Detroit 53 series

[Brandt]

What types of equipment had the 3-53 and 4-53 engines? I've seen them in gensets and an old fork lift. Was a V series made in the 53 and was there a 6 and 8 cyl??

 

[RonG]

Yes,yes.Somebody brighter than me will be along soon.Ron G

 

[kshansen]

What types of equipment had the 3-53 and 4-53 engines? I've seen them in gensets and an old fork lift. Was a V series made in the 53 and was there a 6 and 8 cyl??

It would be easier to try to list types of machines that did NOT use a 53 series Detroit. I don't think there were any aircraft or lunar landers! Besides the 3-53, 4-53, 6V-53, and 8V-53 I believe there were some limited numbers of 12V-53 made. Not sure about 2-53's, I know there were many 2-71's used in genset applications so a 2-53 may have been available??

Did a quick Google search and yes there were many 2-53 Detroits made, looks like John Deere used some in tractors.

 

[old-iron-habit]

I believe the old pull behind smaller vibratory sheepsfoots had 2-53 on some of them. I remember then being a 2 cylinder Detroit. Someone will correct me if they were a different series.

 

[Former Wrench]

Some log skidders had 4-53's 3 & 4's powered a lot of small work boats. I have seen and worked on 4-53's that powered small (10-15 ton) mobile cranes. The only 2-53's I ever rebuilt when I worked at the Detroit shop had 2 valve heads. I also saw a couple of pickup trucks that were re-powered with 4-53's. I went on a Cook Inlet gillnet trip on a 32 ft boat that had a 4-53.

 

[Former Wrench]

I also rebuilt a 3-53 that was in a small UPS delivery truck.

 

[John C.]

The old FMC skidders used the 6V53. I've worked on plenty of the 4 and 6V53 engines in Drott excavators. I seem to remember the 6V version to have wet liners and four valve heads but I could be wrong on that. Plenty of the salmon fishing charter boats out of Westport and Ilwako Washington used the 5-53 for mains. I've seen a couple of motor yachts 4 cylinder auxiliary gensets. A long time ago while driving across country I spotted plenty of irrigation pumps on skids at the ends of fields with the little green monsters.

 

[td25c]

Military used plenty of Detroit's also .

M113 personnel carrier used 6V53 . It was also an FMC product like the skidder that John C. mentioned .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M113_armored_personnel_carrier

 

[kshansen]

The old FMC skidders used the 6V53. I've worked on plenty of the 4 and 6V53 engines in Drott excavators. I seem to remember the 6V version to have wet liners and four valve heads but I could be wrong on that. Plenty of the salmon fishing charter boats out of Westport and Ilwako Washington used the 5-53 for mains. I've seen a couple of motor yachts 4 cylinder auxiliary gensets. A long time ago while driving across country I spotted plenty of irrigation pumps on skids at the ends of fields with the little green monsters.

I believe all the 53 series were wet sleeve engines, I know the 3-53 was and the 4-53 so I doubt any of the others were not wet sleeves.

 

[Brandt]

Wow! A lot of them out there. I recently purchased a blower that turns out to go on a 4-53. Having no 4-53 to use it on, I was looking to see who might be a purchaser of said blower. I was hoping to find a buyer in a niche market, but I guess the market is potentially large. From the little bit of research I've done it seems the blower is not a high failure item. Looks like I might sit on this a while!!

 

[Knocker of rock]

John Deere 435 ag tractors had 2-53's
http://www.tractordata.com/farm-tractors/000/0/5/54-john-deere-435.html

FMC Link-Belt HSP 22 RT cranes had either a 6V53 or or a 6V71, I can't remember

Some Tuckers had 4-53's including this 1981 model.

 

[RonG]

Military used plenty of Detroit's also .

M113 personnel carrier used 6V53 . It was also an FMC product like the skidder that John C. mentioned .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M113_armored_personnel_carrier

That was a good link,very informative and thorough.I was in Germany when the M113 arrived to replace the M79 APC that we were using at the time.The early versions had gasoline engines as the article stated,they came through with the Chrysler 413,what a sound!Our driver was a Mopar nut,Michalski,and he made sure we could enjoy it.At night it would shoot flames out of the exhaust grate,right beside the passenger compartment.The old M79s had two 302ci GMC in line sixes in them.Ron G

 

[blademan150]

This JD 440 crawler had a 2-53 in it. We had a 440 JD crawler loader with a 2-53 also I couldn't find a picture of it though........Clyde

 

[lantraxco]

I worked on one of those 440 dozers for an old guy, fun little machine... two cylinder detroit has a funny if distinctive sound to it!

 

[nowing75]

Nothing like the sound of a screaming jimmy. I have a 453t that I want to put in a pickup but I just don't have the time. Not sure the blower is worth much there are lots of detroit stuff out there. Lots of airport ground equipment still use them.

 

[old-iron-habit]

I was researching to see if a 1-53 was ever built. I thought Detroit probably had built some as they did build a 1-71. What I have found so far is that the single cylinder 71 was built but I can find no mention of a single cylinder 53 series. Now I wonder why not, other than maybe not enough power to be practical.

 

[RonG]

Here I am holding back an M113.This was in Germany,probably operation WinterShieldII about 1961/1962.Ron G

 

[Brandt]

Cool Pic
Thanx for your service - the Cold War vets are always forgotten!!

 

[Deere Marine]

Wow! A lot of them out there. I recently purchased a blower that turns out to go on a 4-53. Having no 4-53 to use it on, I was looking to see who might be a purchaser of said blower. I was hoping to find a buyer in a niche market, but I guess the market is potentially large. From the little bit of research I've done it seems the blower is not a high failure item. Looks like I might sit on this a while!!

Brandt
Detroit blowers are getting harder to come by, at least 71 and 92 series, I would post on Craig's and eBay. A lot woods guys on the east coast using them in older equipment

 

[td25c]

Love that picture RonG !

My Dad was on an M109 Howitzer crew in 1969/70 . It was powered with 8V71 Detroit .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M109_howitzer#/media/File:Self-propelled-howitzer-vietnam.jpg

They used a lot of those M113's for support vehicles . He said when they would move to a different location He might ride on the M109 or hop on the M113 .