2005 CAT ACERT......any good?

[rank]

Went truck shopping today. 70,000 doesn't but what it used to.

Stumbled across a T600 that was built in July of 2005. It has a C13 Acert and I know nothing about these engines. Our other engines are a '95 410hpN14, '01 475hp C15, '01 500hp DD60 and they all get around 5 USmpg.

Any info on these Acert's is apreciated.

[rank]

oh.....I forgot....we've got an an M11 too. Little wimpy for my liking that one.

[Teal 95 KW]

I can tell you that they don't pull worth a damn. I drove one briefly as a company driver way back in the day and it was sloooow going with it. Of course, it had a 13spd with a 3.36 rear and tall rubber, so that might have played a role in it, but the general concensus is that they are dogs.

[rank]

thanks Teal.....this one had a 13 and a 3.55 rear gear. We pull 80,000 all the time.

[Maniac]

70,000 doesn't but what it used to

$125.000 doesn't either


C-13 is kind of a light weight version of the C-15, pretty much a very similar engine to the M-11 Cummins.

Around 430 HP max, small in my opinion for a road truck that will pull any weight over 40K

[solo379]

I've got C15 ACERT build in 2004, got a bit over 300K so far. Love it! 8)
It pull better than my old 3406E 550, and I'm averaging around 7mpg(7.3 last 4,000 miles ) You got to learn, how to drive it tho...! :wink:

[dteam270]

Solo, what kind of rears and trans do you have? Like to be getting that kind of milelage of my CAT.

[solo379]

13 double over, and 3.55 with 24.5 LP.
I wish I'd specsed it with 3.36, cause perfect speed for that setup is 62mph, and I'd like to run a bit faster...!

[rank]

hey solo,

where are you driving, how much are you grossing and wht do you mean ya gotta learn how to drive it?

thanks

[no_worries]

Solo's definitely one of the exceptions from the guys I've talked to. Most that had the first year or two of the new Acerts weren't very happy with them. A lot of fleets traded out of them within a year and that's not their normal modus operandi. I heard the C-13 Acert had some real reliability issues. Of course this is all hearsay since I've never owned one, but a good friend of mine sold KW's and loved to talk

[solo379]

hey solo,

where are you driving, how much are you grossing and wht do you mean ya gotta learn how to drive it?

thanks

95% of the time I'm between NJ, NYC, and OH. 40% of my mileage in a hills of PA, usually, I'm not heavy, I'd say my average load is about 25,000lb.
But i do a lot of 2 lanes with some lights, and of course, you know how NYC is! :shock:

CATs and especially ACERT, very sensitive to RPM "sweet spot" and don't like "pushing", you got to be very gentle with it. "Sweet spot" for ACERT, is around 1325 RPM, according to my ECM, I'm between 12-1400 77% of the time. It has plenty of torque on the lower end, don't be afraid to use it.

I've just delivered 40,000lb load on I-80 from OH to Brooklyn, NY with my cruse, set at 65mph, only had to split(13) once, didn't even pushed it before the hills. 8)

[rank]

thanks. that's where we run too. up and down I81.

[Teal 95 KW]

It's also going to depend on the hill. The hills solo pulled may not be hills like you'd run into in the mid-west, west coast region. Hell, I just had 48k lbs on, and with my 475 c15 (non-acert) 13 speed, and lp 24.5's with a 3.55 rear, there were many hills I held speed on, or could accelerate on..but then there are your hills which will drop you to 30mph in a heartbeat..you'll literally drop like a brick...NO amount of "pedaling in the sweetspot" is going to save that. You CANNOT pull 80k lbs, up a 5-6% grade at 65mph with only dropping 1/2 a gear, or a full gear...unless you've got a worked motor, or maybe a pre-emission 600 cat...that's running lp22.5 rubber and 3.90 gears lol

[solo379]

You CANNOT pull 80k lbs, up a 5-6% grade at 65mph with only dropping 1/2 a gear, or a full gear.

No, you can't! And i didn't say that. But before that ACERT, I've had a 3406E CAT and my current 475 pulls even better, than old 550, on the same roads.
And even with some gain in fuel economy.
That's all I've wanted to say.