greatwhite

My work truck has a C-15 ACERT 475hp Cat. My buddy's truck has an N 14 460hp Cummins. Pulling roughly equal loads (+-3000lbs) through the hills of Northern Ontario, not only will he walk away from me on the hills, he gets about 1.2-1.5 mpg better than I do. My 04 has about370,000km, his 2000 has about 800,000km.

So, given my choice, I'll stick with the redhead and leave the blonde for those with more desire for status than function.

derek840378

blondes are overrated anyways

BIGBADBOB

At work we had a digger derrick with a 3116 Cat and allison auto in a GM chassis. We spent most of the time searching for fuel or a shop. I have had two dodge cummmins, the first one impressed me so much I bought a second.

hammerjammer

Correct.,plus try finding some-one who knows how to work on them.

hammerjammer

The cat is a great engine,but in general cost more, are more expensive to repair and have fewer service locations.They are quieter, and much smoother than the cummins.

P Kennedy

Comparing an empty pickup with a Cummins to a service rig always loaded and running while working is a comparison just slightly lop sided don't you think. As far as a red-headed woodpecker thumping the crap out of a 15 litre Cat something ain't right or we have another fish story happening. Hauled logs and lowbed in the mountains with ugly loads most of my life and the big C just don't have the bottom end like a Cat for suck holing down in the bottom end. Maintence cost is not higher on a Cat due to the fact they go longer between valve sets and in-frames, initial cost higher yes, parts higher yes based on 1,000,000 miles of life and 140,000 lb loads not a chance. Detroit have a better service life than either Cat or Cummins with better fuel milage and cheaper rebuilds, I sure would like to see folks with no ownwership experience to stop brand bashing based on heresay. I love my Cummins in my pickup but I have never owned a Cummins 855 or N series that took the abuse of heavy pulling, lugging, heat and long life of my 3406 Cats. ISX's and K (Cummins) blocks longevity records are even worse- M11, L10, ISB, and ISC are their best engines but they have their limits too. The smaller electronic Cats have had their share of hiccups too but comparing a 6L Cummins weighing 8-10,000lbs to a 20-25,000lb service rig with a 7L engine working while not moving adding hours to the meter is not an honest comparison. Put a B Cummins in a log skidder and you will be spending more time looking for the mechanic, it is a working machine now not just a pretty street rod. Also I hate to say this but some of the repeat repairs you see on any engine at any shop are not the engines fault but mechanic/technicians with poor skills and poor ethics- remember they don't own a bolt in it. PK

ajpulley

Mine was the 3406E 550. I don't remember what my axles were. Always was trying to stay as close to peak torque as possible.

MrHappy

That's all fine and dandy until the crank goes out on the N14.
Hope they checked for block fretting on the last re-bearing....
Oh, and hopefully your Cat crank doesn't break at #6.

See...I'm biased towards both.
Because I know better.

greatwhite

PK, no fish story. I will admit crying to the boss about buddy kicking my tail in the hills and at the fuel desk. The truck went into Cat for the "updates" and pulled much better, but fuel mileage dropped about 5%.

The Cat will dig deeper before the downshift than the Cummins, and I will admit that we don't pull super-B loads through the big hills. But his N14 definitely out-performs my C-15 regularly.

So given my druthers, I'd pick the Cummins over a Cat for my pickup too!

BTW I've pulled more than a few lumber loads out of Sundre. Seems to be a nice town!

Pwr Generation

You can get a Cat in a Ford, and Cummins too. Cat is the only close competitor to Cummins and each cover their own piece of the market. But Cummins are the only light engine designed to go 300k mi. NO one else does. And Cummins are already Tier 3 compliant Cat was just told that their Acert technology is already patented by a hobbiest postal worker and they need to pay up.

neveragain

Well this 5.9 NEVER HAS WORKED SO NEVER WILL OWN A ***-ins AGAIN!!!! With everone able to handly beat me on acceleration. They cryslurr and ***-ins have proved that they don't know how to diagnose any thing.I didn't spend $42,000 plus to spend $15,000 plus to fix FACTORY SNAFU's.

Looking at the C-15 for the truck that I may get soon.

thumper 549

Once you go price a h2o pump for a cat you will never go back!!.....but I would trade for a small Series 60 in a flash!

jrs_dodge_diesel

There is a reason why they are painted gold.

A-Poc

I kinda wish there was other brands with the Cat engine... I like the Dodge/Cummins combo and everything... I just want to be able to put 'Here Kitty Kitty' across my windshield and people actually understand why

neveragain

With th money that I have wasted on this junk ( cume from the factory) to have bought a goooooood truck and engine that would give the power that it would have, would have been soooooooo wonderful.

I don't care what an injector pump might cause because the way that I drive and treat a vehicle it would last almost for ever. It wouldn't be something that I would mind to have to buy a goood piece of equipment.