Rob Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 Yup. Was awaiting my order at Taco Bell tonight and seen a very clean day cab Peterbilt roll up the stoplight at the corner pulling a Caterpillar excavator on a RGN trailer. Nothing special here but what caught my eye was the big emblazoned "CAT Power" decal on the hood. Nothing special here to me either. However when his light turned green my attention changed but quick as this thing had the unmistakeable "bark" of a 3408 engine through dual straight stacks. I'm gonna tell you it sounded good too. Don't get to hear music like that much any longer actually working. I couldn't get my phone out to get a photo. 1 Quote Plodding along with no job nor practical application for my existence, but still trying to fix what's broke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post carlotpilot Posted April 24, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted April 24, 2018 pete n cat still do their thing once in a while 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Posted April 24, 2018 Author Share Posted April 24, 2018 The 3406 inline six engines were built in the north of Peoria at the Mossville plant and I have many former engineer friends whom were part of their development and refinement. Been up to the test cell many times over the years to see both "trashing and thrashing" of that series. That ACERT technology killed the PACCAR/Caterpillar alliance, (corporate greed) and it's been downhill from there. This emissions crap has been hard on everybody from the seat sitter to the designers and everyone in between. That 359 I seen last night was very well maintained as was the trailer it was pulling. Neither unit was new but both would have passed as near new. I was only about 200' distant so got both an eye, and earful. Had to be an 18 speed listening to the cackle of the exhaust and the spacing of the upshifts. As I said; music you just don't get to hear working very often any longer. Quote Plodding along with no job nor practical application for my existence, but still trying to fix what's broke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
h67st Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 When I graduated from diesel school in Miami FL in 1981, I started in the truck shop at Kelly Tractor (Cat dealer). To this day I am impressed with how much training Cat invested in their mechanics. I was proud to be a part of their organization and after I left the trucking industry, I was sad to hear Cat got out of it. We worked on a lot of 3406 and 3208 motors, very rarely got a 3408 in the shop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Posted April 24, 2018 Author Share Posted April 24, 2018 Man that 3208 engine. That's one that should have never left the drawing board. They took a very reliable existing engine, (1160 series) and massively cheapened, lightened, and basically "gutted" it to compete in the medium duty market(s). Ford, GM, IH, they all did it as the industry was moving from gas to diesel power almost overnight. Never did work a general mechanic truck shop but have rebuilt several 3208, DV-550, 8.2ltr, 7.8ltr, (Brazilian Ford) etc. engines as they in the early days were not up to par where they needed to be and offer durability. In those days a guy could stay plenty busy just working on that list..... Quote Plodding along with no job nor practical application for my existence, but still trying to fix what's broke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
66dc75 Posted April 24, 2018 Share Posted April 24, 2018 The only thing I liked about the 2 3208s I had was that they started cold really quick and easy. Other than that what dogs they were, especially in an L8000 twin screw with an Allison. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
h67st Posted April 25, 2018 Share Posted April 25, 2018 12 hours ago, 66dc75 said: The only thing I liked about the 2 3208s I had was that they started cold really quick and easy. Other than that what dogs they were, especially in an L8000 twin screw with an Allison. In '81 or '82 we had a customer who bought a new Blue Bird Wanderlodge RV with a 210 hp 3208. A few months later, Cat released the turbo (250 hp) 3208 and when said customer heard about that, he brought the RV to us and had us swap the motor so he'd have the 250 hp. He was a lot happier with the power. You're right though, if you put it in a big truck it would be a dog. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Posted April 25, 2018 Author Share Posted April 25, 2018 Yes, the turbocharged version did start to make up a bit for the N/A version and they actually seemed to have a longer lifespan too. It was a popular engine in the farm trucks, and lighter dump trucks around here for a number of years, but the cost to rebuild them simply got a lot swapped over to Cummins engines. I don't know who coined the term "throwaway engine" but in a lot of instances it fit the bill with those. Core values were really high for a while too in this area. Quote Plodding along with no job nor practical application for my existence, but still trying to fix what's broke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyT Posted April 25, 2018 Share Posted April 25, 2018 Two of my buddies had 3208s in class 7 GMC "big shots"in the early 90s leased to Cardinal Transport out of Warren Oh. They ran good in that operation (under 50000gross) but after a couple hundred thousand mi they started to have problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post 66dc75 Posted April 25, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted April 25, 2018 They did pretty good in boats too and if you blew one up you had a free anchor 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Outbehindthebarn Posted April 26, 2018 Share Posted April 26, 2018 I ran a 3208 in an L8000 fuel peddler, used oil from new and 5 mpg... replaced with a 5.9 cummins @ 230hp in a FL70... what an improvement in every way imaginable Quote Fun is what they fine you for!My name is Bob Buckman sir,. . . and I hate truckers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Posted April 26, 2018 Author Share Posted April 26, 2018 23 hours ago, 66dc75 said: They did pretty good in boats too and if you blew one up you had a free anchor You didn't need to blow it up for that duty. I felt they were a custom made, full fledged "boat retention system" as built not requiring any field modifications. But that's just my thoughts. Quote Plodding along with no job nor practical application for my existence, but still trying to fix what's broke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
h67st Posted April 29, 2018 Share Posted April 29, 2018 On 4/26/2018 at 10:12 AM, Outbehindthebarn said: I ran a 3208 in an L8000 fuel peddler, used oil from new and 5 mpg... replaced with a 5.9 cummins @ 230hp in a FL70... what an improvement in every way imaginable The 6BT Cummins is an excellent motor. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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