Caterpillar light truck engine?
Caterpillar light truck engine?
(OP)
Since Cummins seems to be successful with their light-truck diesels (primarily in Dodge pickups), why didn't Caterpillar try to enter this market? Would it have entailed designing a suitable engine from scratch, or maybe an existing engine could have been adapted for this application?
Or is that particular market already saturated? If so, too bad since Caterpillar seems to have a good reputation for their diesels. This wouldn't seem to have presented any engineering stretch for them.
Or is that particular market already saturated? If so, too bad since Caterpillar seems to have a good reputation for their diesels. This wouldn't seem to have presented any engineering stretch for them.





RE: Caterpillar light truck engine?
Why enter the market when there is already an established foothold? Consider also that why is the Dodge brand using the Cummins engine, when Daimler-Chrysler are jointly owned? There is a considerable royalty to Cummins for each application, and who do you think owns a large percentage of Cummins?
Franz
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RE: Caterpillar light truck engine?
rmw
RE: Caterpillar light truck engine?
More than once in the last 5 years have I heard that Dodge is going to drop Cummins and install the MB engine which makes more power, quieter, and more economical too. I heard that the American public probably would not buy them if they were foreign content, pity.
Franz
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RE: Caterpillar light truck engine?
Is the Series 30 the 7.3, or the newer 6.0 (I am guessing on the exact displacement of the newer one)?
I have encountered MB products overseas, and I would not hesitate to own one.
I have also owned some cummings in 18 wheelers in the past, as well as taking care of busses for a church that all had 2 cycle DD's in them, and I wouldn't cross the street for either of them.
I have the 7.3 PowerStroke in my personal PU truck, as well as some other church vehicles that I travel several thousand miles per year in, and have the utmost of respect for them and their capabilities.
I think cummins gets a bum rap in the Dodge, because Dodge, (at least this was several years ago, when I made my last PU purchase) only intended for their vehicle to be a work truck, something for Farmer Brown to go to town in and load to the gunwales with seed or fertilizer and transport back to the farm, not for comfortable cross country transportation like I was looking for, so it was rough and noisy. But, it had power.
rmw
RE: Caterpillar light truck engine?
huh? I don't get it. Are you saying that Detroit Diesel makes the International (Navistar) Powerstroke that Ford uses?
RE: Caterpillar light truck engine?
I remember walking down one of the pre-delivery lines and all I could see was the green engines, all banded to pallets! My host there told me that was not uncommon for DD to carry some of the load other manufacturers could not handle.
Now for some confusion: I was told that they were identified as the Series 30 engine, but I also have seen other Series 30 engines which were not V-8's. Since the V-8's were not marketed by DD, that may have been some internal coding. I do know that DD was experimenting with a SI Natural Gas variant of that engine and saw a few in mule R&D trucks.
Franz
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RE: Caterpillar light truck engine?
RE: Caterpillar light truck engine?
As noisy as it is, the Cummins engine is still FAR quieter than the Cat C7, and I don't see Cat spending the money to make their engine any quieter.
M-B, for all their vaunted engineering reputation, seem to have a hard time making a quality product, and based on JD Powers surveys, seem to be getting worse rather than better.
RE: Caterpillar light truck engine?
Back in the old days CAT engines always burned dirty. A light truck would have more stringent emission regulations than heavy trucks and equipment do.
RE: Caterpillar light truck engine?
But passcar emissions rules don't apply, and I'm not sure EPA Diesel standards are very strict anyway.
RE: Caterpillar light truck engine?
RE: Caterpillar light truck engine?
RE: Caterpillar light truck engine?
RE: Caterpillar light truck engine?
hmm...
DD used to identify series of engines based on displacement of a single cylinder.
the 71 series had 71 cubic inches per cylinder, and you have heard of 6-71, 8-71, and so forth.
4-53, 6-53, etc.
8-92 (or V8-92, and lots of revisions and suffexes...)
Jay
Jay Maechtlen
RE: Caterpillar light truck engine?
I remember walking down one of the pre-delivery lines and all I could see was the green engines, all banded to pallets! My host there told me that was not uncommon for DD to carry some of the load other manufacturers could not handle.
7.3's would have been grey, are you sure they were not going to mack?
RE: Caterpillar light truck engine?
RE: Caterpillar light truck engine?
The assertion about the MB engine having more power is completely off-base. The Cummins engine in Dodge application is limited by torque limits on the transmission / rear end. Cummins could supply a more powerful version of the engine but the Dodge truck's transmission and / or rear end would fail.
I don't have any data on the quieter or more economical. However, my engineering judgement says with 90 % certainty that the more economical claim is false just like the power assertion. Quieter? Maybe.
RE: Caterpillar light truck engine?
Regards
pat pprimmer@acay.com.au
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Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.
RE: Caterpillar light truck engine?
The MB engine might be a high reving Vee engine with lower torque but higher peak power.
Lower torque is bad for many applications.
Higher reving is definitely bad for fuel economy.