Bell B40C/Deere 400C Repower

[631G]

Curious if anyone has any experience with repowers on haul trucks. We picked up a Bell B40C at auction and the engine let go soon there after. It’s got a Mercedes OM442 in it and were finding that engine parts are near impossible to get state side for the rebuild. The truck has an Allison HD4560 so I figure we should be able to get a Cummins or Detroit that could match up. Any thoughts or ideas welcomed. Additionally if anyone knows of a good parts source for the older Mercedes engines please share.

 

[sfrs4]

sorry this is of no help to you but it reminded me of a customer in Africa, who after searching for a replacement TD73 engine for his volvo A25C found a CAT 3306DI engine "outback" and so was born the Vocat. So as a repower goes, anything is possible

 

[Andre van Greunen]

Hi I used to work for Bell as workshop foreman in Cape Town South Africa and as component rebuilder in Zambia for Bell.
Ita actually an ADE442TI engine with mechanical fuel pump.
Im sure you should be able to find parts for that engine in SA.
Contact SP Motors
Email dtadmin@spmegroup.co.za

 

[631G]

Andre,

Thank you for the information. I’ll hold onto this when we come across the next need for parts we can not locate here state side. Sourcing parts from SA has been the route we’ve been forced down a few times now for misc. parts that aren’t stocked here any longer for some of the B models we have. The issue is time. We’re frequently told 2 weeks from order to arrival state side then another 2-5 days to get to us. Subsequently we’ve purchased 2 Komatsu HM300-3 trucks to replace the older Bells we have. We’ve always been and will continue to be fans of the Bell trucks, tough simple and reliable, but the parts lead time was a bridge too far given the work we’re building now.

Thanks,
631G

 

[631G]

sorry this is of no help to you but it reminded me of a customer in Africa, who after searching for a replacement TD73 engine for his volvo A25C found a CAT 3306DI engine "outback" and so was born the Vocat. So as a repower goes, anything is possible
View attachment 202211 View attachment 202212

That’s the idea I had, but I was thinking Detroit 60 series, for a repower. Detroit and Allison go way back so I figure if I ever hit that point and want to get creative we can do it. Time will tell....

 

[Andre van Greunen]

Whats the hours on the machine? 14000 hours you should look at all component rebuilds.
If you do a repower, make sure the torque converter ratio must be adapted for power. Also transmission shifts must be adapted on the TCU.
ADE, MERCEDES BENZ and MAN are very similar.

 

[631G]

The truck has just over 13,000 hours. Pretty solid truck over all.

 

[Andre van Greunen]

Thats close to 14000 hrs. You can do some oilsamples see what the results you get back.

 

[631G]

Just an update here on the truck. Picking up the engine next week from getting most of the bottom rebuilt. Had to line bore the main, all new bearings, liners, rings, 2 new pistons, new crank and cam. What a mess. All this from “just needs a valve adjusted” according to the guy we bought the truck from. And to make things a little more fun, our mechanic that pulled the engine out quit. Can’t wait to try and see what’s missing as we try to get it back installed.

 

[Andre van Greunen]

Hello from a hot DRC!!!
You never know what you buy secondhand.
Like I said hope the Allison and the rest is ok.
B40C is like outdated, its now E series....totally sifferent and full of electronic controllers...fork out plenty dollers if something fails

 

[631G]

That’s why we bought this truck, little to no electronics.

 

[Andre van Greunen]

Good luck. Look after it, it will look after you

 

[Andre van Greunen]

Make sure engine revs is what it must be and the modulator cable is set to counts 100 to 150 at full throttle or it will not shift gears properly.