This is absolutely the best mix of talking about stuff, doing stuff, explaining stuff, and skipping stuff that exists in “social entertainment” today. Absolutely the best without question. Thank you.
I watched the entire 2 hrs and 10 minutes. If you were...say 75 years old and had worked as a CAT mechanic for 55 years, I could understand your level of expertise on just about everything CAT. I've seen all of your videos and each one leaves me wondering how the heck you learned so much in such a short time. OK...I'll call it a "gift" and be grateful that you continue to produce videos to show the rest of us how it's done. Many thanks.
Many people start very young with hands-on work which is the best way to learn, and some just have a special gift for learning specific things! Also there's a lot of information on the interwebs to learn from today, you just gotta sort through it to find the good stuff! 👍🏻👌🏻🛠️🔧🔩🚜🦺🚧 ✊🏻🇺🇸🦅🇺🇸✊🏻
Love your stock pile of parts. Retired now but when I worked on the floor and eventually managed the place, my younger techs would laugh at my stock pile of "junk" they called it I had upstairs and in the storage sheds. Didn't take long for them to figure out just how good the "junk" was till they had to use it. Having some older trucks in the fleet or an old customer with a "classic" truck that needed something that was too expensive new, or even a parts shortage going on, that " junk" kept everyone working and the wheels rolling. I like the term "good used" as you say it. Excellent video by the way and one of the best engine break in procedures and engine brake test too.
Great to see you back. I'm a postman from Scotland and know nothing about CAT diesels, but I've watched every one of your videos. The Knowledge and skill you have combined with your laconic wit is brilliant to watch. Thank you for sharing these videos with us.
I am not a mechanic but I am a long time trucker and the 3406E is far and away my favorite engine... and I've experienced MANY engines. Enough of that, this content is so incredibly, (and unbelievably), relaxing and enjoyable to watch. I totally understand how the content provider doesn't quite grasp why we keep coming back... but we do! For me, this is what RU-vid is all about.
I am an old shade tree mechanic, and always learn about 10 tricks from every one of his videos. simply the best. I hope every diesel training school in the USA is using his videos. I also appreciate his use of safety equipment. His analysis of wear and damage is spot-on.
I am not a diesel mechanic, but used to operate heavy equipment for 12 years. I work on gas engines and repair my one cars. I’m amazed with the mechanical ability this guy has and explains everything as it goes along. Amazing videos thank you!
Myself and three others designed the first DJB articulated truck which was eventually bought out by Caterpillar. The D400E was the last of the side cab "swing axle" front suspension trucks Going from a 3306T to a 3406TA was a big step for us, but one we never regretted. We also made a 55t truck with a 3408T, mmmm, not so good! I really enjoy these videos especially those featuring our articulated trucks.
I love how all of this video is just full of common sense no half ass repairs even for the overall content to be a half ass attempt in frame. Thanks for talking to the camera as much as you did it’s nice to learn from the experts who know what they’re doing. There’s those of us that will gladly sit and listen through it all. I learned a lot in this vid thanks for the ride along and the lessons.
This was the best $380 rebuild I've ever seen on any engine! And you are very correct in not throwing a lot of coin at this engine knowing the rest of the drivetrain is not in the best shape.
Your mechanical knowledge is only matched by your dry wit and humour. I fucking love it, I wouldn’t stay subscribed with this long between videos with out, thank you sir
20:40 goes without saying, but THANK YOU for pulling liners with hand tools… absolute turbo genius coworker went to town with an impact on the shop liner puller and mangled all the threads last month
Man I was hoping and praying you hadn't retired. Love your content. I'm coming off the road in about 5 years, and all I plan on doing is rebuilding CATS. 👌🏽✌🏽👍🏽
You must be the same guy at the TA truckstop in Corning, CA about 35 years ago who fell asleep on the shitter and woke up screaming he couldn't feel his legs. Funniest damn thing I ever saw and heard. I damn near couldn't eat I laughed so hard.
Watched for the second time, can't get enough and can't stop laughing. "You put the lube on the bolt. You smear it around. You take the bolt. Stick it in a hole and you spin it. Very exciting." You kill me brother.
7:16, 1:27:55 For anyone wondering why those cam gears have rollers in them: these rollers function as what's known as a _centrifugal pendulum absorber._ These devices are a tuned system where the resonant frequency is always some constant multiple of the rotational speed (that constant multiple is known as the _order_ of the system). For an inline-6 engine, the torsional excitation which the camshaft experiences is always six times its rotational speed, so an absorber on the camshaft would be tuned to the 6th order. Though, practical absorbers are always slightly overtuned (i.e. the actual tuned order is slightly higher than the exact order), due to limitations imposed by transmissibility and stability. The path that the weights travel on also matters a lot. For smaller applications, a circular path is sufficient, but circular path absorbers suffer from a problem where the system's tuned order will decrease as the amplitude increases (specifically, the tuned order at 180° of swing is 15.2% lower than at 0° of swing), and if the weights move too much, the absorber can become unstable and actually _amplify_ vibrations instead of suppressing them. If this happens, you then need to decrease the engine speed to restore the system's stability, often to a speed which is a lot slower than that where the system destabilised in the first place. Circular path absorbers are typically overtuned significantly (at least 20% or so) to prevent them from becoming undertuned (which is where they risk becoming unstable), while larger absorbers typically employ epicycloidal paths so that the tuned order is the same regardless of how much the weights swing. Also common on larger absorbers are bifilar (two-point) suspensions, which enable the use of larger and heavier weights than simple roller-type systems, which decreases the required amplitude of motion. Newer engines are taking this a few steps further and putting pendulum absorbers directly in the powertrain. In an even-fire 4-stroke engine with N cylinders, the dominant excitations on the crankshaft are those of the N/2 and N orders. People in academia are even experimenting with multi-order systems where the system consists of two or more sets of absorbers of different orders which are attached or connected to each other (on a 4-stroke engine, one set of weights tuned to the N/2 order, while the other would be tuned to the N order). In practice, I see putting these things on single-mass flywheels as a great alternative to dual-mass flywheels.
Thank you for showing the rolling in of the main bearing. Heard about this, people just say "roll them in", but never seen the bolt / grease used nor how it was actually done. NEAT!!!
I used to sell auto parts for a living. I used to have a few customers like this young man that when they came in, I just sat back and enjoyed myself. I always learned something new. They would help anybody in the store that were having trouble with their car.
Noticed this last night at about midnight UK time & thought "Oh great I'll take the laptop to bed, headphones on & I'll enjoy that a lot", 15 minutes in & I noticed how long it lasted, so three AM by the time I got to the end, loved every minute, truck starts sweetly & sounds great, Thanks for sharing it :)
I did a double take when I saw KT3406E 2 hour video in my feed! I am going to set aside some prime time to watch my favorite mechanic rebuild my very favorite engine! Now I must gather some cold beverages and snacks and put my phone on mute!
Glad you are back . My Grand pa had a bone yard in the woods on his farm , Lots of old chevys he got drunk and crashed and crashed running from the law . He would take a torch there and cut 2 or 3 chevy small blocks out of them and bring to his garage and I would help , He would Tear them all down and pick the best parts and build a engine for his old truck . He would get 100k mi out of it and then do it again and again each time it blew up . He drove that old truck till the day he died . You reminded me of him building that engin and making it work I sure miss him . Thank you .
At first I thought the issues with the engine was an oiling issue. Which was seemingly "confirmed" by the incorrect oil pump pressure relief valve spring tension setting. Only to find out that the real culprit was unfiltered air. Seems like the airstream carried the majority of abrasive particles directly to Cylinder No 3. But all in all, it was quite interesting and satisfying to watch the teardown and rebuild. Thank you for sharing this video with us! 👍
Just looked at the channel last night to make sure I didn’t miss a new video only to see that it’s been 8 months. Wake up this morning and instantly see a 2 hour movie of my favorite content to watch!!
I'll probably never do this kind of work on one of these, since they're not that plentiful here in Sweden. But that don't make this video any less interesting. Your knowledge of these engines is awesome. Insane, but still awesome. Good to see you're back in action here on RU-vid 💪🏼. Always educational, always something to learn.
My dad and his friend used to own a sandpit back in the 80s. When I was a kid, I was put to work there loading trucks on a front end loader and running a track hoe in between. I had to replace the occasional busted hydraulic line and maintain the machines daily during operation. Never in the weeds mechanically like you do here. I haven't been around that work in many years. Your videos are quite informative and you obviously have a lot of knowledge at such a young age. I never knew there was this much to a piece of machinery aside from the limited work I did on the machines. I am really drawn to your ethics on repair and the willingness to do the job right. That is the most impressive part of your videos to me. You do an excellent job at keeping your shop neat and clean so you can work. I also like the fact that you keep those cores around to use on other repairs. This makes it affordable for the smaller operators to cover the cost of those repairs. I know it is time consuming recording and editing out videos. You would be surprised at how many people enjoy watching things like this. Nice to watch when you need a relaxed moment.
This is an epic video. I've watched smaller stuff on other channels (Caterpillar D2 rebuild, etc.) but this mammoth effort (days or weeks of work condensed into 2 hours for our viewing pleasure) brings intimate awareness of Cat heavy haul powertrains to the average viewer. KT3406E you are truly a legend. All respect for your skills and knowledge and kudos for the excellent videography the entire time, I know how much effort it adds to any project. Thank you, sir.
Sure have missed your videos. Thanks for not forgetting us and not being scared to throw us a nice long video like 95% of other creators appear to be terrified to do. Cheers brother.
Always love your videos! Have watched your videos for years. You’re a LEGEND for sure! Always impressive whatever builds are. I’m 70 years old and totally enjoy your skill set. Ronnie East, Tennessee
What a beautiful symphony of a 3406 under load, a full set of jakes and flawless transmission shifts up and downhill. Thanks for demonstrating that you don't need to spend a bazillion bucks on a decent enough rebuild to keep good old equipment running. well. Nice work!
Keep in mind this guy films everything himself, does ALL the work himself, and then goes in and edits the entire video himself. I think that's why this is one of my favorite channels on RU-vid
I was thinking some kind of line bore chamfer refresher cutter. You could make one pretty easy. Then just hook it up to your Milwaukee 1/2” and run it slow under its own weight two or three turns and you’d be good. I’d love to see it done.
@Flyanb That unfortunately would not even come close. There is a large amount of material that has to be removed to remove all the damage, and then an insert has to be put in to replace it.
@@KT3406E i would have just used the epoxy too. We have an iron filled epoxy that we use for foundry tooling that is tough as nails, tolerates high heat and expands similarly to the ductile iron cast block. I bet that’s the ticket! I suppose if it comes out and gets in the oiling system it’s so small it’s like bearing or other metal shavings you don’t want a lot but a little won’t wreck your day
I really appreciate the common sense approach to rebuilding an engine using what you can reuse and only replacing what is needed. Your comment is always very informative and no fluff. Looks like a good useable haul truck. Thanks for the videos.
Great vid! I used to build them machines for Cat in the UK, in fact its 50% chance thats a front frame i built, i used to watch the engines go in, in the assembly shop and always wanted to get involved. If ever they had to take the engines apart, i used to go into that shop and have a nosey. Retired now, and i miss the hands on dirty jobs. Watched all the way through. Excellent interesting video. Thanks for that. Loved it.
Great to have you back! I can tell you don’t care talking into a camera, but your videos are the best on RU-vid. They are Gold! Please keep them coming as I cannot go 8 months for the next one. It is amazing to have such an expert to watch and explain how and why. Thanks. Norm.
I can see why you have 180k subscribers, that was an excellent video being both interesting and educational for me. You seem to get the balance just right with what to show and what to simply mention so it doesn’t become a boring “how to” video. Being extremely knowledgeable in your field not only helps you but helps the viewer understand what is right and wrong on the machine. I’m so glad you found that missing plug or you would be right back where you started in no time. Cheers, Stuart 🇦🇺
I love this video. You always see videos of complete engine rebuilds new and machined everything. This video proves that you dont need a factory spec rebuild to make it work for another 10000 hours.
In my opinion this is a fine example of how you can achieve doing the wrong things the CORRECT way if done properly like this young man has done so .. One must respect how he has taken the time to explain and show in full detail how you can do these thing correctly on a budget and cutting corners BUUT the correct way..Absolutely perfect well executed and beautiful done !!!! 🤙
Never thought you were coming back. Thank you for the upload, been a long time since I worked diesel (mainly Cummins and Roll Royce), and it’s great to watch such skill. The whole two hours, and not a wasted minute or filler, all knowledge, amazing work! Hope this channel brings all the Cat junk to your yard!! 😂 Please don’t leave it so long until your next upload.
Don’t know where the hell you’ve been, but good to know you’re doing alright. Seeing a budget, in-frame overhaul is a nice change of pace. It’s amazing what idiots can do to a good rig.