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Old 03-02-2017, 07:48 AM   #1
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Looking at D/P: Cat vs Cummins.... thoughts

Looking at a used D/P 05 - 11 range with side radiators . A few weeks ago, I spoke with a guy who owns a Diesel Repair Shop. I asked him the question if he were looking for a D/P would he prefer a Cat or a Cummins. His reply to me was Cummins.

With that said, he did not go into the details but it has me curious as why one would be preferred over the other. And are there any particular engines in either make that a person should shy away from?

The reason I am asking is we did find a nice Phaeton with a Cat. Before I pursue that any further would like your thoughts....

I have seen Tiffin has put both engines in their coaches and makes the question come to mind what Tiffin's thoughts are also or Tiffin owners feel free to jump in.
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Old 03-02-2017, 10:23 AM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kro1957 View Post
Looking at a used D/P 05 - 11 range with side radiators . A few weeks ago, I spoke with a guy who owns a Diesel Repair Shop. I asked him the question if he were looking for a D/P would he prefer a Cat or a Cummins. His reply to me was Cummins.

With that said, he did not go into the details but it has me curious as why one would be preferred over the other. And are there any particular engines in either make that a person should shy away from?

The reason I am asking is we did find a nice Phaeton with a Cat. Before I pursue that any further would like your thoughts....

I have seen Tiffin has put both engines in their coaches and makes the question come to mind what Tiffin's thoughts are also or Tiffin owners feel free to jump in.
Kro1957
Cat vs Cummins is an "opinion question".... for which there is no right or wrong answer.
However I can tell you that the 250HP 3126 Caterpillar engine, (in my 1996 Safari Sahara), has been trouble free for 150k miles.
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Old 03-02-2017, 10:28 AM   #3
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Our first DSDP had a Cat 3126 and no problems. Our second DSDP had a Cummins ISC 350 that I added a Banks kit to, no problems.
Present rig has a Cummins ISX 650 and has dropped a valve in #6 twice, last time was over $33,000 to fix although Cummins did pay $10,400 of it. Turns out the valve breakage is a not so well known problem with the 2007 EPA version of this engine.
CAT builds thousands of heavy duty engines that are run hard in construction, mining etc.
Both Cummins and CAT build good engines most of the time but.....
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Old 03-02-2017, 11:03 AM   #4
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I would stay with Cummins. CAT has gotten completely out of the truck engine business.
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Old 03-02-2017, 11:07 AM   #5
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I wanted a Cummins, but I'm about to hit 108,000 miles on my 400hp CAT C9 and it's been trouble-free. A friend of mine drives dump trucks for a living, and his son is a diesel mechanic, and they both said "You can't go wrong with a Caterpillar". A few have complained about Cummins issues, but I don't see many complaining about CAT issues. Now that we have it, I am glad we have the CAT.

Don't get me wrong, I've owned three Cummins powered Dodge trucks, I'm a fan. But I've been extremely happy with the CAT too. And those trucks were 5.9 non-DEF non-DPF Cummins, not the newer 6.7 with all the emissions stuff on them.

I'd say a bigger thing for you might be to find one that's non-DPF and non-DEF, which means 2006 engine build or earlier.
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Old 03-02-2017, 11:19 AM   #6
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I would prefer Cummins, but it may depend some on the year?

Best of luck with the choice.

Steve
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Old 03-02-2017, 04:42 PM   #7
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From a fleet maintenance standpoint, both are excellent products that do what they were designed for. Reliability, performance and maintainability were never a problem with either. However, I usually went with Cummins because they were less expensive to maintain over the long term. Cat is really proud of their parts.
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Old 03-02-2017, 05:06 PM   #8
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I would pick out the coach and floor play I like and let the engine in it be OK
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Old 03-02-2017, 06:01 PM   #9
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I think you will find some variation (think $$) on what models are offered with each respective powerplant. In the years you are talking, HP was heading up rapidly to account for larger class As. There wont likely be many cat C7 class As. And I would think the ones that offered C9s or ISC/ISLs as options are gonna be few. Like last poster said, find some floor plan you like (most will likely be 3 or 4 slides) in a price range you can live with and let the power plant fall were it may.

If it comes down to it you might get a choice on miles for a specific version compared to another but not much else.
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Old 03-02-2017, 09:21 PM   #10
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I have been a professional driver for the last 40 years. Last 10 being a Heavy Haul Driver Lowbed Transportation. Driven them all and would take a CAT over any on the market. Yes CAT is out of the truck market because of the Emissions footprint. You will Always be able to buy CAT engine parts Forever. Detroit is Last on the list, 92's and the 60 series.
I had to stop by my local Cummins engine repair shop to purchase some Onan diesel parts and was talking to a Owner Operator who now owns a Cummins being an old CAT owner, and he said with all the emission repairs as of late he would Never Own another Cummins. Repair cost were too expensive and frequent.
Drove a C15 in my last truck 550 horse power 130,000 lb loads Never had Any problems with the engine and with that kind of weight and grades you pull the engine was the Best I had ever driven. 400,000 miles so far not even the bottom end yet or injector problem. Thats what I have in my 2000 Beaver Marquis is a C12 CAT coupled with the Allison HD 4060 Trans. Plenty of power and dependability.
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Old 03-02-2017, 10:00 PM   #11
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Just because CAT is out of the truck engine side of the business doesn't mean he engines are not good. I have a C-9 in my MH and it pulls great. I service it as per the specs and have not had any problems. I'm not saying Cummins is not good diesel. They make a fine engine. Well most of the times.
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Old 03-18-2017, 08:06 AM   #12
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Cummins hands down,parts are more readily available everywhere, and cheaper than Cat parts,,go pre-epa, pre-def, pre- BS destined to fail,, expensively.Get an older rig with no electronics, a mechanical engine, pre-1997 i think, with the 6 speed allison which became available in 1993! Someone correct me on the dates if i'm wrong. My 1993 8.3 Cummins is pre -electronic, pre-def and the likes will run long and dependable without all the added EPA pitfalls. Plus better fuel mileage. Cummins for me
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Old 03-19-2017, 12:08 PM   #13
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I have as well over the years driven them all. I have preferred Cummins over the rest but that is just my opinion.
The last truck I was driving had a Cat C12 and it was and it was great.
I worked for a big trucking company in 06 and they had over a 100 trucks on the road and they had Cat Cummins and Detroits. They quit buying the Cat C15 because of crank problems.
That said when Cummins came out with the ISX they had alot of problems as well.
Now with the DPF systems problems continue. The best engine in my experience was the Cummins N14 but they could not meet emissions standards.

As the guy paying the bill I will stay with my ISC 350. Cat is a great engine and probably as trouble free but the parts are pretty dear.
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Old 03-20-2017, 10:33 AM   #14
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When i was fleet service manager for a large fleet we also had the N14 engine in a lot of our trucks and they were a very good engine. When the new generation engines cane out we had a lot of problems with the emmission systems on our Cummins, international, Detroit Diesel and Volvo engines.
The Cummins had a lot of problems with EGR coolers failing and some turbo problems. The Volvos had many EGR updates and some EGR cooler problems as well. The International engines had numerous problems when used as city delivery trucks unless they were run at about 205 deg. Then their regen system seemed to function ok.
The newer systems using DEF seemed to be better but the Cummins still seemed to have a fair number of DEF pump problems and i saw several with dropped cylinder liners. I have not been involved much with the new Detroit Diesel engines.
I know our drivers really liked the new generation Volvo when it was equipped witb the I Shift transmission.
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