FL-70 and the 8.3 Cummins......

[CumminsPuller]

I need some of you guys to help me out on a descision. To buy or not to buy? A friend of mine has an FL-70 8. 3 cummins with a 10 speed auto. It has 250,000 miles on it give or take a few. I have heard from some that the engine is only good for about 400,000 miles. Is this true? It seems it should be good for more miles than that? Is it a wet sleeved engine? If so what is the cost for a rebuild once 400,000 is reached? The nice thing is I know the history of it and the care he has taken towards it. He never left anything unattended. If more info is needed, please let me know. He is 'willing' to sell it to me for 35K with the air ride drop deck trailer with ramps. The truck also has a sleeper.



Thanks,



Jason

 

[Gonzo 1066]

I would not fear the 8. 3 Cummins a bit. It has been used in industrial and agracultural equipment for years with excellent results. It is not uncommon to see 8 to 10,000 hours on one in ag use with no overhaul. That is running in the dirt and dult all day every day at maximum Horsepower. The engine overhaul kits are very reasonable. Personally I would rather have the 8. 3 Cummins than the 3126 Cat any day.

 

[truckstom]

Sounds like a deal... especially since you know the history... price sounds OK, too.

 

[jam1on1]

my company has 2 fl70 with the 8. 3 a 1995@2002 the 95 has over 200000 on it and ha sonly had a head gskt @turbo the 2002 has 60000 withno problems so far the 2002 has a pakbrake and a allison md 3066 trans love the truck

 

[DKarvwnaris]

We had a 8. 3 in a small dump truck a few years back. Maintenance wasn't too bad. We did have to do an inframe at less than 300,000 on it, but it was also subject to stop and go traffic in town as well as frequent start ups ans shut downs, which is not good for any engine let alone a diesel. It was a FL-70 1998 model if I remember correctly.

Truck has since been sold and replaced by an older ford f-800 with a Cat motor in it. The F-8 has proved to be a better cab for our purposes, the FL was starting to turn into a rattle box at around 350,000 with fewer and fewer ways to silence it.

If you are planning to operate the truck as just a hauler on nice paved roads with little gravel or rough surface mileage, I would think the price and truck aren't bad either.

Automatic transmission trucks we have had seemed to required less engine repair that most manual transmission trucks. I am sure this is due to the slushboxes taking the abuse and allowing the engine to idle up to its required power demands verses our drives beating the poor trucks to death to get up a hill or back from the last load of the day. I have been left with multiple transmission rebuilds with the automatics though so I guess in the end, it comes out a draw.

Just one thought, I never sell or buy trucks from friends unless we have a third person look the thing over and we understand it is an as/is purchase and we both agree that no piece of metal is worth our friendship. Worst things I can think of loosing a friend over is money or a vehicle.

 

[bzingre]

8.3

The 8. 3 is a good engine for the FL-70. Sized correctly with horsepower and torque ratings to make it effective in many applications. To do a complete in-frame overhaul, you're probably looking at about 4-6 K depending on weather or not you're going do a turbo and injectors. Keep in mind that there are many different levels of overhaul. 400K is probably about right for B50 life or when 50% of the population is expected to need major work. Remember that engine life is not determined by miles, but rather amount of fuel burned. Hope that helps.