Southern Pa. | ILCORNGROWER - 1/7/2016 20:23
I am biased..... If it ain't a Mack take it back.
Seriously though. All the new trucks are junk IMHO. EPA ruined trucks. I would look for a pre emissions truck.
If you need a truck that isn't going to get a ton of miles fairly local and cheap. I will argue that nothing will last, be as tough or good off road as an old R model. They are NOT fancy. You CANNOT get a 550 cat in them. They do NOT have a lot of room in the cab. They DO go anywhere off road and run forebears.
If I wanted a little better riding/driving truck I would look for a 97 or pre Mack CH with an E7350-400 in it. The old mechanical E7 is a great engine. Some of the Mack E Techs in newer trucks had cam and injector issues. I forget what years. I believe like 01-02s. The VMAC motors weren't bad they are still an injection pump engine but have electronic control. The E TECH is an ECM motor.
I'm a little biased towards Mack as well. The older R models are as tough as nails, and if equipped with Camel back suspension and a lower ratio rear are great offroad trucks. A little rough riding though, especially if you're used to a longer wheelbase Pete or KW, LOL. Air ride is nice, but not as good for off road. However, for me in my situation, I definitely prefer air ride suspension and cab. One drawback on Macks is propietary parts. They can be a little expensive sometimes, kinda like Cat.
I have a '99 CH 613. Was originally a 355/380 hp. We have some nice hills, (and mountains,LOL) so we bumped the hp up. Mack was OK to reprogram the ECM to a straight 400 hp.Any more than that, and they wanted like $6 or $7k to do it. IIRC, about $300 ea. x 6 for high flow injectors, around $3500 for an upgraded turbo, than labor to remove entire front timing gear cover, and install an offset camshaft drive gear key to optimize the injector/valve timing. All that to set it at 427 hp. To go to 460, they wanted to do all the above, plus replace the original 38k rears with 40k rears. INSANE.
Fortunately for me, I have known Richard (the owner of Antrim Diesel, Greencastle, Pa) for around 25 years. Richard knows how to make most any truck engine run like you stole it, and is very knowledgeable on where to get performance parts, Including aftermarket. He had/has? a Mack pulling truck for a number of years. He recommended a set of 25% (over stock) high flow injectors for $100 each (exchange), a 60 series Detroit turbo for approximately $1000. (including a few air intake/outlet adapters, and turbo oil drain line) Combining those parts with the initial 400 hp. ECM Reprogram made a Sweeeeeeet running CH613. 60 Series Detroit turbo's have a mighty pleasing 'song' as well, LOL. Buddy of mine runs a KW 900 with a 550 hp. 6nz Cat, and I'm generally not very far behind topping the hills when running together with similar weights.
Good luck on whatever you decide!! |
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