The fire dept. that I am on purchased an 08' Peterbilt chassis that has a Paccar PX-8 engine rated at 360HP 1050ft/lbs torque. I realize that the Paccar's are just re-badged Cummins engines. However, I cannot find what Cummins model it translates to. I am trying to find out if anyone makes a performance programmer for this engine to get a little more horsepower and torque. Does Paccar use the same PCM's (ECU) as Cummins (I can't find any part numbers on the engine)? The truck performance is doggy at best. We are not looking to win any races, just have a little more get up and go. Any ideas?

Thanks
-Muzzy

 

i would just leave it stock for reliability, especially if it's a fire truck you definetly want reliabilty and if they wanted more hp out of the engine they would make them with more, if you add power gainers you may burn pistons or do some serious damage when you need the truck most. just my opinion

 

It is an ISC Cummins spray-painted black. Anything for an ISC works on a PX-8.

 

Thanks for the info.
-Muzzy

 

Why do you want more hp in a fire truck?

Just curious...

 

We originally spec'd the chassis with a 435HP Cummins ISM. However, due to budget constraints we ended up settling for the PX-8. This is a pumper/tanker that holds 3000 gallons of water. As the truck sits, it weights close to 26 ton. We want to get to the fire before the house burns down...he he. There are some hills in our fire district that aren't very steep, but the truck takes forever to get up. From a stop, you can put the peddle to the metal and it literally takes 10 seconds to start rolling. There isn't much we can do not other than tell those that were budgeting the dollars "we should have spent the extra $15K for the larger chassis and engine".

We modeled our truck off one from another district that had a Cat C13 435HP. However, that was a 2007 pre-2008 emissions chassis before Cat dropped their commercial truck engines.

NFPA required out chassis be speed limited to 65MPH, which is fine for something that large and heavy, but that doesn't mean it should take 3 miles to get to 65MPH.

-Muzzy

 

I used to be assigned to a truck that would do over 80. Not sure how fast it would really go 'cause I never looked after that. It got regeared so it would only do 62 after that incident. BTW, it took a looong time to get up to speed. We had one hill in our FMA that pulled it down to 12 MPH. I didn't know NFPA addressed top speeds but maybe that came into vogue after I retired.

 

NFPA has put their nose into all kinds of truck building stuff now. There are approved reflective chevron stripes that are supposed to be on all new trucks. 2008 they required the rear left emergency lights to be amber instead of blue flashing (red on right side, amber on left). Supposedly studies show more people pay attention to amber on highways due to construction workers. They have been trying to mandate removing airpacks from the cab seats and putting them outside in a compartment. It is supposed keep firefighters from trying put airpacks on while the truck is moving. They can take safety a little too far.

-Muzzy

 

Oh yeah, I know they've had their hooks in a lot of stuff over the years. The have done a lot of good but sometimes it cramps your style. I was gone before they even allowed the blue lights but we had the amber while I was still working at least on the engine. I can't recall if my rig had one or not. I think it did. I know we were not supposed to be putting on air packs on the way but everybody did it.

When I first was hired we didn't have any 4 door cabs and eventually there were cables installed to hopefully keep you from going out of the jump seat. I think it was the very first call I was on after those were installed the driver mashed it without looking back. I was not completely on the rig and the cable kept me from going off.

 

PX 8 is an 8.3 litre cummins.

 

If it is a fire truck now it is classed as an emergency vehical and your local cummins can uprate it to an emergancy rating. It will take some work to prove that it is foe emergancy use but it can be done.

 

ISC cummins