Most trouble free engine

you are right to a certain point cummins was the only motor designed for a truck detroits were made for farm equipment and modified for trucks and cats were just work horses..now anything newer than 03 stay away or if it starts with a C or ISX unless you really want to go broke.

 

I'd much rather run a Cummins. It seems they only get better. Cat may be good but the service is crap. You can only get them fixed at the Cat dealer and even before all the emission junk you still had problems getting worked on. Cat's priority is their construction equipment and trucks just don't pay them enough. I've run alot of Cummins, Cats, and a few Detroits including their two stroke. I loved the 444 Cummins modified to a 450. I could out pull just about everything on the road and I grossed 110,000lbs. Now if you could put a 3408 back into trucks I'd go through the hassles. That's 3408 not 3406.

 

I also agree C15 especially Acert twin turbo are the worst, Cummins ISX - Detroit 60 are the way to go for post 07 emissions.
3408 nice, typical core price is over $30k, how about the Cummins KTTA 600 only a little larger dims than NTC Cummins and you can get a rebuilt unit for the price of a Cat 3408.