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Fancy Prairie, IL | I attended the Amarillo Farm Show last week and saw a few things I thought were pretty interesting. I kept going back to the booths with the 3406 Cats and 855 Cummins running on natural gas. I thought that was pretty cool. I guess I didnt know that there was such a thing done like this. Does anyone on here have any experience with these? At first glance they looked like a Minneapolis Moline 800HD. I have always wanted a 800HD with a turbo and manifold cooling jackets. More or less just a "lawn ornament" Can these be bought yet? I guess I might be dreaming of finding one in bad shape to take and work on in my spare time. |
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West Central Minnesota | A number of years ago I was in a food processing facility that had 8 Moline 800's in use with a 9th one as a backup. They had installed a V-8 or V-12 (can't remember which anymore) Cat that was going to take the place of 3 of the 800's. All of the engines were on natural gas. The 800's were plumbed into a common cooling system that used a heat exchanger on the roof and also heated the domestic water used in the large bldg. These 800's had the oil/water heat exchangers on them, so that they could start additional engines as needed and they would be fully warmed up and under full load within minutes. The exhaust from the 800's was also in a common vent that went to the roof, but also had a heat exchanger that supplemented energy needed to preheat some the food products that were being made in the plant. The supervisor told me that the Cat had a few drawbacks: the warranty would be voided if they tried to do cooling and exhaust systems similar to the 800's. Just as important was the fact that the Cat only made a fraction of hours compared to the MM's before an overhaul. The real kicker came when the bill ($$$) for the Cat overhaul was presented to the supervisor. The old 800's primary expense at overhauls were oversize pistons and rings (.020, .040, & .060 then push in a sleeve and start all over again) and head work. The crankshafts and camshafts were impossible to wear out.
Up until that time I was told that I would have the opportunity to purchase an 800 when it would be replaced by another Cat. Are there still 800's available??? I am sure that there are, but I haven't pursued it further. |
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| There is a lot of converted Cat and Cummins engines over this irrigation belt. The first one that I know of was an 855 that was converted in about 1966 by the Cummins engine company. There have been a lot of different companies and a lot of individuals that have converted them since then.
There are still a lot of 800HD's still in use and yes, you can buy plenty of them in "bad shape" anywhere from being able to see all the way through them to just plain worn out. Those old block's will only bore to .060 over and then you have to start putting in dry sleeves, which gets very expensive and doesn't seem to wear as well as the original block material. |
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Texas/New Mexico Stateline | I think the high scrap prices about cleaned up all our MM800s around here. I don't see very many anymore. You are welcome to purchase this for a monument:
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Fruita CO | http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfBkcZN4EQo&feature=PlayList&p=92737... |
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Fancy Prairie, IL | That may be a thought! I am really a engine nut. I have watch the videos on youtube of these V12 alot. Just something about vintage power like that! Too bad I didnt know anything about that while I was down there. I may be coming back that way sometime, I'll have to look you up. I see there are a few places rebuilding the 800HD's in west TX. The price of a rebuilt one really shocked me, Around here most MM irrigation motors can be bought for around 500-1000 bucks. I would really like to find one with a turbo on it. If anyone knows of one in the weeds let me know! In the meantime, I'm trying to figure out what I can put that V-12 in! |
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Fancy Prairie, IL | This is all I found down there in "my price range" :) Moline 605 Irrigation engine. At the time my "cubic inch calculator" (in my head) thought it was a 504, so I left it. It was locked up, but the blocks, heads and crank would probably be ok with some work. Now that I think of it, a 605 would be nice in a GVI, G706, etc. May be next trip.....
Edited by FP Tractor 12/8/2009 12:16
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Irrigation Engines
