This one is for you, Jim W....repowering a CAT D9L

[mwilson]

Nice article with a tricky repower....

https://www.equipmentworld.com/vint...cbSf3GHJLu0nXw50cgmnyaozLjH9SpIFsWk5aiEzREXOo

 

[mwilson]

Be sure to go all the way down the page for the "Before and After" videos......

 

[Timd32]

That was really cool. Nice job to those guys.

Really sharp, glad the company gave them the time and budget to follow thru.

 

[Whitewolf]

That was a great article!
I used to work for Cat as a machinist until the mid '90s. Most of my career there was spent finish grinding the bearings, both main and rod. During part of my time there, I made the cranks for the 3400 series engines. The 3406 (6 cylinder) had a traditional crank. The 3408 (8 cyl) and the 3412 (12 cyl) had split connecting rod bearings. They were offset from each other. We called those bearings on any crank, 'pins'.
With a traditional crank, two pistons are at TDC at the same time. With the split pin cranks, only 1 piston is at TDC at a time. I was told the engines could run at a higher RPM because of this. The cranks had huge counterweights at each end that were drilled for balancing.

 

[Jim W]

Hey Mike, that video is awesome.
I wonder if the Cat service people ever got any input into that machine. I doubt it, now the philosophy at Cat has changed, which in my opinion is bad for the customer and Cat. The upper management has changed tremendously, no longer being employees who worked at Cat for some time, but employed from other firms.

The upper management just doesn’t have the old Cat mentality of being in the dirt and now think dirt is not a good thing for upper management. They only worry about the bottom line for the next six month, not the long term.

 

[RUSSELL5000]

That was an interesting and enjoyable read!