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Thanks Josh, Was on the phone today with a gentleman in Montana about his 1693, can't tell you how many calls I get about this engine. I'm officially old now LOL
As I remember, my all time favorite wrecker/tow truck, "Ugly," actually a beautiful Oshkosh mostly famous as a winch truck, was powered by a 1693...It's said that no matter how stuck you were, with Ugly on the scene you were either getting pulled out, or pulled in half...Ugly has never failed...
I’ve done a lot of work on Ugly, and am very close friends with the current owner. It’s powered by a 1674C Caterpillar. Being that it’s AWD Oshkosh would not install big hp and risk blowing the front axle. FT6, another Oshkosh wrecker built by Guaranteed has a 1693T 325hp in it, but no AWD. Ugly should be at both ATHS and ATCA national meets this year. I actually have to go spend some time on it this winter getting it ready to go out as it hasn’t moved in 4-5 years. I’m glad people still think of it fondly.
It was a popular engine in Kenworth logging trucks here in Northen Ontario, thunder bay up to Hearst. Used to hear stories of guys "crankin em up" to 380hp. Some would rev them to 2300 in the bush, off road hauling treelength. They have a great sound when cold start up.
we called them popcorn maker from the sound , if didn't adjust the valve train in a sequence they would throw a #3 or#5 rod , ,some were really good some not,.
The four and a quarter 1693 was HUGE power for the day...fuel was cheap so they didn't worry too much about the fuel efficiency. We had one in a cabover Pete...the clatter you could hear a mile away....but nothing on the road could pass it!
Strong enough transmissions and diffs were a bit of a problem when introduced. You could get bullet proof industrial transmissions, but too big and heavy for a highway truck. If you drove without accelerating hard all the time, things lasted. Come to a hill and ease into the throttle and they just "put their shoulder into it". Could get reasonable fuel economy and long life out of them that way.
1693 OH Yea. These were heavy boat anchors, poor millage. BUT with these magic could happen. This was the era of the horsepower wars. The 1693, the Detroit 12-71 and Cummins. All of these because they were mechanical could be hot rodded! The 1693 could get up 700+hp. The V12 was 475 natural aspirated, 550 single turbo and 625 dual turbo'ed. Every fuel pump could be master tuned, turbo's custom built, timing tweaked. Literately you could melt the rubber off a set of drive tires going up a long grade! This was where you separated the real mechanics from techs, who could fine tune and customize.This is where a blow hard mechanic could melt one down in 10,000 miles. This is where you separated real drivers who could put 7-800,000 miles between overhauls and not melt down the pistons. If you got 350,000 on a Cummins you were lucky, the 1693 held top spot for extended overhaul mileage. This was the era of 100,000 lbs loads, legendary races up grades. It was also the era where you could make a lot of junk with with average skilled mechanics and average skilled drivers. The 3406B was right in there in its ability to put out amazing horse power. That was a magical era in trucking.
Coal trucks in western Pa and WV used to gross 130k and you could just see a faint blue natural gas like flame at the top of the stacks from the best tuners
Remember when Cat rated its horsepower at the ground, not the flywheel like cummins and detroit. That v12 with twin turbos was a beast also, and of course the cummin kt600. I remember a race up Cabbage between a v12 and a 1693. At the top the cat pealed off the tires, the detroit had burnt pistols; those were the days when, where there is smoke there is power. Of course diesel was 30 cents a gallon.
@drowsy4 they never did. Since cat was a engine supplier and since the drive trains have different factors for parasitic loss that literally would've been impossible. This has been said about all of the manufacturers and has always been proven false given the hp standards are set industry wide.
Thanks for reminding me how old I am, Josh. My boss in the mid-1970's was a Cat man thru-and-thru. He loved the 1693T @ 325 hp. He dreamed of the 1693TA @ 375 hp (and of the Brake Saver), but he cared even more about costs, so his choice was the 1693T. He frequently said, "It sounds like it's fallin' apart, but it'll outrun a 350 Cummins." In my experience, I think he was right on both counts. He also had one truck with the 1673T. (10L @ 270 hp) As the junior driver, I often was assigned that truck. It had trouble getting out of its own way, but I did like the fact that it was a '74 Diamond Reo Royale which seemed to catch a lot of attention. Yup. 4 mpg, but fuel was cheap - 43 cents per gallon at the Red Comet in Ft. Wayne, IN. My boss was a great man who remained a friend for life. I have scores of great memories from those days.
Had a 75 KW W900 Michigan special with 1693TA and 1259 13 SPD. Most everything you say is true. It liked fuel it leaked oil but I have to say with glow plugs and 24 volt start it was a great starter even in sub zero temperatures. And it had plenty of power. The original owner told me when it was new and pulling a fully loaded train that no Cummins or Detroit could catch it. I've had a retired guy come up to me once and told me he spent ten years trying to catch that truck! LOL! He said the only time he saw the grill was when it was coming at him in the mirror or passing in the opposite direction
I worked at a moving company in 1973.The first cab over pete had a 1693 rated at 425hp.They were beasts.The truck would go 120 mph.They were very durable.I always thought that they took an off road motor and put it in a truck.
I believe the D343’ main difference was it came with an SAE number 0 flywheel housing to mate up with big stuff, where as the 1693 had a SAE number 1 flywheel housing as found in automotive applications. So without modifications you weren’t going to haul the iron out of the crusher and stick it in the truck.
I remember rebuilding a few of these in the early eighties at a Cat dealer in Pretoria South Africa, l like them and the valve adjustment was brilliant.
Great history lesson, i had a 1674 also duel overhead cam 638 cubic inches like the 3306. it was rated at 270 HP. I ran both 1693 T and TA in the high country or Colorado. As i remember the 1693TA weighed close to 4000 pounds and the 3406A was 1000 pounds lighter. My last PC Cat was a 3408PCTA which I owned for 30 years. Definitely the good old days, right Jeff Anderson. Some would say the PC Cats sounded like a bunch of squirrels cracking nuts 😀
Worked on number of these in the early 80's.The shop was mainly former Cat dealer mechanics who started their own business. They purchased the Cat tools to rebuild the scroll fuel system and the degree wheel to set the "lifts" of the individual pumps. This engine was timed (injection pump) by rotating the flywheel until a 3/8 thread bolt would line up with a threaded hole in the engine flywheel. The injection pump had a place to insert a pin when it was in "time" with the flywheel. There was a coupler that could be accessed after removing a plate, to loosen the pinch bolts that allowed these two to be timed together. These engines suffered from everybody trying to turn the fuel up for more HP which eventually would crack the cylinder head or blow the head gasket, shoving coolant out the radiator. Good times!
Cut my teeth on my brother's 1693TA. He bought with his 73 Pete 352. Was a straight 1693 but wasn't long before the TA was done! Yes Clatterpillar was spot on. Just walk through the lot and you knew one brand from the other! They were monsters for the day and reliability was top notch. Pumped the fuel to them and go! They were heavy and expensive which never really left Cat engine lore. Brother then bought a couple Frtliners with Allis Chalmers 450 motors. Pulled even better than a 1693 if possible! Big mistake! Wouldn't hold to together at higher rpm's. Eventually switched them over to Cummins before he went broke with them! But can still recognize the idle of a 1693 and loved them! Great video and thanks for posting!
I have heard of them. Had a friend had one in his freightliner. At the time he had a million miles on it and still going strong. One of the best engines ever made
I worked on a 3406 prechamber in an IHC. It didn't have spin to start. Just grunt, grunt, vroom. We converted it to DI. We ordered a glider for a 1693 and it had a round cover to remove on the firewall to pull a coupler shaft to remove the head. Later we swapped it for a 3406 to save weight and there was also high demand for the 1693 to go in offroad equipment.
I worked on 100s of these motors and we had a nickname for them , we called them swirl chamber motors . They have a sound all their own . Idling It sounds like ping pong balls bouncing around in an empty coffee can. 😊
Had a 425 kitty cat in 1972 LW logging truck, bought in 1975. It had brakesaver (a must for BC). 5 X 4 with airshift A-box. Rockwell or Timkin 44's ??? 4.63 ratio... soon figured out that U didnt need to wind it up to 2100. Started to only take her up to 1800 max. She pulled good at 1550 -1700. Had to keep your eye on pyromoter as it would easily go up up to 1250, kept her a 950 max. Fuel milage really improved keeping revs down and pyro down... Dont remember it been leaker, except for the Brakesaver seals. Went through a few seals changes before living with the leaks... Finning had great truck shops throughout BC. As not many shops wanted to do major work on them. Fuel milage wasn't that bad. Not as good as a Cummins NTA 420. Mack had the run slow go fast figured out years earlier. 375 Thermodyne's with 12 speeds would give me a run! Lot of 1693's and early 3406A's Died early expensive deaths becase they were been shifted at 2100 and cruised at 1950 due to the axel ratios and general ignorance of 1693's wide torque curve. Belive peak torque was at 1200 Did have water pump changed at Finning, dont recall it been a big deal??? PS 3406'a (there was never an A) came in both PCTA and DITA. My friend bought new Freightliner in 1977 with PCTA 3406 at 360hp. That truck never let him down!
1693, first used in Cat scrapers at 600-650 horsepower. Introduced into the truck market sometime around 1970. But only 375 to 425 horsepower in highway trucks. Because the drivetrains of the time couldn't handle more horsepower. Also used in military applications. Many had hydraulic retarders. Cat and Jacobs were not getting along when he 1693 and it's little brother (1674) came out, so no Jake's were ever designed for them. As far as power and milage.. lmao 😆😂 I had a 1972 Freightliner with a 1693, at 80k in the hills and highways in the North West, it averaged 7mpg with a top speed of 62mph.. low geared for the hills. Would climb a tree with a full load!!! And it was a LOT QUIETER than the old Cummins!!! 1674 is pre 3306 1693 is pre 3406 You mentioned Jeff @JPAYDIRT. He knows his 💩 about the 1693!!! Good informative video, but the internet doesn't always tell the real story..
I am sorry sir, that D343 engine only put out 465 hp in the scraper engine serial 66w, the D346 that was the front engine in the twin engine scrapers put out 569 hp! That is directly out of the rack setting information book! Was in the trucks in the 1960's. It had a turbo and was 315 hp first series 65b1-222 believe it or not!
Jakes dont work well with Bosch type injection systems as there isnt a way to drive the slave pistons efficiency. Thats why a Jake ot Dynatard on a Cat or Mack basicly just makes noise. While on Detroits and Cummins the unit injector cam drives the Jake. This timing opens exhaust valves nearly perfectly...
Jay’s a really cool guy! I drove a 1693 PCTA 425 HP, 13 over-and 3.90 rears in a KW cabover had a 5” straight pipe on it. Sounded like a motor grader going under an overpass! Awful fuel mileage but man would it pull, back out until it “cackled” and it felt like it’d roll the asphalt up. Would live forever but super expensive to in frame and NEVER EVER overheat it, crack the head around the pre-combustion chambers! Was cheaper to scrap the truck than buy a head. Real tough to work on in a truck, head, oil cooler, water pump and fuel pump would get ya cussin’. Super cool engine back in the day though. Thanks for the trip back there!
I loved the sounds a 1693 Cat would make at idle. They knocked and pinged and it was normal. They were high hp for their time. I knew a guy that had a 1693 TA at 425 hp. The turbocharger was huge, and it had tons of turbo lag. He said it was a horse! A 1674 Cat was the predecessor to the 3306. The 1160 Cat was the early 3208. I had heard that Ford and Cat collaborated on designing the 1160. I have seen 1160's painted Ford blue in Ford trucks.
Or did you mean 1673/D333 was the predecessor to 3306? It gets a little confusing because some OHC engines were marketed as 1673 (C IIRC?) while mostly 1673 designated a pushrod engine.
Thanks Josh and thanks to all who have commented on this engine. I'm lucky enough, I hope, to have owned a D343 for the last 10 years. It was used as a 175Kw Genny but I have converted it to drive a fairly large water pump. I live in a wild fire zone in the Otways in Southern Victoria Australia and it is an important part of my fire fighting system, I'm not planning on leaving if it hits the fan down here. Noisey YES. Gives the fuel Budget a bit of a workout YES. Gets run up and loaded every 3 weeks. Starts easy, Sweet as a nut, runs as clean as a whistle love it. I would like to to get the Rev's to 1800 but 1650 RPM is the max I can get. Still working on it. I'm pleased you mentioned JPaydirt, great channel as well.
Hands down would change a water pump on a D343 over a 1693 any day of the week! Worked on both engines in my career of 47 years with Cat dealer! The D343 was in a lot of heavy equipment and lasted a lot years! The retarder on the back acted as a brake saver, worked on lots of them. The reason for the fuel system being that long down the side, was the original fuel system was a big box type, that went down that side, so when they went to the compact pump, they just made a tube from the back to the pump to put it in the same location! Simple answer. The original block was studded not head bolts, bot that was fun setting the height, there was three different lengths, that and they were not spacer plated! Want to know more? Made a lot of hand made tools to do valve adjustment and other things on those engines. If you ever need to repair the cam follower the socket part number 5P8691!
@@Jpaydirt Did you ever work on the A model, we had one in our haul low bed, that we sold off and 30 year later came back for us to work on! This engine had a compression relief shaft it was so old, and had to adjust it as well! It was also the first engine I worked on when I went to the spec shop as an apprentice around 1975!
Used to have 2 Petes with 1693. A friend had a 76 Pete with a 93 and a 6 and a 4 speed. Had a lot of steelhauling friends that had 1693TA all turned up. Made a great engine for hauling heavy. 😊
Had a 1693 in a 352 Pete. Loved that engine, one of the best on the road in the early seventies. I thought Cat was Way ahead of everyone with the overhead cam design. Nothing could touch it, except a KTA Cummins , or V12 Detroit . When you come up to a big hill, or mountain Game over with the old Pete Leading the convoy. I was an Idiot when I sold the old girl 2006 Still running today and I still miss it. Always enjoy your videos. TGP
One reason was interchangeable parts. The 1600 series each engine was unique. The 3400 series, several parts was interchangeable. The first 3406's (92U's) had a major design flaw. The rocker arms was lubricated via the head bolt holes. They would fill the radiator up with oil, as the spacer plate gasket could not handle the psi. So around serial number 6,000 the block was redesigned with oil passages that feed the oil through a port in the head. The fix on the older engines was to drill the rocker arm head bolt holes in the spacer plate. Put in a metal insert and contain the oil. I actually had an engine that some one put the early head onto a oil dowel head. Burned up all the rocker arms, as the lubrication was shut off. Another odd problem on the 92U engines, they could be PC or DI. When you got one in with the wrong piston's you could kill all the mosquito's in the building.
I ran several 1693 ta engines biggest problem was the cam drive gasket they always leaked oil. They would go around almost anything very powerful engines.
I owned one of those early 92Us in a 1976 Pete cabover 360 HP. Stopped to sleep a bit on the Ohio Turnpike rest area, when I got up in the morning I found a big puddle of oil under the radiator.
bought a 1973 K100 double sleeper with a 1693 engine; 355 rear end; 13-speed transmission; engine was a great engine you are 100 percent correct. Unfortunately, the fuel mileage was 3.5 to 4 miles per gallon. It was a very heavy engine so it didn't sell to the major freight companies. I was a furniture mover and it lasted me for well over 1million miles and I loved it.
One reason the fuel pump was mid engine mounted was to make room for a timing advance and a bolted collar to be able to adjust the timing. I was the only person in our truck engine shop that liked working on them , yes the water pumps were a bear to work on, still. have many custom bent wrenches for removing them
I have been in the trucking business for 45 plus years. The 1693 was a million mile engine. It was also a very high torque engine. I have over the years operated every cat that came out in a truck. Cat has the best engine for transportation than any other make on the market today. I will sir save the rest of my remarks to myself. My father always said if you can't say something nice or complimentary then don't say it at all.
A disgruntled truckie who was driving a truck with a Cat motor in it said to me one day that they should stick to putting Cats in graders. He wasn’t happy and I don’t know what the problem was. Maybe that is why Cat doesn’t make truck motors anymore.
I drove a 73 W900 2 stick 4x4 with the 1693 and I thought it was awesome, maybe because I was young and that was my first long haul truck. A 240 WB was huge back then also, it was the original 41/4 cat. I think most trucks at that time got about 4mpg. On the live it was the engine I thought about right away!
In the 70’s Monfort transport out of Greeley Co ran these in their KW’s and they were fast. They were called circus wagons due to their colorful paint scheme and the left lane on the interstates were known as the Monfort lane on the CB’s. The rest of us had 8v71 Detroits or 903 Cummins.
I started driving trucks in the late 70s. I remember these engines from that time. I loved the sound of these engines. Claterpillar is a great word for them.
I had one in a Peterbilt cabover it 425 horse. It had plenty of power I loved it. It had a 11 gallon radiator. Idle it over night and when you left in the morning you would put on a good smoke show
My name is Alex one of my favorite engines is the one i have in my dump truck, a C13 what i love about it its reliable and pulls pretty good while loaded and man when empty its pretty quick, i be making people mad cause they couldn't get passed me when their lane ends lol, also i haven't had any problems with it so far and another thing i love is the sound especially the Jakes 😍, one day ima have me a big ole C15 or C16 those things are beasts for now ima take care of this C13, I Love CAT
1969; I order a custom-built Freightliner, when Freightliner was still being built on Swan Island, 1693 powered. Rebuilt at 1, ONE million miles, retarder added. Retired at two million miles. Today it lives on a pallet in my warehouse. 525 horse, top Cabbage pass at 53 mph, 73280 gvw. Since that purchase I've enjoyed 3406 & 3408 (not so much the 08) Side note; in those early days Cat invited us O/O to stop wherever we found the Cat service rig, typically highway construction sites, for our service needs.
I have heard of several 1693's being high milers. Back in my wrenching days ,remember a customer having them in log trucks. 2 of them went over a million before rebuild. They were also popular yarder engines. Had many customers with them in Madill 009's and others. Cranked up the fuel a bit and was common to get 550 575 horsepower out of them. Of course they didn't last as long. 1693's yarded many a board foot of logs back in the day.
Ya! On your livestream a couple days ago, I thought you’d mention the 1693, but NOOO! You young whippersnapper you Josh lol! When I was first driving I worked with a guy named BK and he had a long nose 359 with a 1693. The nickname of that engine in a truck was DOZER MOTORand it made a beautiful rattle sound and a ton of black smoke! Love your channel!
I drove a 1972 KW with this engine for about 3 years. This engine was brought over from Cat's earth movers. It was designed to be a very long life engine and it was. I believe my brothers '72 had well over 1 million miles before they parked it for good. A couple of things, if my understanding is correct, with precups they could use very basic fuel injecters. I think I heard one person deride them as being fuel driblers. The engine was heavy, didn't start well, averaged about 4.5 mpg. But on the plus side, while it rattled terribly at a idle, as soon as you revived it up it smooth out. Under heavy load it was glass smooth, overall the smoothest diesel I have ever driven, and I have been driving trucks now for 50 years. One other thing nobody ever mentions, back in these years there was no cruise control. But these engines had governors, and that together with a hand throttle worked surprisingly well, much better then any Cummins on the hand throttle. They may of been rated at 425hp but always acted like they had more. It took one very hopped up Cummins to keep up, and souped up like that those Cummins needed to be inframed about every 350,000 miles. I know, because I had one, after I had to move out of the '72. We were in the log hauling trade out west by the way.
Tom here. Love my 2000 6NZ. I’ve had it torn down in my driveway. Easy to fix. Plus Mr. Adept Ape did an overhead on her and runs like a champ! Also love my 2000 excursion with the 7.3 power-stoke. It’s slow, but it’s a tank and pulls my 10,000lb RV with no problems out here in the Utah mountains 👍🏻
This was a really fascinating dive into cat history. I know you’re busy, but I think it would be a really cool cornerstone of your videos. If you did more segments like this when you can talking about heavy equipment and truck engines that cat has made, I think you learn a lot more about modern stuff from the research of things like this
I would have to say my favorite CAT is the C15. Everyone, including myself loves the 3406 series - but these seem to mostly be reliable for everyone I know that runs them. I’ve spent a lot of time around fellas rebuilding them, and any CAT is fun to work on and we always had a lot of fun and good times- brought a lot of us together during some tough times, as well.
Cole Youngren, my favorite Engine would have to be a 12 valve Cummins. My main reason is even after tons of wear andtear They hold up in all conditions. I have one ina 94 Dodge that didn’t run for roughly 20 years and with a little bit of maintenance, it fired right up. Thank you for what you do Josh keep up the hard work!
I drove a 76 Pete 359 long hood with a 1693 in it for a few years. It had both a brake saver and Jake's on it. 475 hp and gobs of torque, the truck didn't know if it was loaded. Wonderful driving truck.
Matt Barry here, My favorite Cat engine is the 3406. I like the 3406 because of its simplicity and reliability. It was produced in many variations for a long time and put in lots of applications proving it could power just about anything. It most is certainly why Cats diesel engines have the great reputation they have!
Most dependable and smoothest motors ever ran. Brakesavers with double countershaft 5x4 s .What a combo .. Never found anything any better in 45 years of driving. Didn't care about fuel mileage back then and they were very quite.
The 1693 I rebuilt several of them, I am old have been working heavy equipment for 51 years. Truck engines also heavy equipment all makes. Enjoy my career and still working 👍👏😎
I've used a peterbilt 359 with a 1693ta Cat in it back and I got to say it's a real unique engine pretty good on fuel, and very reliable, a very loud engine but reliable as hell
James Hill here, my favorite engine would be the Caterpillar C-15. I drove Oshkosh 8×8 military trucks in the Army, the first three generations of these trucks had 8V92 Detroit power. The 4th generation was repowered with C-15's, and the power was unmatched. The engine would pull any load we could put on it with ease.
Hi Josh, My favorite Cat motor is the C12. Hi this Bill Borden, I have a Cat C12 in our Beaver Patriot Thunder, this has been a great motor. I have kept it serviced and updated all the systems and filters that I can . This C12 just purrs. Back 14 years ago we bought this Beaver Coach in Montana at Flathead Lake and brought it into Western States in Missoula, so we can have it checked out, the Motor & chassis prior to our purchase. Then Western States completed a full service, before we headed home. I am a big fan of your channel, & enjoy your videos very much.
We had a 1969 Caterpillar 988A with a D343. We loved it. It was extremely durable and long lasting. I never remember it being a leaker. It also had great power, once you started digging it kept pulling. A friend who was Cummins man said they used to call out on the CB, when they hit a hill, "Here kitty, here kitty". We never had one in a truck, but we loved it. It was expensive and heavy.
Cat 3406e is my favorite motor.. I learned to drive on it it has been a reliable and powerful motor. Almost nothing will leave ya on the side of the road and no Def.
When I started in the trucking industry in the early 80's one of our larger customers was in the timber and lumber business. They had a large fleet of Peterbuilts and ran strictly nothing but 1693 Cat motors, they would purchase everyone they could get their hands on and spare parts up into the 90's.
The funny thing about overhead cam engines is they have been around a lot longer than people think. Holt 2-ton tractors pre-caterpillar had overhead cam gas engines in the teens and into the 1920's. I am not 100% sure but the reason for the long driveshaft for the injection pump on 1693 is that there's a timing advance setup in their runs with oil presser to advance the pump. keep up the good work
Correct, in the long housing has a hydraulic timing advance. Has an oring that wears and will let oil bypass. You could take the pump off and not have to retime the engine. The advance had two flyweights and the main part was called the power piston. It had a helix cut on one end to twist the fuel system pump in the advance position. The bad thing, if you had to replace the power piston (should not have to). You had to drill the hole in the shaft manually. They was two settings in the book. The side had a collar that hooked the advance to the gear train. Two 1/2 bolts with locking tabs. You never backed the engine up to check pin timing. Always turn it forward as the gears in the back was excessive. Checking timing, you had the bolt in the flywheel, pin in the fuel pump, pull the plug out of the back and see if the flat part of the drive is on the top (also had a dot) and if you had to. You would have to pull the valve cover and see if the exhaust cam timing marks was lined up with the intake camshaft.
They also had a V8 - 346, V12 - 348 and a V16 - 349. All of these were overhead cam engines. They had front and rear gear trains. I had one of the 1693 engines that came in my machine shop that had over 1,000,000 miles.
@@jnic2003, The D 399 was generally used in big power units, marine applications, or Draglines. They had 8 cylinder heads, 4 per side 2 cylinders per head. They were in the same family as the big 6-cylinder engines that came in older D8 Dozers. The pistons and valve train were the same. There was The D 353, 6 cyl., 397- 8cyl., 398- 12 cyl., and the 399- 16 cyl. I might be wrong about the D353 I think that engine was in the D-9 Dozers. We always called the ones in the D8 a D8. I have been in the Diesel engine machine shop business for over 40 years. There has been a whole lot of big changes in that amount of time.
Certainly was , Im a UK guy & overhauled loads of D399's in the Libyan Desert, along with D398 & D379's , Worked for a Cat Dealership in Australia overhauling & servicing D3406, D3408's "A" & "B" motors but I love working on those D399's, Looked after correctly , they are Bullet Proof@@jnic2003
Cool....luv the sound of precups.....smoke on startup covering a city block...yip like old cummins glad i lived through that era .No laptop sh-t to diagnose or fix things.
when they were built in the early 60's everybody was running around with 220 and 262 cummins, Endt 673 macks with about 250 hp, Early 8v71 two valve detriots that were at best 290 Hp. So yes the 1693 was huge power at the time, not to mention, not only was fuel cheap then, but diesel was way cheaper than gas, and they didn't have red dye in heating oil, so everybody ran untaxed fuel
The valve adjustment mechanism was referred to as “ click type “. Every time you rotated it one click it adjusted the valve clearance 002. The engine had an Achilles Heel. There was a plug in the crankcase that would work its way out. All the oil would then dump directly into the pan and you needed a new crankshaft. These were pretty much the highest horse engine back in the day. You’d pass everything on the road. Typically… other trucks on the highway would be capped at a Cummins 335, or a 318 Detroit. Oil companies might have some V 12 Detroits but fleet trucks would be less than 350 horse even trucks pulling trains. You used gears, patience, and knowledge of the road back then. I pulled 78,000 on the deck grossing 118,000 lbs in a Dodge C 900 powered by a NH 250 Cummins. You knew where all the invisible hills where. Trailer was a 4 axle with 8 ft spread. In Canada there wasn’t many highways that would compare to an interstate. Where you’d have to split the box, today you might only drop one gear. Mechanical fuel timing had its limitations.
I had driven a couple 1693's back in the day. But I did own a 1674. Loved that motor. First Cat I owned. The precup engines were unique . Had their own sound, But man did they pull. My little 270hp. would give those Cummins 350's a run for their money, plus I was grossing 7,000 to 17,000 lbs. more, depending on the time of year. Hauling logs. My little Cat got good fuel milage back then. Mine had been turned up 10& over stock by Cat and I think he added a couple extra. Miss those old engines. Water pump was easy to rebuild and change.
I had an owner operator pulling for me (I was acting as a broker for several companies) in the late 70s. COE ran east coast from Northwest Iowa every week with a 1693. One time he shut down for about a month to have an out of frame major done on the rig. It was running fine, but he thought it was about time. 1,100,000 and some odd miles. Two sets of mains and rod bearings and that gigantic head was never off the motor in all those miles.
I’m Seth Vigue, I’m technician working on passenger, medium, and heavy trucks as well as equipment. My favorite cat engine is the c13, it’s a simple and reliable engine making good power hence why it’s my favorite.
By todays standards they were not high powered but back then they were torque monsters. Slow accelerating but had staying power. Back then 5 miles to the gallon was big fuel mileage. My friend never had any of the problems you are bringing up with his 1693. The first 3406A were pc engines also. My 3406A was direct injection it was 1976 model yr and was near the begining of direct injection for the 3406
In the mid 70's I worked for Sperry Rail Service testing railroad rails for defects. A lot of the fleet of 70' rail cars had 1693 Cats driving traction generators as their means of propulsion.
You should definitely see the entire latest video, as you may be mentioned in it. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-I6MI-8y2s6k.htmlsi=YehkrBM8Pdoobcqa
I bought a Pete in 82 had for 10 years , when you rolled into a truck stop their was no question what was under the hood. Now I have a 77 Pete with a 425 HP. 1 Negative was the weight of the engine.
John S. here. Call me a sadist, but my favorite engine is either a BXS or MXS C15 ACERT. Had a job working on a fleet of them for years. Pulling doubles over here next door in Montana. 124-133,000 pounds gross. Loaded both ways, they averaged 5-6 mpg in W900’s. Only common issues I saw a lot of were injector cups leaking putting fuel in the coolant. Easy to work on, I truly loved them.
The best engine job I had, was taking two 3412 marine engines and chromed the shit out of the fuel lines and other steal lines, chroming the cover bolts, and valve covers, for a yacht! Then I did the up keep on it the 18 years, will always remember those!
I don't understand how Cat had issues with direct injection at the time of the 1693 because Detroit had been doing direct injection with their unit injectors since pretty much the beginning. Maybe it's something with the 71s, 92s, and 53s being two stroke instead of four and so cylinder pressure isn't as high? I'm not an engineer so idk
Clayne, My favorite CAT engine is the 3406A. Although I love the entire 3406 line... except for the ACERT (that thing is garbage, we're experiencing that real time). The A model is my favorite for nostalgic reasons. My grandpa bought a 1974 Ford L9000 brand new that featured the 3406A. To my understanding, it was the first CAT engine in a truck on the western side of the US. I didn't wrench on this thing, I learned to drive it. By age 11, he let me have full control. By age 17, he commented, "You're a better driver than I ever was." That was the last voyage we ever took together he was 84, retired, and sold that truck.
My father drove a 1976 Peterbilt Cabover had a 325 hp 1693, Cold natured even in warm weather lol. Yes you had to hit the glow plugs for a minute or two, fire it off that thing with shake and smoke and Miss for five minutes before it smooth out. Clattered like crazy until you loaded it then it smoothed out and pulled like a freight train
... the 1693 was upfitted in trucks in the mid sixties to satisfy warranty's on the 1676's . . . . and truckers loved them ... Ive had 5 1693's and one 1673,...
Josh, You can go back even further, in the late fifties, Cat developed the D337F, overhead cams, rear gear train,turbocharged , very similar to the D343, & 1693, they are a beast my favorite Cat engine. I helped rebuild a D337f back in the 1990’s, parts were getting hard to source even back then. I have some pics of it somewhere. Cat used this engine in Antarctica stretch D8’s . small engine mechanic on RU-vid has video 337f generator set under load, awesome.
A good report Josh. The 1693 was a nice truck engine in its day, long lasting, the problem was when it was time for a rebuild it was so expensive people would buy a new truck instead. I spent lots of time around these engines in their industrial version on Madill steel spar log yarders. The choice of power was a Detroit V12 or the 1693 at 500 horsepower. There was no comparison here - the 1693 had literally double the power and burned half the fuel. They ran very smoothly, never found them to be oil leakers. They were very good engines but again expensive at overhaul time. Finning eventually build up a 3406C to replace them.
i knew a guy that had the 1693 in a cabover kenworth. he hualed boats with it. i loved to hear it when he started it in the mourning, he really took great care of it,
