Bad kitty CAT

[Bandit102]

Everyone here likes to talk about running slow, so I'm gonna post about my trip from New Mexico to Boston, MA.

1997 T-600 3406E @ 475hp 3.73 rears, 10 direct. (I think...Its an RTX 14-6-10) 78,500# full of fuel.

Las Cruces, NM to OKC, OK running 72-76 mph in the 1800 rpm neighborhood - 5.57 mpg.

OKC, OK to Effingham, IL running 70 mph (except for IL - I ran 58) - 5.67 mpg.

Effingham, IL to Lodi, OH running 58 mph the entire way at around 1450 rpm - 5.35 mpg.

Lodi, OH to Willington, CT running 65 mph around 1700 rpm - 4.8 mpg.

And that 500 Detroit in my Classic would run ALL OVER this Cat.

[pdm]

RT.........The X means its an o/drive with the standard shift pattern. About .73ish ratio i think, guessing but that should be close.

The fuel mileage is a bit of a puzzle to me................like it should be reversed.

My Detroit would run all over this cat..............power or fuel? orboth?

[Bandit102]

Power mainly. The detroit was in a Classic XL and got 5.5 doing anything between 65 and 85 mph...made very little difference. But now its blowed up...again...and getting an N14.

[Trukrswyfe]

to you too.

[BigDiesel]

uh... excuse me...

Like your title. :twisted:

Very attention grabbing. :wink:

Back to topic now..... The Cat motors are terrible for fuel economy. My ISX Cummins will out pull and get better fuel economy than the Yellow hunk of junk.

[tankyanker]

they make cummins for people who cant learn how to drive cats there, boss.

[Bandit102]

Well, I have to say, I drove a Cummins ISX in a T660 and it sure made every Cat I ever drove look like a....kitty.

Also, the N-14s we have will shame this Cat bad. But maybe I've been behind that Detroit too long to know how to drive a cat.

[solo379]

Well guys, you may say what you want, but I'm averaging above 7mpg on my Acert, and was getting as high as 8.1 mpg for OH-NYC-OH round, with the light load. My old 3406E, was getting around 6.75 average.

And about "pull", with 40,000lb in a box, i don't shift in PA on I-80.
And i didn't even push it, or speed up... 8)

[Walking Eagle]

I heavy haul so don't worry about MPG to much, if I get 3mpg I think it is good, but I traded a w900l 144inch sleeper with a 600 (tuned up Cummins) for the same configuration w900l with a tuned up 600 Cat and the Cat just snorts and digs deeper on a hill that I would have been grabbing gears on with th Cummins

[Bandit102]

Well, I just did Cincinnati, OH to Montgomery, AL to Hammond, LA - beating the hell out of this Cat all the way...with a very light load of 8,000 lbs in the box, but I mean I bea the hell out of it. The entire trip somewhere between 75 and 85 mph - thats 1800 to 2000 or 2100 rpm. She did 6.01 mpg. I thought these Cats did't like rpms?

[Bandit102]

Anyone here ever say anything in public that made you feel stupid later?

Bought the Cat injector tool and ran the overhead. Lots of power and gobs of torque...this is a different truck alltogether.

Fuel mileage is up to 5.8 at 72mph (1800 rpm).

Duh.

[Midnight Flyer]

Seems like the Cats have gone to hell in a handbasket the last couple of years. Wonder what gives? 8)

[tankyanker]

it really made that much of a difference, the over head work? i've been debating on whether or not to spend the money and get mine run on one of my days off. how hard is it to do yourself?

i took my CAC off a few weeks ago and carried it over to the radiator shop. come to find out, it was leaking from a little stress fracture at the top, where one of the metal hooks for the hood strap lays when i have the hood open. got it welded up. sucking sound i posted about somewhere else stoppped, mpg jumped .5 at least. always a good place to check too, i guess.

[solo379]

thats 1800 to 2000 or 2100 rpm. She did 6.01 mpg. I thought these Cats did't like rpms?

They sure don't! Next time, keep your foot off, and at around 1400.
You might be surprised! :wink:

[solo379]

it really made that much of a difference, the over head work?

I do it every 150-200,000. So it doesn't for me.
But if it's off a lot, it most definitely will!

[Bandit102]

Its easy enough to do...once you figure out how the injector tool works. You know how to do the timing pin thing, right? Intakes set at .015 and exhaust at .020. It made a huge difference on this truck. Huge. It had 160k on the overhaul and I just cant explain to you the difference it made on how this cat runs.

[bob h]

Its easy enough to do...once you figure out how the injector tool works. You know how to do the timing pin thing, right? Intakes set at .015 and exhaust at .020. It made a huge difference on this truck. Huge. It had 160k on the overhaul and I just cant explain to you the difference it made on how this cat runs.

The injector height tool is quite expensive here; you can probably get the overhead set for the cost of the gauge.

I recall cat's exhaust valve lash set at 0.025" ....... maybe that has changed since the last one I set up??

[Bandit102]

I paid $189 for the tool - figuring I will have this cat for quite some time and after a couple of overhead settings, it will have paid for itself...

I'm unsure as to the cat recommended setting. The shop foreman at International told me .015 and .030 with the Jakes being set at .032.

Now then, this thing is getting fuel mileage all over the place, rangng from 6.2 down to 5.1 under the same load and conditions. Not too sure what to think of that...

The power is great though, like a whole different engine.