robp823 Posted December 17, 2008 Share Posted December 17, 2008 My shop manager was talking about starting to bring in these trucks for service and drivability. My question is dont some of these trucks have CAT and cummins engines in them?? Is there any info on PTS about diagnostics for these engines or are we gonna have to order some shop manuals from CAT and cummins for powertrain diag and service procedures?? Any help always appreciated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Browning Posted December 17, 2008 Share Posted December 17, 2008 Uhhg! Unless you are serious and are going to dive into medium duty trucks completely you might want to reconsider. My dealer sells a handful of LCF/F-650/F-750 trucks a year. Many of these are either small businesses that run one truck or they supplement their light duty fleet with a heavier class truck. The trucks are not difficult to work on in general. The LCF is easy to get a handle on for any Ford diesel tech but you will need MD Truck software and the communication adapter. The F-650/750 require more equipment, tools and training. CAT engines are popular but CAT is getting out of the on-highway truck engine business. They are also difficult to deal with. Until recently these trucks could be equipped with International engines and if you are equipped to handle an LCF you are good to go there. I rarely see one with a Cummins engine and I do not have any equipment or support for those engines. Lastly, Allison transmissions require your dealer to be Allison certified and all of their stuff if proprietary. They are also impossible to deal with unless you are an Allison dealer/service center. My dealer gets by, I can determine if I can handle repairs other than the cab and chassis and many times defer the customer to CAT or Allison. Servicing them has never been an issue though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastendpowerstroke Posted December 17, 2008 Share Posted December 17, 2008 Quote: Uhhg! Unless you are serious and are going to dive into medium duty trucks completely you might want to reconsider. +11111111111 Cat is stopping all on highway truck engines on 12/31/08. There is no navistar engine available the last I knew. Cummings is the only option, and there people are not "user friendly" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robp823 Posted December 18, 2008 Author Share Posted December 18, 2008 yea i do alot of lcf work i really dont like working on them, we do have the md truck software it helps. I did hear that about CAT not doing anymore on highway engines and if its gonna be hard to get info on these engines then screw it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Bruene Posted December 19, 2008 Share Posted December 19, 2008 We are a medium truck dealership. I am "qualified" for Cummins (for some reason they like to use that word instead of "certified"). I was on my way to Cat certification, but the brakes were put on that with one or two courses to go when Cat made the announcement that they are leaving on-road. Cummins is very easy to deal with. The QSOL website (the Cummins version of INFORD or FMCDEALER) is easy to navigate, always up-to-date, and their troubleshooting trees are very simple and user friendly. You can even look up and order parts. You would need to purchase a diagnostic adaptor which is not too expensive, but the subscription to INSITE (the Cummins diagnostic tool) isn't cheap. Dealing with warranty isn't too painful either. Training consists of a "binder" full of CD-ROMS that they call the Cummins Virtual College. Very informative and well presented, and in class is held at a local trade school, which is also convenient. We sub all our Cat work out to the local "CatHouse". They are a huge pain in the ass to deal with, and in normally turns out to be a pissing battle between Cat pointing a finger at OEM, and us pointing one back at Cat. We have a local truck dealer that is Allison certified, which makes us lucky since they are usually quite willing to help out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LARRY BRUDZYNSKI Posted December 19, 2008 Share Posted December 19, 2008 +1 on your insight on the programs available. Cummins expensive but worth the price for the available data and information, Cat still a pain and Detroit and Allison difficult to deal with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastendpowerstroke Posted December 19, 2008 Share Posted December 19, 2008 With CAT, Cummins, or Detroit/Allison you would need a large volume of repair work, customer pay or warranty for the cost of the gear, training, and subscriptions to pay back. If your dealership is primarily a car and light truck shop you DON'T have the room for MD trucks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Amacker Posted December 19, 2008 Share Posted December 19, 2008 With CAT, Cummins, or Detroit/Allison you would need a large volume of repair work, customer pay or warranty for the cost of the gear, training, and subscriptions to pay back. If your dealership is primarily a car and light truck shop you DON'T have the room for MD trucks. I agree completely but will add that if you DO have room, there is a lot of money to be made in MD trucks. BTDT,GTTS. RBSE/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robp823 Posted December 20, 2008 Author Share Posted December 20, 2008 cool thanks for all the info guys just out of curiosity , what CAT and cummins engines are they??5.9? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Bruene Posted December 21, 2008 Share Posted December 21, 2008 The CAT in the MD trucks is the C7, which is a 7.2L inline 6. The Cummins for 2007MY and previous is a 5.9L ISB, replaced by a 6.7L ISB for 2008. Also an inline 6. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary_P Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 have made a ton of money on F650/750 work Cummins is easy to work on, so are the Allisons Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.