Big kitty CATs
 

I ran out of lunchmeat, so I didn't even bother making anything to eat last night. I figured that I would just stop on the way home, and grab something. I stopped at the Town & Country in Ralls. Little town about 30 miles east of Lubbock. This Town & Country is pretty small, but big enough to hold a few trucks. I was pulling in, and I noticed a cow truck sitting there in front, facing east. There are a lot of feedlots around Lubbock, and most of the cow trucks I see, are the same ones running back-and-forth. I didn't recognize the name on his porch light. Of course, every time I see a cow truck (especially at night) I'm like, oooh, ahhh! and this one was dressed up real nice. Well, he had his hood open, and idling. He was standing on the right side. Little bitty guy. I'm not a mechanic, but I walked over there, and asked him if everything was alright. He told me that he was. I said, "man, that kitty cat sounds good." He said, "yes sir. six and a quarter." I stood there for a second, and then I realized what he said. I thought, "my gosh man!" I figured he had a 475, or 550, or something. Anyway, he thanked me for stopping by, and I got something to eat, and left. Of course, he blew my doors off about 20 minutes later. :mad: :clap:

So, anyway...I've been around trucks (mostly grain trucks etc) all my life. I'm not an idiot, but I've never heard such a thing. I've been around CATs, and driven them. (the truck in my avatar has a 425 CAT) If I was an owner operator, I would want something that could run 70 uphill, and downhill, but man..625 horses?. No wonder those cow trucks always bury the speedometer. I'm sure he gets decent fuel milage, if geared right, since that motor probably very seldom pulls down, but man...


Do any of yall run around with 600 some-odd horses?

I really doubt he gets any fuel mileage at all, big power, drives like there's a fire under his ass, and pulling a cheese grater down the highway.

4-4.5 mpg

"gearing" only helps a bit. When you need 300+ hp to maintain speed, gearing won't do much.

The key is to reduce the horsepower required to go down the road. He is doing the opposite.

I knew Cat had a 625, Volvo and Cummins also have 600 horse engines, cummins has the ISX 600 and Volvo has the D16 both with torque ranges around 2050 ft lbs fully speced. Thats some pretty big power. Some of these newer engines are being advertised to hit max torque at around 1000 rpm as well, pretty impressive what they can do to these engines with everything but fuel mileage.

High horse power does not mean poor fuel milage. It could, but the driver, aero, weight, wind, location etc. make all the difference. The driver with the 600 horses could get better than a driver with 400 with all things being equal except the way they drive.

Been proven time and time again that power aids in positive fuel milage as long ads the driver is not abusing the big power.

I'll agree on the horsepower thing. Big power with little effort, means better fuel mpg's then small power with lots of effort. Application is key. I know plenty of guys with hoods doing 6.5 on mpgs doing 70 all day long. I myself try to stay 65 and under. I do get going sometimes though. It all depends on the mood your in.

But yes, 625 hp Cat. You can go to their website and look up the specs.

I am a Cat owner and fan.

By the way guys, I sold my 03 in avitar and pick up an 04 9900ix sleeper on Friday afternoon. I will put new pic in avitar when I get back.

It has a Cat no doubt.

I agree 100%. I had 475 hp and 1650 torque on my CAT C15. Did a Performance Dyno at a Cat dealer for 800 bucks Cnd which boosted the acceleration and power. The truck felt like it had now a second motor under the hood :) Especially bobtailing it would fly like there's no tomorrow. I probably gained 0.3 - 0.5 mpg when loaded with 45,000 lbs going thru big hills in NC, WV, VA, PA etc.

I just rerated the engine to 1850 torque and will do another Cat Dyno this Monday. Hopefully I'll get into 550 hp range at 1,600 rpm. Will post fuel mileage numbers soon!

2004 CAT Acert C15 475 hp 1850 torque
13 speed 0.73, 3.73 rears, low profile tires
(Does 59 mph at 1350 rpm)

We have trucks with the 475 and 550 with 1850 torque .The 550's do .5 to 1.0 mpg better than the 475. That extra 75 horsepower makes the motor really come to life.WE carry heavy loads 120,000 lbs plus getting 3.75 to 4.75 mpg according to computer.

I don't think that's true at all, the first part anyways. There are things that increase fuel mileage that also increase horsepower, but speccing big power means a 15+ litre engine. Those engines simply don't get the fuel mileage smaller engines will.

As far as the second part, it is obvious that most cattle haulers do abuse the power, go as fast as they can, accelerate as fast as they can, etc...

Cattle haulers need to get their livestock to their destination so they can feed and water them. :D