Sask466

Sorry that last picture came though really poor. If someone has Facebook the original picture is on there. This engine put out 450hp in its highest rating, which at that time was pretty rammy. I think the story was they had crank failures, not 100% sure though.

It was the Big Al engine I believe:

A coworker ran a plow cat in the 80’s - a TD25 with an 817. He spoke highly of it. The 2 speed steering was a huge benefit for plowing I am told. They Western Star in the pic has a 525hp KT Cummins.

The 3408 Cat seemed to be fairly successful as far as V8’s go. I never heard anything bad about it. Maybe a few mentions of crank failures here and there in old trucking forums, but nothing that seemed very common. They sure sound good on YouTube videos - that 3406B fuel crackle sound and V8 exhaust note, it might be as good as it gets. But they were only pushing 450hp in trucks, and that’s a lot of displacement (1,100 cubic inch) for that power level. The KT 1150’s were available at 600hp, and not much larger. The 1693 Cat could be had at the time rated at 425hp, with about 200 less cubes.

Yeah time marches on with this stuff. Friend have a T800 with an N14 and the local truck shop doesn’t really want to work on it much anymore. I think they trouble keeping staff trained up and familiar with them. They blame it on parts support (which is probably fair), but I think it’s as much product knowledge as it is parts…

The “why didn’t IH use the 817” more in tractors and trucks question more has came up in the past on this forum. I recall a member that understood the internal politics at IH mentioned the V8’s were being built in a different plant than the 817’s. The V8 plant had more preference to keep running and keep investing in with management, for whatever reason. Maybe the V8 was cheaper to produce, maybe IH felt they need to recoup the R&D cost of the V8’s? All of those large V8 diesels had bottom end limitations, as they have inherently less crankshaft length to fit larger bearing, larger webs, etc than an inline 6. The DV800 would have been fine at 230hp probably, but at that power level a 466 could hang there. I agree with Dale, that big Mack v8 has a pretty good reputation for longevity. The 3208 Cat was like this as well - at 180hp in an excavator it lasted quite well, at 275hp in a class 8 gravel truck, it wasn’t long for this world. The 817 was quite heavy (I think over 3000lbs) so in trucks it would have been a challenge. But those 45/4786’s were too light to begin with, so an extra 800lbs would have been good.

I have also heard that same engine was in dozers and ran slower (also probably less power output) and lasted much longer.

This forum seems split on this subject. I don’t know what to think. I have heard it both ways. We had a 4586 (back in the mid 1990’s) and the older IH mechanics at the time said to keep the revs up, as it was lugging that killed the bottom end. They said keep it at 2400+rpm. I recall that tractor had poor power under 2100rpm, but I was still pretty young so that may not be an accurate memory. I also remember it feeling powerful and sounding like a freight train at 2500rpm. I wonder what the official corporate IH message was on this subject back in the day.

Yes, that FWD tractor pulling it makes it look small.

You beat me to that joke! That’s where my head was going too.

Is Catamount a common name through the US for cougars and mountain lions? I have never heard of that term up here.

I would caution against electric fans. I think electrics are great for muscle cars, etc to cool a motor for idling, as the engine is at low idle and the mechanical fan isn’t doing much. An electric fan outperforms a mechanical fan at idle. When a car gets moving, the airflow through the rad (from 30 to 80mph vehicle speed) is abundant. Same idea in semis with auto fan hubs - they rarely kick in going down the highway at 70. But they run a lot in the field or gravel yard. You never get that speed-induced airflow from a tractor. Electric fans would worry me on a slow speed vehicle.

There is YouTube channel with a guy from Texas (Royal Service maybe?) that seems very knowledgeable- he is very adamant about Akebono brakes being far superior. I had never heard of them.

By the mid to late 90’s there wasn’t really a “bad” big bore truck engine. The 3406E, N14 and 12.7 Detroit were all great engines, with each unique strengths. Late 80’s/early 90’s the 12.7 sure had the edge on the competition (especially mechanical Cats) when it came to fuel economy.

Agree probably counterfeit, but Cummins is a very global brand. That 24V 5.9 I recently rebuilt surprised me. So many different countries of origin in one bone stock/untouched engine. These were the FACTORY rod bearings (original one owner truck with 120k miles, confirmed bottom end was never opened up). Uppers/lowers were made in different countries (England and USA).

A local grain hauler that lived very frugally in the early 80’s starting out had a GM Brigadier with 318 Detroit. Lived in a converted granary with a wood stove. Brought in the oil and batteries every night. No power for block heater. What a chore. He later got an old Chevy van, and put taps on the engine, that he could hook hoses up to on the truck. He would start the gas engine van in the morning at let it circulate and warm the truck up.

I didn’t see your reply when I was typing - that truck is almost identical to the one I was talking about growing up! Even the short stacks to clear the auger!

9370’s have a special place in my heart. Our grain hauler had an early 90’s 9370 with a N14 and 13spd. He put a sleeper on it, and I think it was an earlier one like that 4300 in the photo above had. I loved that truck. He was in his 60’s but he drove like a 20yr old. 65-70mph loaded on gravel was the standard. We had an 1986 9370 tandem on the farm. 400 B model Cat and an 8LL with the U-shape shift pattern. Great set up for a tandem. My dream truck: A late 90’s model with a 460hp red top, 18spd, 3.70 super 40’s, 22.5’s, 60” flat top and a 244” wheelbase. Simple paint job - just bright white paint.

We buy that by the tote - we recently retired an old Ingersol-Rand KVS that took 3 x 45gal drums of Pegasus every change.

We took it out for the maiden voyage last night. All seems well, no leaks or odd behaviours. I tried to get into the throttle as much as I could to get some heat and pressure into the cylinders. These 5.9’s are growing on me a bit. I found it easy to work on and not overly/needlessly complicated. The pyro we installed is acting up - temp is sitting at 400F when running and doesn’t move at all - idle or full throttle. Sits below slightly under 100F when not running. It’s an Autometer gauge, so not junk. We have the probe installed deep too. We will recheck wiring this weekend, but their isn’t much you can screw up… (those are words i think I have said before, haha)

Some people use SOS pads or Comet on a sponge to clean off all the oxidation and loose paint. A fellow on YouTube named David Freiburger has a few good videos on it. I would start there (using a slightly abrasive cleaner and hand wash).

It’s alive - she started right up. We cycled the key a few times to let the lift pump fill things. These common rail Cummins must bleed air out well. So far no leaks. We haven’t taken it for a drive yet though, and avoiding idling it much as it has new rings.

Yes for the injectors, BD provided a really good instruction manual for install, so followed that. It’s a more involved process than for an old Dt 466, that’s for sure! BD seems to be a good company/product so far.

Yeah that does sort of feel like a shame, but time marches on I suppose. Also, that zip tie probably still has more life left in it than the new ones! Is it just me, or are zip ties not what they used to be? They seem to break much easier, especially in cold. Even brand name ones.

We got the injectors back in and the valve-train set back on next will be setting the valves. I just backed off the set screws on the rockers for now so everything is quite loose. Any tips on timing it? We are going to roll it over to TDC on #1 and go from there. I normally just manually spin each cylinder over one at a time, after I ensure I am on the base circle of the cam for intake and exhaust (compression). Not very sophisticated method, but it’s simple for a dummy like me.