Truck engine scanners and repair info

[greerco]

What is the best bang for the buck as far as heavy truck scanners and so on. I have the snapon pro link ultra. Its seems to cost me alot in programming for what i do with it. Im not impressed with it.

I know mitchell has a repair guide for trucks now. What do people use to get specs and procedures for doing engine jobs?>

 

[Joseph Marasco]

We have Diesel Laptops Inc. with their Texa communication box and software. Foll on highway and off highway software packages. Full boat to get started was around 8k. It costs $1500 per year for updates and full product and tech support. Overall I am happy with the customer service and quality of the product. We have only had this system for 1 year and I have been using it since April 2019.
Prior to this job I worked for a Mack Trucks dealer with full dealer level software. I worked for Ryder truck leasing before that and we had Noregon communication boxes and dealer level software for each brand. (i.e. ET for Cat, Insite for Cummins, DDEC for Detroit, etc.) Another company I worked for 10 years ago had the NexIQ with generic heavy truck software and the IH software package. I own a first generation SnapOn Modis and had a Solus pro and an original Brick back in the day. I don't really work on cars anymore so I just keep the Modis for my own stuff and try to use it when I can.

What I have found is that if you have enough equipment to justify the factory/ dealer level software that's what will be the best. If you have a decent knowlege of how your equipment works and how the electronic systems work on them, the aftermarket scanners will be sufficient. The Texa is completely unique to my previous experience with diagnostic software. I took a couple of the tutorials offered with the software package and that helped me acclimate quickly. The parameter lists are extensive, the interface is easy to navigate and the information is accurate. As I said, the cost of admission is high, but if you use it often enough, it will pay for itself. I have offered its use (with me at the helm) to a few of our colleagues and have helped diagnose their issues. I would recommend the Diesel Laptops as a "Complete Diagnostic Platform" for on or off road equipment. IF you have any other questions, feel free to hit mt up.

Are you a commercial shop or a fleet?

 

[greerco]

We have Diesel Laptops Inc. with their Texa communication box and software. Foll on highway and off highway software packages. Full boat to get started was around 8k. It costs $1500 per year for updates and full product and tech support. Overall I am happy with the customer service and quality of the product. We have only had this system for 1 year and I have been using it since April 2019.
Prior to this job I worked for a Mack Trucks dealer with full dealer level software. I worked for Ryder truck leasing before that and we had Noregon communication boxes and dealer level software for each brand. (i.e. ET for Cat, Insite for Cummins, DDEC for Detroit, etc.) Another company I worked for 10 years ago had the NexIQ with generic heavy truck software and the IH software package. I own a first generation SnapOn Modis and had a Solus pro and an original Brick back in the day. I don't really work on cars anymore so I just keep the Modis for my own stuff and try to use it when I can.

What I have found is that if you have enough equipment to justify the factory/ dealer level software that's what will be the best. If you have a decent knowlege of how your equipment works and how the electronic systems work on them, the aftermarket scanners will be sufficient. The Texa is completely unique to my previous experience with diagnostic software. I took a couple of the tutorials offered with the software package and that helped me acclimate quickly. The parameter lists are extensive, the interface is easy to navigate and the information is accurate. As I said, the cost of admission is high, but if you use it often enough, it will pay for itself. I have offered its use (with me at the helm) to a few of our colleagues and have helped diagnose their issues. I would recommend the Diesel Laptops as a "Complete Diagnostic Platform" for on or off road equipment. IF you have any other questions, feel free to hit mt up.

Are you a commercial shop or a fleet?

Thanks for the response, i will check it out. I am a commercial shop but dont use my scanner very much....

 

[DatCoonAss]

We have Diesel Laptops Inc. with their Texa communication box and software. Foll on highway and off highway software packages. Full boat to get started was around 8k. It costs $1500 per year for updates and full product and tech support. Overall I am happy with the customer service and quality of the product. We have only had this system for 1 year and I have been using it since April 2019.
Prior to this job I worked for a Mack Trucks dealer with full dealer level software. I worked for Ryder truck leasing before that and we had Noregon communication boxes and dealer level software for each brand. (i.e. ET for Cat, Insite for Cummins, DDEC for Detroit, etc.) Another company I worked for 10 years ago had the NexIQ with generic heavy truck software and the IH software package. I own a first generation SnapOn Modis and had a Solus pro and an original Brick back in the day. I don't really work on cars anymore so I just keep the Modis for my own stuff and try to use it when I can.

What I have found is that if you have enough equipment to justify the factory/ dealer level software that's what will be the best. If you have a decent knowlege of how your equipment works and how the electronic systems work on them, the aftermarket scanners will be sufficient. The Texa is completely unique to my previous experience with diagnostic software. I took a couple of the tutorials offered with the software package and that helped me acclimate quickly. The parameter lists are extensive, the interface is easy to navigate and the information is accurate. As I said, the cost of admission is high, but if you use it often enough, it will pay for itself. I have offered its use (with me at the helm) to a few of our colleagues and have helped diagnose their issues. I would recommend the Diesel Laptops as a "Complete Diagnostic Platform" for on or off road equipment. IF you have any other questions, feel free to hit mt up.

Are you a commercial shop or a fleet?

Thanks for the info. so its a year and a half later just curious if you are still happy with the system you have. are there any issues with it you would change if you could? looking to buy my first system for a new shop that I gotta pay for myself and obviously like everyone on here im sure looking to get the best ROI.

 

[Txhayseed]

We use diesel lap tops Texa also for trucks and equipment. Its a pretty decent set up and seems to do about 95% of what most dealer software will do. It is limited though to some brand specific functions. We run a lot of bobcat equipment and it interfaces with doosan engines just fine but there isn't an option to say programing the deluxe display like bobcat software allows you to do. But as far as engines go it seems on par with insite and other oe software so far. It is $$ to purchase but when you factor in down time, transportation to and from and what your spending to even get the dealer to do basic diagnostics then the repair or the 150 hit we took to just send a field tech out and plug up his computer every time plus the hourly it became cost justifiable really quick to purchase. Don't know what size fleet you got but even if you sent a few pieces to a dealer our outside repair facility a year it gets close to purchasing your own system.