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Truck troubles

Tugger2

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2018
Messages
1,366
Location
British Columbia
The 3406 seized up on my old Kenworth so i have been looking at updating. My trucker friends warn me away from anything with the Cummins ISX. I found a 2013 that would suit me but its got the Cummins in it. Theres seem s to be lots of them out there . Are they that bad?
 

AzIron

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2016
Messages
1,541
Location
Az
There are a bunch of isx out there I would buy another I was pushing 5 of them at 1 time all were 05 and 06

Really I would put them up against my 3406 I wouldn't replace my 3406 with an isx but that's not always an option
 

catman13

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 22, 2011
Messages
435
Location
oregon usa
Occupation
refrigeration engineer/excavation contractor
find another 3406 or pull that 1 down and find out what is wrong and maybe rebuild it
 

Tugger2

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2018
Messages
1,366
Location
British Columbia
Im going to fix the old truck ,just bought another 86 W900 that came with a spare engine as well so im covered there . It comes down to time to do that with a bunch of good work coming . I have another ship cutting job this winter so the old old truck will be tied up there for a few months hustling trailers. Maybe i should give my head a slap ,but im thinking about expanding my trucking side a bit . At this stage in life i have been trying to keep the business smaller,ive been on the other side before but there seems to be a ton of work out there right now right now for those who want it.P8071922.JPG P6161868.JPG
 

crane operator

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 27, 2009
Messages
8,274
Location
sw missouri
If I was just wanting a spare truck, I wouldn't go newer. For me, I want to be able to go out and hit the switch and it runs. I don't care if it isn't running perfect, black smoke, a little white smoke, whatever. I just don't want something that is constantly popping a code I can't read and then its derated nonsense. Don't care what kind of mileage it gets, and don't care a lot what it looks like (within reason).

Looks like the parts truck is heavy spec, but not much of it left. I understand about the time thing.

Big cam cummins,3406b or e, n-14, 12.7 detroit. By me there's a lot of stuff for sale from the oilfield slowdown, I suspect you could find some cheap stuff out of alberta for the same reasons. Some of the oilfield stuff by me has had some really hard use, some of it has hardly any use.
 

Truck Shop

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2015
Messages
16,544
Location
WWW.
Repairing the 3406 is the best option as long as the truck it's in is worth it. I have seen a few recently that the repairs exceeded the value of the truck. The ISX engines are a toss up,
the real early pre-EGR weren't bad engines. Most 06 through 2012 were problematic, in most cases either you got a good one or it was a turd. We had nine 08 models that if those rigs
smelled a Cummins shop in the distance the steering wheel would go out of control and drive in any open door. Everyone of them had issues, those trucks were traded off before 175,000.
All nine averaged a gallon of oil a week.
 

suladas

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2016
Messages
1,731
Location
Canada
If I was just wanting a spare truck, I wouldn't go newer. For me, I want to be able to go out and hit the switch and it runs. I don't care if it isn't running perfect, black smoke, a little white smoke, whatever. I just don't want something that is constantly popping a code I can't read and then its derated nonsense. Don't care what kind of mileage it gets, and don't care a lot what it looks like (within reason).

Looks like the parts truck is heavy spec, but not much of it left. I understand about the time thing.

Big cam cummins,3406b or e, n-14, 12.7 detroit. By me there's a lot of stuff for sale from the oilfield slowdown, I suspect you could find some cheap stuff out of alberta for the same reasons. Some of the oilfield stuff by me has had some really hard use, some of it has hardly any use.

Yea I really like my 3406B, no garbage to deal with. The only times I hate having a old truck is the little things like wiring, air lines, etc get annoying because of the age. No one cares how it looks within reason as long as it gets the job done. Been more reliable for me then new truck and I don't worry that it hardly gets used because it didn't cost a lot.

You'd think but no, the Ritchie's sale in the spring was absolutely STUPID and the last one was average, maybe the odd deal but hard to tell what shape stuff was in. There's online auctions every day and some deals on small items, but all iron is still fetching good dollars.
 

Tugger2

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2018
Messages
1,366
Location
British Columbia
The donor was a gravel truck that was running pretty well but they got tired of scabbing patches on the frame ,when its clutch went they parked it.The old truck suits me well. The donor has a good brakesaver and jake heads. Down side of my old truck is the rust jacking under the fifth wheel. After watching Truckshop build a whole truck i dont think i can whine about having to rip the back end of the frame apart on mine. The newer truck has some appeal ,but i know what you guys are saying about the older stuff. I run the business with cranes that go from 60 + years old to the newest mid 70 s vintage.
 

John Canfield

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 27, 2009
Messages
431
Location
Texas
Occupation
Ranching
My 2005 motorhome has a Cummins ISL (8.3 liters) and at 80k miles I had to have a valve job done. I talked to a Cummins rep at an RV show and mentioned my several kilobuck repair - he said the valves usually go at 50k miles on that vintage engine, thanks for the extra 30k miles. I had a friend with an ISX in his high dollar motorhome, he had a lot of trouble with the serpentine belt. Forget what exactly. The ISX is supposed to be a million mile engine.
 
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