Tow pig idea WITH A CAT!!!!

[RascalMafia]

Gotcha, I work for corporate in Electric Power NPI. Been up to Altorfer a time or two..

 

[Morgan@Midwest Diesel & Auto]

Our store has a 1500hp engine dyno. So we got to do a lot of contract work for cat corporate and cat defense. Two of my favorites were a 600hp c13 and 1000hp twin turbo c18. Done stuff from d342 to 3500 series. Lots of good experiences. But I'm glad I moved on.

 

[ghohouston]

We parked all of ours in our back yard at work about 6 months ago. The big wigs got tired of putting so much money into them, so if youre really set on a c7, ill let you know when they go to auction lol

 

[ghohouston]

Our store has a 1500hp engine dyno. So we got to do a lot of contract work for cat corporate and cat defense. Two of my favorites were a 600hp c13 and 1000hp twin turbo c18. Done stuff from d342 to 3500 series. Lots of good experiences. But I'm glad I moved on.

How did you get started on at cat? Ive been thinking about getting into heavy equipment lately more and more

 

[Morgan@Midwest Diesel & Auto]

Went through a dealer internship program and schooling. Awesome leaning experience. Fwiw the level they make you stay at is higher than any technical college. Graduate with a degree and have to keep a certain grade point or you get kicked out. Our class scored top in the U.S., second only to one in Canada. Me and another guy in the class tied for best score on the national test. They make you take it serious for sure.

 

[Dzchey21]

I just show up, on time, and they are happy with that LOL

 

[ghohouston]

Went through a dealer internship program and schooling. Awesome leaning experience. Fwiw the level they make you stay at is higher than any technical college. Graduate with a degree and have to keep a certain grade point or you get kicked out. Our class scored top in the U.S., second only to one in Canada. Me and another guy in the class tied for best score on the national test. They make you take it serious for sure.

So theres pretty much no way an experienced diesel mechanic could get a job at holt cat? I was not fortunate enough to get to go to a trade school, and am married with a 10 month old now, so couldnt exactly afford to do an internship.

 

[Morgan@Midwest Diesel & Auto]

I just show up, on time, and they are happy with that LOL

Haha, they kicked out like 3-4 people out of our class for grades. But I guess when you are going to the school in Peoria they keep a closer eye on you.

 

[RascalMafia]

So theres pretty much no way an experienced diesel mechanic could get a job at holt cat? I was not fortunate enough to get to go to a trade school, and am married with a 10 month old now, so couldnt exactly afford to do an internship.

Every dealership I've been to (which is almost all of them), are begging for electric power techs.

 

[Dzchey21]

to the op sorry for the derail


Talk to your local dealer, you can hire on as a tech at the aprenticeship level with decent starting pay depending on the dealer

 

[Morgan@Midwest Diesel & Auto]

So theres pretty much no way an experienced diesel mechanic could get a job at holt cat? I was not fortunate enough to get to go to a trade school, and am married with a 10 month old now, so couldnt exactly afford to do an internship.

You can always apply. But you will have a harder time without all the electrical and specific systems training that the interns already have. Most of them are dud's and don't make it at the dealer level. I was kinda in-charge of the intern program for our dealership for a while and they only ended up hiring like 1 out of every 6-8 kids. There is a lot of people who can pull wrenches. But very few that can diagnose engines and electrical systems. Unfortunately you need to be able to do both to be a viable candidate in today's equipment fields.

We had guys go through in their late 20's with kids and a wife. Just had to buck it up for a couple years and take out some student loans. We had guys at our dealership making over 100k. So there is potential if you wanna apply yourself and work.

 

[ghohouston]

You can always apply. But you will have a harder time without all the electrical and specific systems training that the interns already have. Most of them are did and don't make it at the dealer. I was kinda in charge of the intern program for our dealership for a while and they only ended up hiring like 1 out of every 6-8 kids. There is a lot of people who can pull wrenches. But very few that can diagnose engines and electrical systems. Unfortunately you need to be able to do both to be a viable candidate in today's equipment fields.

We had guys go through in their late 20's with kids and a wife. Just had to buck it up for a couple years and take out some student loans. We had guys at our dealership making over 100k. So there is potential if you wanna apply yourself and work.

Interesting. Thanks for the advice

 

[Brad.S.19]

All of the other listed motors. We had a few f650's with the c7's, some with and some without dpf's, all common rails, all major problems, and by far the oil leakingest motor ive ever seen, one blew a head gasket, a few injector problems, one got a motor, and alot of other stuff here and there, etc etc... and this was all within a year. They were ALWAYS in the shop, where as our newer 650's with the 6.7 cummins, aside from one fan clutch bearing hub failing and trashing the fan blades and intercooler, we havent really had any issues from them. My personal choice on a motor would be a dt360. Close in size to a 5.9 cummins, but is an absolute tank of a motor

If the problems seem to be that much of a headache I would much rather put time money and effort into a dt 360 or 466. The dt series used I am finding online to be much cheaper and more availability of parts in the oem and aftermarket land.

 

[ghohouston]

If the problems seem to be that much of a headache I would much rather put time money and effort into a dt 360 or 466. The dt series used I am finding online to be much cheaper and more availability of parts in the oem and aftermarket land.

yes they are. i would go with the 360. theres been a number of swaps with them now. the dt466's length is a bit more than the 360, and will require extensive firewall modification

 

[HOOV3R]

I also work at a Cat dealer. Run far far away from 3116s, 3126s, and C7s. Engines are nothing but pain in the ass. The 6.0 comparison is true. The tier 4 engines are still using the C7.1 Cat, and they still are a pain in the ass. To the op, if you want reliability and the ability to make power go with a Cummins or a DT360 or 466.

 

[Freightshaker]

Sad to hear the 3126 is a turd. I put a fair amount of miles on one and it never left me. Just had intermittent power steering sometimes. That truck pulled and ran out well. It seemed to walk the dog over my old IH with a 360 and beat the guys with 466. Probably better tranny and gear combo. Really enjoyed all three of them, of course I wasn't repairing or paying the bill. If I was tossing the idea around like the OP I think it would be a 360.

 

[Brad.S.19]

Thanks for the advice everyone I had always thought cat was a bulletproof engine but they have the black sheep models. With the 360 what would be a good backing tranny?

-gv5600 with a np transfer case
-eaton fuller 10 speed auto
-allison 4000 series
-zf6 and np transfer case

 

[ghohouston]

Thanks for the advice everyone I had always thought cat was a bulletproof engine but they have the black sheep models. With the 360 what would be a good backing tranny?

-gv5600 with a np transfer case
-eaton fuller 10 speed auto
-allison 4000 series
-zf6 and np transfer case

Bts4r100

 

[Brad.S.19]

That is probably a hell of a lot cheaper than a commercial series transmission. With the 360 is there any room for improvement in the torque aspect

 

[backwoodsboy]

That is probably a hell of a lot cheaper than a commercial series transmission. With the 360 is there any room for improvement in the torque aspect

Tons.