We are getting ready to upgrade our boom truck this year. Do you guys have a recommendation for a engine that will hold up idling for long periods and enduring several starts and stops per day? We are looking at buying a used day cab 3-5 years old and having a new 40 ton crane mounted on it. Our current truck is a 330 Peterbilt with the 3126e 330hp Cat weighing 47k. The engine isn't nearly enough for the weight it has to pack around all day. Thinking of 425hp+.
Thanks.

 

My thought would be to install a differently geared PTO to run the crane so that the engine isn't 'idling' all day but is instead letting the motor run between 12 and 15 hundred RPM. Better for the motor no matter what the HP rating is.

 

I run a 40 ton National on a Kenworth C 550. Its a tractor mount, tandem - tridrive, so it would be a little bigger & heavier than what you have. I have a Cummins ISX 565. The engine has been really good, lots of power, really good Jake, never let me down once. It has 7700hrs on the truck with only 120,000 km. I run about a constant 1200 rpm when running the crane. Its a good engine, I would recommend it.

 

A fleet I used to work on was 07 pete 379's with 425hp ISX's, and they had PTO's on em for vac'n chem tankers. Not sure what kinda PTO they had on em, but they would idle em up to about 1200 and pump away and never had any problems. If you look for something along those lines, you may find a truck with a pto already mounted. Too bad you are from alaska, last I heard they were gettin ready to get rid of those trucks, not daycabs tho.

 

Thanks for the info it sounds like the higher HP engines hold up just as well as the little ones. 425hp would be great, 565 would be awesome. I am pulling for a Cummins this time, the Kitty Cat has been in the shop way too many times for the care that it receives. Now that our construction season has started I am afraid the new truck will have to wait until winter. Guess I would rather drive the Al-Can in the winter anyways. Hopefully we can find something in the Northwest this time. I drove the Pete up in February from Indiana solo, pretty slow trip with only 330hp.

Whistler447 you must be working around Grande Prairie or Ft. Nelson? I have seen a bunch of boom trucks around that area when I have driven through. Seen some really nice equipment when I stayed in Ft. Nelson a couple of weeks ago.

 

I am based out of Grande Prairie, but I`m on a 3 month job Northeast of Ft Nelson right now. If you see any trucks with Capstan Hauling on the boom, thats us.

 

Capstan Hauling, you guys guys got some nice trucks.
I use to work for a Oil field company we ran Kenworth T800 tandoms tandoms 40 ton boom trucks, with Cummins ISX425 those things will idle all day long with little problems and when you needed them to work they did.
Most of our trucks had very little problems with anything mechanical.

 

I ran a winch tractor for a while with a N-14. 26000hr when I left it and never had a rebuild. **** good engine.

 

Thanks guys that is what I wanted to hear. Is there a dealer you would recommend around your area to pickup a clean used 40 ton rear mount with a cab? I can find 40's in the lower 48 but they are usually on Sterlings with barely enough motor to haul them down the road.