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| Don't quote me too close on the numbers. I've heard that you can expect to be into the bushings on a 200 as early as 350,000 miles sometimes less, a lot depends on the maintence program. Like I said with some TLC they are not bad, just need regular greasing. I think the high $$ comes in when someone doesn't catch the bushings going out and it gets into steel. When we were looking at trucks before we bought the 2000 we found some that a dealer was going to put the kit on to convert them. I'm thinking he was quoting us something in the low $3000 range, maybe $3400 or so installed for the kit to convert them over. I know I heard lots of negative comments about the AG200, but I don't think I would let it be the determining factor if I found a truck and I liked everything else about it.
I can't say anything really bad about the N14 other than it just doesn't have the low end torque the Cat has. I would not be a bit afraid of the mechanics of it, personally you couldn't give me a 60 series, don't mean to step on any toes, but everyone has their own opinion. I have run a Cat for so long that when I get in the truck with the N14 and it starts to lug down on a hill I get the feeling it's about to roll over and die, once the rpm's start down and get in the 1300 range if you have much left you'd better be finding another hole. With the Cat it will just hang in there and you can feel the torque rise come in it. Our Cat is set at 435 and the N14 in an identical truck is at 525. When we are running together my son drives the truck with the N14 and there are a few times he can get a little ahead of me, but I'm not too sure how much is hp and how much is youth if you know what I mean. I know he crowds it more and pushes it harder than I do. Maybe I am expecting more, but I'd expect the 525 to walk away from a 435 and it doesn't.
Our newest truck with the ISX Cummins in it seems to have taken a step backwards in my opinion. It still doesn't have any more torque than the N14 does and my biggest complaint about it is the rpm's go up and down so fast it's much harder to float. If I clutch it all the time I don't have a problem, but if I try to float them I have to work at making sure I hold some rpm in it with the throttle or before you can blink the tach will go from 1500 to 500. You try to give it just a little throttle and it will go back up past the synch spot on the transmission just as fast as it went down past it. Like I said I've driven a Cat the biggest part of my life and I'm used to just pushing it up to 1200 or 1300 and easing out dropping into the next gear. With the ISX you need to wind it up a little more and if you're not careful when you get out of the throttle it backs down so quick that you might not even get the gearshift into neutral before it gets hung up in gear. The ISX also doesn't float well when you have the jake on, with the Cat I leave the jake on almost all the time. With the Cat I can daydream and still get along good, with the ISX I have to pay attention to what I am doing and work at it.
Fuel economy between the two seems to be a dead heat. We had one quarter last year where they were both doing the same thing the entire quarter, where one went the other did too and at the end of the quarter one truck averaged 7.03 and the other 7.10. I really don't have a good comparison with the ISX yet, but I just ran the numbers on the last quarter for IFTA and the 450 ISX that's on the dump trailer averaged 4.9. Better than we thought it was going to do since it's only running about 160 miles in a 10 hour day on relatively short hauls with a lot of starting, stopping, stop lights, traffic etc.
As for rebuild costs the N14 will probably be cheaper, we've never had to get into any of ours. I've always heard the Cat is more expensive, but depending on your dealer that might change. A friend had an older Cat motor rebuilt, for some reason it threw a rod. They towed it in and 36 hours after the first call they had dropped in a newer model motor with a fresh OH. I can't quote you the numbers right now, but at the time they only charged him a bare bones difference to upgrade to the newer motor. The dealer was Martin Cat in Topeka, KS and you could not have asked them to be any nicer.
If you know who had the truck and how they took care of it you're probably way ahead of the game to begin with. As for other costs, somewhere in the upper 400's to low 500's you'll probably need to replace the clutch. Other than that watch the plugs on the differentials and check for filings on the magnets. Maybe invest in oil sampling to begin with just to make sure where you're at, maybe even put all fresh oil in. Doesn't cost much in the long run. | |
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KW T800's & Cummins N14's
