anybody know much about these hidden gems??

[RZucker]

The mighty 6-71 was IMHO one of the toughest engines ever made, properly cared for, will be very dry, yes blower box drains will weep a little, but if it will turn over it will most likely run, unlike a good share of the crap made today, LOL.

Lee

Dont tell anybody... But about 12 years ago I put a 6-71 truck engine together with all used parts excepting rings and bearings, just to get the thing sold and out of my yard. Goofy old beast is still running strong today. I love the old 71s.

 

[fsmech]

Thanks everyone, does anyone have more pics of the old two strokes, especially 149s in any state of repair usage?

 

[mitch504]

Dont tell anybody... But about 12 years ago I put a 6-71 truck engine together with all used parts excepting rings and bearings, just to get the thing sold and out of my yard. Goofy old beast is still running strong today. I love the old 71s.

I rebuilt a 4-53 for a friend who had fallen on hard times with everything free parts, even the rings and bearings. he needed it to run a week or two, it ran everyday for 2 years and then he sold it. I picked through the takeouts from every shop around here and installed only the finest scrap

 

[Steve Frazier]

I drove an old Autocar dump with the 6/71 in it and I used to beat the snot out of that truck hoping it would break so I'd get some relief from the noise. It never did....:Banghead

 

[GMG]

Yeah Steve the 71's The harder ya beat em the better they be, an old boss used to say.
the 53's and 92's could not take the same treatment as a 71
The company I worked for had a few 92TT powered KW's they had the power I used to spare drive some on weekends and winter when earthworks were quiet, all of them had a spare blower shaft and hub in the tool box had a habit of stripping them. probably our very hilly and windy back country roads,
Cheers GMG

 

[OldandWorn]

Our old 1969 Ward Lafrance fire engines. One had a 6-71 and the other was a 8V71. They were mid-engine mounts and the bucket guys sat right next to the engine with just a hinged diamond plate box around them.

There was something special about the 8V71's exhaust odor. Pleasant, a little sweet, I have never smelled another diesel like it.

 

[Scrub Puller]

Yair . . . OldandWorn

There was something special about the 8V71's exhaust odor. Pleasant, a little sweet, I have never smelled another diesel like it.

Do you think that only applied to the 8v71? I have always thought the two-strokes smelt different due to incomplete combustion. This included the Fodens and Nissan six we had on a dredge.

That Nissan was interesting. I have only ever seen the one but it had a conventional in line pump and injectors . . . sounded and smelt like a Jimmy though. (grins)

Cheers.

 

[OFF]

That's a pretty old 6-71, oldest one I've seen.

the company I work for still has a bunch of them. We've got a 4-71 and about six 4-53's in rail maintenance equipment. 6V53 and 6V71 in fire trucks, a stationary inline 6-71 on a pump, a 16V92TA on a gen set, and three 8V92TA's on pumps.
There used to be a whole lot more of them around.

My best Detroit story? We used to have a 3-53 on a pump at the base of a huge cooling pond. This 3-53 would run balls out for weeks at a time moving water. Straight pipe about 20ft long up in the air. You could hear it for miles.
One time it broke the oil line to the pressure gauge, spewed all it's oil out, which caused it to overheated and blow all it's coolant out. When it stopped pumping they called me in. It was still steaming, snapping, and crackling when I got there. Seized tight. I pronounced it dead and signed the death certificate. Went back the next day to start yanking it out, hit starter button and it cranked! Fixed the oil line, filled it full of fluids and it fired right up. Might have lost a little oil pressure but the stupid thing was put back to work and ran for years after that. Was still in use when that section of the plant was decommissioned.

 

[td25c]

Yair . . . OldandWorn




Do you think that only applied to the 8v71? I have always thought the two-strokes smelt different due to incomplete combustion.


My thoughts as well Scrub Puller. I still run 6 Detroit engines in trucks & equipment and the exhaust has a distinctive smell about it compared to other diesel engines.

 

[Scrub Puller]

Yair . . . Gotcha td25c. This is probably gonna sound trite and corny but when I hear and smell a Jimmy I get all nostalgic and remember my days on the oilfield trucks.

Those Pete's had the look and quintessential sound and smell of all that was good about America which, to me, in those days was the Promised Land.

Cheers.

 

[OldandWorn]

Yair . . . OldandWorn

Do you think that only applied to the 8v71? I have always thought the two-strokes smelt different due to incomplete combustion.

Cheers.

I don't know....I remember it always stood out to me. Maybe I spent the most time around it.

 

[td25c]

Yair . . . Gotcha td25c. This is probably gonna sound trite and corny but when I hear and smell a Jimmy I get all nostalgic and remember my days on the oilfield trucks.

Those Pete's had the look and quintessential sound and smell of all that was good about America which, to me, in those days was the Promised Land.

Cheers.

You would fit in fine in my operation Scrub Puller as I seem to be stuck in some kind of time warp in the past In my area its not uncommon to see contractors still using older equipment & trucks. I have my shop teacher to blame for indoctrinating me into the Detroit Diesel club . He served in the Navy during WW II on a small gun boat that had six 6-71 engines powering it . He new all about them & shared all kinds of stories . They normally ran 3 on & 3 off most of the time allowing him to service a down engine while still on the move. I sure miss talking to him.

Still got a little work to do to it but this was my latest Detroit powered project www.heavytruckforums.com/showthread.php?51-Fwd-Trucks

 

[RZucker]

Another tough Detroit story I remembered was having the oil pump fall off a 12v71 in a Wabco 333F at full power while loading. It stuck 9 pistons in their liners. I pulled the heads then the liners and pistons. The crank suffered no damage whatsoever, New pistons, liners , and rods she was running 2 days later. And still is as far as I know.

 

[Hitachi EX3500]

My grandpa had a love affair for the old Detroits. Seems everything we had had one of one series or another. I know he had some old Letourneau(sp) diesel electric scrapers with 6-71's, a 2 HD-19's with them, a wabco diesel electric and who knows what else. He also had a 222 Wabco that had a 8v-71 in it that has a interesting story behind it, a Dynahoe that had a Detroit of some flavor, a Diamond Reo day cab tractor with, if I remember right, 8v-71, and if that wasn't enough, he had 2 bus/motor home conversions that were Detroit powered.... So we got to listen to them on vacation to.

O well I guess that explains my love for the sound of them. I've seen some videos of guys putting them in pick up trucks.....would love to do that myself.

My dad had a old single axle GMC dump truck that had a 6v-53 in it. I was turning wrenches for a guy that lived approximately 3 miles from dads house. It was Friday afternoon, we were all caught up, shop cleaned, just waiting on quitting time. I hear that distinctive sound out in the distance and I looked at the boss man and said " dad will be by in a minute". He gives me a crazy look like how do you know.... $50 says he will be. He agrees, couple minutes later, here comes dad cruising right along that ole 53 screaming.....took my $50 and went home!!!!

 

[td25c]

Had a similar episode with our Wabco RZucker . Rebuilt the engine at the jobsite . www.heavyequipmentforums.com/showthread.php?11965-Wabco-c-pull/page2

 

[RZucker]

Had a similar episode with our Wabco RZucker . Rebuilt the engine at the jobsite . www.heavyequipmentforums.com/showthread.php?11965-Wabco-c-pull/page2

Good lookin C-pull there. Youre fix still holding? I did a similar fix on an old D8H years ago and its still going.

 

[td25c]

Thanks RZucker. Yeah , the block patch is holding fine . I was lucky it didn't do more damage as my engine locked up all the sudden when the sleeve came apart locking the piston and breaking the connecting rod . Really wasn't much warning , engine started to miss , I stopped & throttled back then a noticed a pecking sound for a short bit then the big bang ending with silence

 

[Nige]

Throttling back is probably what saved it from something far more serious, don't you think..?

 

[stinkycat]

You would fit in fine in my operation Scrub Puller as I seem to be stuck in some kind of time warp in the past In my area its not uncommon to see contractors still using older equipment & trucks. I have my shop teacher to blame for indoctrinating me into the Detroit Diesel club . He served in the Navy during WW II on a small gun boat that had six 6-71 engines powering it . He new all about them & shared all kinds of stories . They normally ran 3 on & 3 off most of the time allowing him to service a down engine while still on the move. I sure miss talking to him.

Still got a little work to do to it but this was my latest Detroit powered project www.heavytruckforums.com/showthread.php?51-Fwd-Trucks

td25c years ago while still in the US Navy we had some landing craft that had 2 6packs of 6-71's for power we also had what we called 6121t's (6-71 with a turbo) and talk about exhaust smell always thought the Perkins smelled like it was burning fish oil. Scrub ran some 16 cylinder Alco 251C's under full load and then some we would get a red glow out of the stack (30ft) above the engines. and yes the old engines brings tears to my old eyes and deaf ears thinks it can still hear them.

 

[markshr151]

I'am in this club too. When I was a boy in the 60 &70 s I remember seeing trucks in the plains of Texas with flames three ft out the stacks. I would love to see that today.