Cat 740

Hey Guys

We have just purchased a 2007 740 s/n 740LBP1P02858 it's a nice truck with decent maintainence history, but it seems to clunk when put into reverse does anyone have any ideas?
Thanks Steve

They do tend to go into gear with a bit of a bang. How much is too much though is subjective.

Seeing as you've just bought it I would do a full SOS. (14 samples!) If anything is failing enough to cause a noise it should show up.

Also get someone to connect ET and check the transmission oil temp sensors are reading correctly. I've had a couple of cases where sensors were giving a valid but incorrect temperature reading to the ECM making it modulate incorrectly.

Thanks for this cmark il get our guy with ET to check that. I'm already on the SOS awaiting results. What are the main problems with the 740s to watch out for, it's our first Cat ADT alway had Volvo previously, but they have been giving us a lot of grief lately so we thought we would give one a go. It was one of 6 in a parcel and everyone engaged gear with a bang.
Thanks Steve

The AXM trucks had a few foibles but these later B1P series are, in my experience, pretty good. The main thing I would say is don't skimp on the SOS and routine oil changes. Transmission and drop box every 1000hrs and axles every 2000. It's a fair bit of dough in oil and filters but if you've coughed up for six trucks, I guess you've done your homework and are factoring the R&M costs into your rate?

What else?

Make sure the drivers check the drop box oil every morning. It only holds about 20L and if a slow leak empties it, the results will be expensive.

Hoist cylinder bearings will fail quickly without daily greasing.

Brake accumulators seem to give up after about 5000 hrs.

You'll see a nice convenient array of hydraulic test points near the radiator. Tough luck if you want to use them, they're probably disconnected at the other end so if you want to check a pressure, you've got to lift the cab and crawl like a snake underneath to hook it up.

If you're running them fully loaded on twisty haul roads, the centre and rear axle panhard rod bushes will be a regular replacement. Even more-so if you've got tailgates. Same goes for the rubber axle mounting blocks, but none of it is too hard to do.

They can be a bit of a pain to work on. Some of the hoses under the cab are impossible to get to without removing the fenders, but the fenders are actually fairly quick and easy to remove so don't worry, you'll get used to it.

We only bought one of the 6 mate. At what hours would you expect to rebuild transmissions and are they expensive to rebuild. I hear the C15 motors are good if a little thirsty.

The oldest ones we look after are at around 15000 hrs and are still looking OK on the SOS. Not had a tranny failure yet. We've not had any major engine problems either but we're big on routine maintenance. Strict 250hr oil changes, ELC in the cooling system, 2000hr valve/Jake sets etc.

stevenatkinson said:

We only bought one of the 6 mate. At what hours would you expect to rebuild transmissions and are they expensive to rebuild. I hear the C15 motors are good if a little thirsty.

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I ran one for about 4 months one winter. Some wouldnt make it a full shift with out refueling 8 hours. The bigest thing i didnt like was they had alot of seat problems the suspension would give out may have just been their time to go alot of the ones they had were about the same hours.

Yeah I must admit suspension on an ADT does seem a bad idea

I was in between jobs and heared about this place needing help. I liked runing the 740s but i wouldnt do it agin. It was a night shift we ran them hard. I was 38 and in good shape but i thought i would have to quit because i couldnt stand the beating you would take. I was about to quit and a guy told me i would never be able to do it unless i learned how to brace my self so i could stay in the seat. He told me what to do and it helped i stayed until that job was done. There was a woman driveing one and she started missing alot of work i wondered if it was because of the ruff ride.

Cat is the roughest riding ADT in my experience. Komatsu is a lot smoother riding than the Cat. Volvos are better too.

We used to nickname the guys running log skidders and artics "pin ball wizards" because of the beating they all took. When an operator would quit we say that they tilted out.

We used to run 3 earlier dash 1 hm300 komatsus and they had a lot of problems. I agree they were a nice ride and can but gave so much trouble with oil pipes busting under the cab and the oil brake seals would give out a lot and there very expensive to repair.

740s engage gears with a bump that's just par for the course with those really. I wondered when I first came across them too. As Cmark says, keep the oils and maintenance up to them and be sensible and they'll love you back

I was wondering if the transmissions need calibrating like some sort of clutch calibration issue.