Cat engine rating

[1693TA]

I would agree with Truck Shop on the gear splits. I've never been involved with long haul trucking at all; only vocational and as of late farm related. The wider gear splits work alright and the road speeds are never fast, nor steady, so you tend to rely upon the engine to do quite a bit of the work rather than grabbing another gear, or running against the governed engine speed often.

 

[cfherrman]

I've driven 7,8,10,13,18 speeds with the 13/18 are pretty much the same and yes there is a huge difference and you should want the 13, 18 is hardly ever needed they are good for heavy loaded and need to shift up hills at lower speeds.

Once you get into high side your essentially running 1700-1900 the whole time up and down and the gears are easier to grab without any grinding or effort. Your engine will last longer and so will your trans, your brakes will last longer because you won't need to use them.

 

[Willie B]

It may sound counterintuitive but I actually like a truck that lacks enough power to tear itself apart, or wear itself into an early demise. Much more profitable over the duration of ownership that way. Easy enough to increase the power output of almost anything out there, but if the total package is not kept in balance, it will spend more time in the repair shop than doing what it was designed to do. I've seen this highly, and negatively offset those seemingly rapid "gains".

Kind of like that speeding ticket we've all received in the past where we wouldn't have been stopped if we'd just have allowed a bit more time to arrive.

My truck experience is not great. I imagine engine or transmission failure grinding up a steep hill in lowest gear with an underpowered truck. I have no transmission temperature gauge for my Allison. I presume all that torque converter action will build heat. I find the engine does not deliver significantly more power at speeds above 2000 RPM so I just keep it there and wait it out.

 

[1693TA]

My truck experience is not great. I imagine engine or transmission failure grinding up a steep hill in lowest gear with an underpowered truck. I have no transmission temperature gauge for my Allison. I presume all that torque converter action will build heat. I find the engine does not deliver significantly more power at speeds above 200 RPM so I just keep it there and wait it out.

Kind of the same thing I do; just wait it out. I do keep the radiator, and oil coolers cleaned out and they are pressure washed each time back at the cousin's shop because it is such a dusty environment during harvest. Heat is the enemy of engines and transmissions I feel so do what can be done to minimize this.

The Allison in that "S" series I drive has a temperature gauge installed but it never comes out of the normal green zone during a long and hard hill pull. It does however shift quite differently after dumping a full load off and exiting the scales, till when I get back to a field. I'm going to change the fluid and filter this next week hoping that is the reason for the shifting change. The upshifting is definitely different when the oil is hot, as opposed to cool, or warm. Fluid is not burnt and smells good, but is about five years old since last transmission service.

 

[cfherrman]

My truck experience is not great. I imagine engine or transmission failure grinding up a steep hill in lowest gear with an underpowered truck. I have no transmission temperature gauge for my Allison. I presume all that torque converter action will build heat. I find the engine does not deliver significantly more power at speeds above 2000 RPM so I just keep it there and wait it out.

Depends on your transmission but it might be locked up and it doesn't build heat when it's locked up

Put a trans temp gauge in there yesterday, will save you thousands