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03-02-2017, 07:48 AM
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#1
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Senior Member
Thor Owners Club
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Mitchell South Dakota
Posts: 1,177
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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.
__________________
06 King of the Road 37RLQS
06 Coachman Cross Country 5.9L 300HP 382 DS
03 Jeep Wrangler, 4.0L James, Trina, SMSgt, USAF Ret
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03-02-2017, 10:23 AM
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#2
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Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2016
Posts: 520
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kro1957
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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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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03-02-2017, 10:28 AM
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#3
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Senior Member
Country Coach Owners Club Solo Rvers Club iRV2 No Limits Club
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Vancouver, WA
Posts: 37,725
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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.....
__________________
2009 45' Magna 630 w/Cummins ISX 650 HP/1950 Lbs Ft, HWH Active Air
Charter Good Sam Lifetime Member, FMCA,
RV'ing since 1957, NRA Benefactor Life, towing '21 Jeep JLU Rubicon Ecodiesel
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03-02-2017, 11:03 AM
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#4
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Member
Join Date: Feb 2017
Posts: 39
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I would stay with Cummins. CAT has gotten completely out of the truck engine business.
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03-02-2017, 11:07 AM
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#5
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Senior Member
Forest River Owners Club
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: Johnson City, TX
Posts: 1,060
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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.
__________________
2018 Rockwood 2304DS Ultra Light pulled by 2018 Ram 2500 Cummins Diesel 4x4
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03-02-2017, 11:19 AM
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#6
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Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Phoenix, Oregon
Posts: 2,207
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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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03-02-2017, 04:42 PM
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#7
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Senior Member
Freightliner Owners Club
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Western WA
Posts: 1,294
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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.
__________________
Sold the Motorhome, joined the fully retired gang. '07 Winnebago Journey 34H, ISB-02, MH2500
Toad - '08 Ford Taurus X, Blue Ox, Aventa
US Gear UBS
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03-02-2017, 05:06 PM
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#8
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Senior Member
Winnebago Owners Club Freightliner Owners Club
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Home on the hill in Georgia
Posts: 2,742
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I would pick out the coach and floor play I like and let the engine in it be OK
__________________
Jerry Potter, Taz
1999 Coachman Catalina Sport
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
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03-02-2017, 06:01 PM
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#9
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Senior Member
Texas Boomers Club Holiday Rambler Owners Club
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: What? Like right now? ;-)
Posts: 1,302
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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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2003 Scepter 40PDBB - Roadmaster RR8S - Cummins ISC350 - purch aug16
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03-02-2017, 09:21 PM
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#10
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Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: So Cal
Posts: 1,368
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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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03-02-2017, 10:00 PM
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#11
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Community Moderator
Newmar Owners Club
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Point Pleasant Beach, NJ
Posts: 31,248
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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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Tony & Ruth........... FMCA#F416727
2016 London Aire 4519, Freightliner chassis, Cummins ISX, 2018 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited, Blue Ox Avail with AF1. TST 507 TPMS
No amount of money can buy you an extra second of time.
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03-18-2017, 08:06 AM
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#12
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Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: Palm City Fl.
Posts: 103
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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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1993 36C Fleetwood Pace Arrow Turbo Diesel,Cummins 8.3CTA ,MD 3060 Allison 6 Speed, 40k miles, 7.5kw Onan DKD 373hrs, Co-Pilot = Blitz 110 lb German Shepherd
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03-19-2017, 12:08 PM
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#13
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Senior Member
Monaco Owners Club
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: B.C.
Posts: 4,638
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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.
__________________
Dennis & Marcie & Captain Hook The Jack Russell,aka PUP, 2006 Itasca 29R 2017 Equinox toad. RVM59
We came, we went, nothing broken, nothing bent!
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03-20-2017, 10:33 AM
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#14
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Member
Join Date: Feb 2017
Posts: 39
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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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