have not seen that engine before what is so difficult?

I am not trying to demean the technicians of today, but if the suggestion is that if they cannot plug a code reader into the computer they are lost, that seems silly to me.

Underneath all of the emissions junk and the electronic crap there is a mechanical engine. It is hard for me to understand that a modern mechanic does not understand how the mechanical aspect of the engine operates and is diagnosed. That sounds too much like the kid at the cash register that if the register does not tell him what the change is he could not figure it out.

Any Tech that understands mechanical principles and can read a service manual should be able to repair that engine. They are way simpler than any electronic engine.

What am I missing?

 

True. Any decent engine mechanic can figure out ..hopefully any engine. I personally never did any rebuilds myself. Always to the shop. Down time is sometimes a factor in this dog eat dog world of trucking. Gone to long from a "run" and some else is trying to grab it. Years back when my dad ran gas engines in his old trucks, I did help him rebuild those. The 549 cu. in. Internationals. They were a good workhorse in their day.

 

It isn't about can they eventually get it fixed. It's about how long will they tinker with it till it is fixed and what unnecessary steps were taken at 138$$ an hour. Every engine has its specific nuances. You want a mechanic that has seen your symptoms, on your model of engine, 1000 times before so when you bring it in he knows what is the most common causes for what your engine is doing. Experience can't be taught by reading a shop manual.