V8 Cummins????????

[CumminsPuller]

I had someone tell me that cummins makes a V8 or an 8 cylinder... ... . I had never heard that... . I tried to tell him he was incorrect. But if they do what vehicles are they found in and who uses them? I believe when you get to the F550, 650, etc... they have an option for the cummins(ISB) we are currently using in our rams... . correct?



Jason

 

[Ray Torresdal]

V8 Cummins

I don't know what they are currently manufacturing, but Cummins certainly has made V8's. The 555, and 903 are 2 that come to mind immediately. The 903 I drove wasn't a bad engine, better fuel economy than most of that era, but it definately needed a 13 speed - 10 speed splits were too big.



Ray

 

[Philip]

If my memory serves me right. Cummins pulled the 903 from OTR trucks in the late 80's. At that time it was to be used for gen/pump sets only. The company I worked for had a bunch of them in some late 70's model KW's. Torsion bar suspension also. WOW talk about kidney busters. You didn't want to run empty for very far.



Like Ray said the 903 wasn't a bad engine. It needed close gearing to work at its best. Or flat ground if you used a wide gear ratio gear box. (I. E. the 13 speed worked better than the 8/9/10 speed boxes).



You could get the engines with or without turbo's. The horse power was the same either way. If I remember right it was around 290 HP. The turbo just killed some of the smoke. It made the engine a little more efficient.



I haven't seen a 903 in anything smaller than a full size single or double axle semi tractor. The size of it made it a poor choice for a intermediate size rig. The F550 or 650 series would not take one. The engine bay is to small on the width measurement.



I haven't been around a 555 so I can't say anything about it.

 

[Ray Torresdal]

Cummins V8

The 555 was a much older engine than the 903 - I don't think there were any put in trucks by the mid-60's. The 555 had serious reliability problems, as I recall. (I only drove one once. ) The 903's I was around were rated 320 Hp. , putting a turbo on did not increase the Hp. rating. I think the turbo's were required if you wanted to go to California. I know when we went to CA with a non-turboed version, the owner was concerned about not getting stopped for excess smoke, and this was back in '72.



I think I read that 903's were used for military purposes also - tank engines???



Ray

 

[HillCountrykid]

The 903 was/is used in military vehicles. I'm not sure if it is used in any tanks. I do know that they used them in the Bradley personnel carrier.



Brian

 

[DGFoster]

We had 903 in some coal trucks we bought and took to Florida,they were pullin engines,nothing could stop them,but the thing is they had a tendinsy to self distruct,so much unstopable power they couldn't hold together,so I think that is why they used them for eregation pump engines and generators.

At least that was the word I got from all the guys who owned them. .

 

[DGFoster]

Here is a somewhat of a pic of a 903. .

 

[DGFoster]

A better look.

 

[Blakers]

Is the 903 the Cummins V8 they put in farm tractors awhile back?



Blake

 

[Philip]

We never had any problems with the 903's worth talking about. An injector every once in a while. Replaced some gaskets. the lowest mileage one we had was over 300k miles. In the east coast yard they had some with 750k.



Our type of driving was the worst type also. Our trucks didn't get over 150 miles from the barn. All short haul. All heavy loads.



I think Cummins pulled it because the OTR company's were switching to in lines. The 903 didn't get the mileage of the in-line 350's. Most of the 903's we had only run around 5 mpg or less. The 350's we had in some freight shakers run around 6 to 8 depending on the driver. Both mfg's of truck we used had the same rears and transmissions> 4:30 gears with 9 spd's.

 

[DGFoster]

Yes I think head gaskets were one of the problems,I loved the engine I think it was awsome.

 

[yogibear]

The 555 and 903 was used in a lot of the 4WD farm tractors. There are quite a few of the 903's in Massey Furguson 250 to 300hp tractors around here yet. Some of them have to have 15K hrs. or more on them.

 

[Harley152]

check your archives. as a former marine engineer, cummins has(and probably still does) mfg. 4,6,v-6,8,v-8,10,v-10,v-12,v-16, and probably many more combinations and configurations!!

 

[Steve Campbell]

I ran a few 903's...

Probably the best running one was sigificantly modified. Turbo off an 855. , 8 hole injector nozzles, my owm exhaust plumbing, intercooler off of a Mack, etc. The best part, one day we loaded about 4 loads at Baker Oregon and were headed back to Caldwell Idaho. When getting on the freeway at Baker, the entrance ramp was 6 or 7%. In th lead was a 86,000lb Truck and trailer with a 400 Cummins. "This 903 powered" truck was next loaded to 105,000 (triples) and pulled out and passed the 1st truck. We decided to lower the fueling after that. It was fun for a while

 

[A Johnson]

903 my worst nightmare!!!!

Beins were on the subject , thought I'd add my 2 bits.

I've worked on 903s' in marine, tractor, trucks, shovels, yarders,just about anything that needed 250- 350 HP.

They weren't a bad engine just were difficuclt to work on in comparison to the 855s'.

As Steve Campbell says they could really put out the juice, I never hopped any up but my old forman told me there was not a problem getting 500 hp @ 3000 rpm and they would smoke anything around, in there day. I know a couple old truck drivers that still dream about hopping one up today, although they never have the money.

My worst experience was one we had out of a Ford cabover. I don't remember the exact reason , I think something had gone wrong in the gear train. Anyway one of the mechanics decided to change the rear cam bushing only, I ended up on it at the tail end of the job and was the one to fire it up. It idled fine and everything was looking good when I decided to bring up the RPM a bit, all went well until I hit 1800 and then the most awful ear-pearcing screach came out of the engine and the engine went from 1800 to 0 rpm in about 1/5 of a nanosecond. The entire shop went dead quiete, you could have heard a mouse pass gas, then an old boy walks up to me and says I reckon they should aught notta changed that cam bushing.

Need less to say I ended up pulling the engine and fixing it. It lived, but the owner never came up with the money for the first repair and I think it was sent off to the highest bidder. A Johnson

 

[Cummins Cowboy]

So what is the most bombable Big rig cummins engine of all time. Or any brand engine for that matter. I saw a thread a while back about a KTA cummins 1100ci (i think) that put out over 1000hp. Where these very good engines???

 

[A Johnson]

I think the K series were very good engines at 525Hp, these also would really put the horespower and torque when hopped up. I really think they made a better stationary engine and I can't exactly explain why.

The marine Ks' seem to last forever as 20,000 hrs doesn't really seem to be a problem to acheive before overhaul, and the camshafts also seem to last a long time.



As far as the most bomamble my vote goes for the old Big Cam 3, the reason is anyone with fifteen minutes, a flat button and a stack of governor shims could get 500 plus horespower out of a stock 350 or 400. This is about the cheapest hp you can get, although you definately paid for it in engine longevity. I really don't know which engine would give the most horespower if money was unlimited. I assume at sometime it boils down to cubic inch. Also the Caterpillar V-8 ( 3408?) would really put it out and give the K a good run for its money if not stomp it outright.

A Johnson

 

[Jff24Gordn]

tripple nickels were found in quite a bit of farm equipment. here is one in my bosses terra gator fertalizer spreader. its turboed and rated at 250 hp. My neighbor has one in a AC 440. Its a early 4x4 AC tractor. they sound wixked with a strait pipe.

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[QRTRHRS]

Jff24Gordn



I bet that would be way cool if you took those axles off that terra gator and put them under the Dodge.



V8 Cummins powered Massy's go for cheap around me. Take a bit of fuel but cheap horsepower!

 

[Archive]

Before extrude honing hit the mainstream a guy could replace 8-7-17 cups with 9-8-18's and up size the injector metering orifices. (N series 855's) Flow the set at 210cc and you're good to go. Next grab a button and some RPM shims. (from AJohnson ) Drill out the EPA break-off bolts to tweek the fuel pump. If you were lucky, it was a PTG and not an AFC model. This combo made for a heck of a good left lane setup. The cam follower injector pins and rollers were the only flies in the ointment. BTW, at this point in my post you should realize just how wonderful an EZ box truly is.



The KTA's were 1150c. i. and were built too heavy for the class 8 market. I. E. six individual cylinder heads. Too heavy in trucking means lost payload capacity. ($$) In the mid seventies early eighties a conventional Pete or KW with a hot KT525 or better yet a KTA600 and you were a true blue "Super Trucker". Guess how I supplemented my income back then? Whelp,... I'm showing my advanced age here reminiscing. (returning to passive spectator mode)

Have Fun.