Whic engine has the best life span

I dont care if cummin's is cheaper. A caterpillar is well worth there price. I'd Take a Caterpillar anyday over a Cummins.

 

Companys look at alot of things! Theres not alot performance diff between them! Ive driven alot of cats, in fact more cats than cummins, and there has been any where from .5 to 1.5 mpg difference better for cummins.

cost to purchase
dependabilty
cost to operate
fuel economy
and performance

 

I understand that International owns the cat block, rods and piston design now and will be building EGR engines that are basically cats in disguise.

Google "caterpillar navistar joint venture" to get more details.

 

So your implying OOs or small fleets don't care about anything other than the paint color of the engine? They understand all of this and consider all the above info, just in a different order. I understand the Cat has a higher "cost of purchase". In my experience the "dependability" and "performance" and resale value easily off sets all of this. Fuel economy is trivial since the driver has FAR more to do with actual numbers than any brand of truck or engine. Also don't try and convince me the person in charge of truck purchasing of most large fleets even consider anything other than price when they buy trucks. Do you think Swift cares at all about how well a truck pulls over a mountain or it's resale value? They care which truck MFG is willing to slit their own throats by leasing the cheapest thing they can crap out. Then when the lease is up they dump them back to the dealers for them to take to the auction for a 2 for one sale. All repairs are warranty and fuel economy is controlled with speed restrictions and programming that does nothing for performance. I've got 7mpg with one of my W900's with a 6NZ 550 cat, but driving like an 80yr old woman is irritating and with what I do time is money. Driving below the speed limit usually means one less load a day which totally kills any fuel mileage benefit.

UPS would be a good company to know their fleet results. They have semi's with every brand of engine available. I remember seeing a stack of new International UPS trucks with one of every color engine. All their trucks pull the same exact trailers, hauling the same loads with multiple drivers all paid by the hr. Even the little trucks, some Cummins, Powerstroke, Mercedes ect. Would be interesting

That's why I always call BS on these blanket fuel economy,reliability and cost of ownership statements. Because if all the "internet ballpark facts" were correct and a certain truck/engine combo ALWAYS made the most money with the best reliability ect the others would have been gone a long time ago. Remember Caterpillar didn't stop building engines, they just told the EPA to cram the on-highway rules. ALL of these engine issues with all MFG's, fuel economy, reliability are the fault of the EPA. If Cummins had their way they'd still be selling the N14, Detroit with their Series 60 and Cat's "E" or 6NZ C15's would still be available in the US.

 

I would love to see the results of a UPS or similar fleet in terms of comparable complete cost analyses start to finish. The Swift sorts can keep their results.

As for the EPA, lets send that crew to China or India & let them play by their rules & give us a chance at actually making engines that work as they are suppose to. Can you imagine the engines the mfg's would be kicking out sans the EPA neutering?

 

I dissagree they do look at the whole picture when purchasing trucks, cats market share was dropping at alarming rates and that had to do with it as much or more than EPA .

I never drive for fuel economy just one of my flaws never have, if i took any one of probably 20 cats ive driven and loaded 85,000 and took the very same route i would be very lucky to get 5mpg, my isx will do 6.5 mpg and that if it makes any difference, was with a worn out engine.

And ill also say again and again if i was just a driver i would have a cat.

 

1999 FREIGHTLINER CENTURY TRUCK (8,000)

10 Speed T-2
Detroit
HP 430
900,000 miles
o/o trade in

What do you guys think? The truck Drives well.

Think I should buy it then overhaul it? If so whats the going rate on a complete O/H

 

I bought a '96 FLD with an 11.1 Detroit in '01...it had 805,000 miles on it (the engine was never touched)... I sold it with just under 1,000,000 miles in 2003. The truck is still working every week and the new owner still hasn't touched the engine at 1,400,000 miles.

Your mileage may vary.

 

I have a friend who is selling his 2000 Columbia with the 12.7 Detroit, 10 speed and 3:70 gears. He gets about 6.5 pulling an RGN. Pulling a van or flat you'd get a mile a gallon more. He is an anal fanatic about maintenance. Oh yeah, it also has an APU. And new tires. And brakes I think. Only drawback is 48 inch bunk. Did I mention he's a maintenance freak? He just put a new air dryer on because he didn't want to have a problem with it, not because it was broken. He's like that. I might buy it and put a driver in it... anyway, if you want more details PM me.

 

is it still available? how much is the mileage?
thank you