Love affair of sorts

[Tiny]

With the old two stroke Detroit's that is . Kind of an unexplained deal because none of the one's I have been around were ever over powered and always had some sort of oil dripping from somewhere .

The boom truck with a straight piped 8 V92 stole some of my hearing and still I love the sound of these engines running . The fact that you could running these things against the stops and do that day in and day out is another reason .

I was once told that you don't baby a Detroit . To get in the right frame of mind to drive one it was said , 1st open the door and stick your hand in the door jamb then SLAM IT . Then you will get the most out of that engine .

 

[kwdriver]

I have to agree with you, my first truck had a 8V92 natural. Nice sounding engines as long as their driving by.

 

[td25c]

The old detroits seem to have a love/hate relationship with the operators.They made pretty good power for the cubic inch.I still run 6 detroits in trucks & equipment and they have been good earners over the years.I kinda like them....No..... I love them.

 

[willie59]

I've drove them, cussed them, tickled them, worked on them, and trained people about the proper operation and maintenance of them, especially to not use 15W/40 oil. By far my favorite is the 6-71 natural. Ain't no sound like a 6-71 inline 6 two stroke pegged on the governor grading a hill. One I hated was an early '70's P&H T300 30 ton crane with a 6V-53 and a 13 speed RR. A 72,000 lb crane with a 6V-53, all you do is listen to noise, as that's all a 6V-53 is, and shift gears, constantly.

And the love/hate relationship extends beyond driving one. They can be an easy engine to work on, but other times, you ask "what the heck were they thinking?" But it's the only engine that I've done an in-frame overhaul in the field, which is a very do-able thing on those engines, especially the inline engines. Did an in-frame on a 4-53 in a Track Mobile, one of those buggys that pull rail cars, at Tate & Lyle plant in Loudon TN, thing ran so bad that it didn't have power to drive onto a lowboy. Yanked the head, pulled the pistons and liners, dropped in some new liners and pistons, re-man head, re-man roots blower, rebuilt injectors, and she sang as good as a 53 series can.

 

[jumbo]

"re-man roots blower"

Around here, the Roots Blower were referred to as the "Iron Lung.” They had quite a reputation.

I never experience it directly, but an old B-cab with a Cummins and a Roots Blower I drove, had a neat sheetmetal patch in the hood directly over the blower. In fact, all 12 or so Weyerhaeuser log trucks of that batch had the exact same patch. When I asked why, I was told that is where the blower goes when she lets loose. I only drove the truck for a couple of months, (I moved up in seniority to a 1964 KW) and never experienced the event. However, I was told that when they cut loose it was an experience never to forget.

I have never heard the nickname anywhere but in the woods of Washington and Oregon, nor have I heard of those types of failures anywhere else.

How about back in Tennessee, or anywhere else?

 

[C R A F T]

With the old two stroke Detroit's that is ……………………..I was once told that you don't baby a Detroit . To get in the right frame of mind to drive one it was said , 1st open the door and stick your hand in the door jamb then SLAM IT . Then you will get the most out of that engine .

Yup Yup !!! ….. No kidding "BinDareDoneDat" …..LOL…. or they were very commonly called the "2-Stroke Joke" …… Drive'em like ya hated 'em …..

The last one I ever drove was a near new Logging truck ….an '86 Western-Star it had the Silver 8V-92 475hp in front of (at that time) a new style RTX 14715 spd RR ….. they even had the larger 110 injectors in it …. still was no "screaming" hell for power (parden the pun) just alot of screaming ……. It was a sweet rig but was also really hard on fuel compared to all of the other comparable trucks, probably a good mile to a mile and a half less/gal ….. It was a heck of an improvement over one of the first rigs I drove which had a NTA 380hp Green Leaker in a '76 Binder Cabover with a direct 12513 RR

One the hardest challenges I had was getting outta that 475 Silver and jumping into a 500hp V-8 Mack Superliner and their 12spd Mack tranny …..Talk about opposite ends of the spectrum …. driving like you were on speed to getting into one that you could have a snooze between shifts …. LOL …. ahhhh those memories !!!

 

[C R A F T]

HaHa !!!! ….. after reading my own post to this thread it reminded me of how that Silver 475 of one of the amazing feats that those Hondas could do …… those 2-stroke jokes also couldn't lift worth a HOOT … I remembered the first time this happened …. LOL ….

We were hauling logs in some pretty wicked terrain …. I got loaded and got the signal to move ahead to let the next guy load … I gave it a little go-go and the hood come up with a twist almost stalling the engine … or so I thought …. next thing I new there was BLACK smoke rolling outta the air filters on both sides of the hood ….. YUP !!! …. we had 15 gears reverse and 1 to go forward !!! and no oil pressure … it was that quik and that easy to get that bitch running backwards ….. it only happened that one time and never again, but if you've ever heard about it and called BS ? … well the rumors were/are TRUE ! …..

 

[Tiny]

almost stalling the engine … or so I thought …. next thing I new there was BLACK smoke rolling outta the air filters on both sides of the hood ….. YUP !!! …. we had 15 gears reverse and 1 to go forward !!! and no oil pressure … it was that quik and that easy to get that running backwards ….. but if you've ever heard about it and called BS ? … well the rumors were/are TRUE ! …..

I found out about the running backwards deal too , The hard way of course .

Company had an old 73 KW with an 8V 92 . We used it as a brush truck ... If there was a chance you might be stuck or in the brush you took it and left the shiny paint in the yard . I had a job of taking a crane house into a muddy job . Crane house weighed in a 109,000 lbs . When I got to the site everything as set up so I had to back this thing in to the assist crane ( Yep needed a small crane to put together the BIG crane ).

This load was wide so visibility was bad . Started backing in and the guy flagging was out of view so I stopped too soon . Crane operator was upset and it felt the bottom fell out of the mud hole I was backing into . I was told to pull out and get another run at it .

Kicked the power divider in and dropped everything to the lowest hole . Started gassing on it and about the time it should have started moving The front end of that thing jumped up in the air so high the frame touched the trailer neck . For half a second I almost clutched it .Then it dawned on me that would be bad so I backed of the throttle when slipping the clutch until the front tires felt like they were back on the ground .

Then I just let off the fuel and shoved the clutch in . BUT not in the right order apparently . Because it didn't die . Had just enough recoil to start running BACKWARDS ... Black smoke was rolling out of both air cleaners and it really sounded freaky . Took just a bit to figure out I needed to pull the kill cable and stop this wild ride .

Crane op had watched this happen and said , "Son , You oughta get down there and kiss those drive shafts "

 

[Steve Frazier]

I love the sound of a 2 stroke Detroit...... until I get in the cab of a truck with one!! I've driven the 53, 71 and 92 series, the 53 and 71s only had the blower on them but the 92s had blower and turbo. The 53 and 71 series seemed gutless compared to other engines and you had to keep them on the governor to get anywhere. Shift all day long to get the job done. The 92 series was a respectable engine though, the turbo seemed to quiet it and helped with lower end torque. The company I worked for had a fleet of abou 5 trucks, 3 were White cabovers with the 6V92 and a 10 speed, the rest were Cummins. I always took a Detroit, most of the other drivers hated them but I could keep up with the Cummins without any trouble, just slammin' gears as fast as I could.

I got the 6/71 to spin backwards once in an Autocar dump I drove doing site work. I got bogged in mud with a load on and threw in the clutch just as the engine was about to stall. The torque in the drivetrain spun the engine backwards and next thing I knew it was growling and smake was coming out the air cleaner. Took a few seconds of panic before I figured out what had happened and pulled the fuel shut off.

 

[td25c]

Just glad to see I'm not the only driver to run one backwards.I still mess up on the Grove crane once in awile usually taking off in soft ground. What always fascinated me about the Detroits was if a manfacturer made a vehical or piece of equipment Detroit Diesel made an engine that would fit in it.City busses,construction & railway equipment,trucks ,& so on. My father served in the Army in 1969 & 70 on the gun crew of an www.wikipedia.org/wiki/M109_howitzer and also spent some time in a www.wikipedia.org/wiki/M113_armored_personnel_carrier Yep......They both had Detroits in them. From what I can tell the Current M109A6(Paladin) still uses the 8 V-71T engine.

 

[Mitch504]

I have definitely run a few detroits backwards, and I know from experience that a mechanical L10 Cummins will do it too. I thought most any mechanical diesel would do it.

(every time I type "detroits" this stupid iPhone substitutes "retrofits". A hint maybe?)

I own a 1971 Chevy C90 tandem dump truck with a 6-71 that still runs and drives as good as any. It looks rough and the cab is going to fall off soon, but I still keep tags and insurance on her. I mostly use for a site truck but occasionally drive her as far as 75 miles one way.

We were really under the gun on time on a demolition job, and so I put the old Chevy on the job with all my CH Macks with the 400s and 427s, and six brand new hired RD Macks with 460s. We were all going to follow a car to a place to dump bricks for fill. All the trucks but mine had CBs. One of the hired drivers said I should lead because otherwise I'd get left behind and get lost, with a sneer.
We took off through town following the car, never getting above 30mph, but he drove like a drag racer from stoplight to stoplight. After a few blocks, I was still with him, stuffing gears furiously, and was talking on the phone to one of my drivers, giving him the turns. There's not much that will stay with a two-stroke light to light.

 

[CM1995]

Detroits don't leak oil, they mark their territory!

(every time I type "detroits" this stupid iPhone substitutes "retrofits". A hint maybe?)

Turn the "autofill" off in the settings. Settings - safari - autofill (on or off). You can do the same in text mode. I turned all that off in order to save myself from an embarrassing autocorrect in a text.

 

[sdr]

put about 500k on a 72 GMC crackerjack box with straight pipes 8v71, drove it like you stole it have hearing loss in left ear wonder why

 

[HATCHEQUIP]

A detroits leaks are for telling when you need oil if it aint leaking you need oil. Like TD25 said they used to be in every thing you could think of. Cheapest engine to rebuild and back in the day it seemed like you could go to the grocery store for parts they were used in so many applications.

 

[Oxbow]

I have definitely run a few detroits backwards, and I know from experience that a mechanical L10 Cummins will do it too. I thought most any mechanical diesel would do it.

I did the same thing with an A model 3406 once. It does take just a moment to figure out what happened.

 

[LowBoy]

I ran a couple Yamaha's backwards, a couple Macks and a Cat. At least I immediately figured things out and killed them. Every one of them was in an off-road, bogged down situation which is typical. The first was a Detroit of course. Smoke pouring from intakes are usually an indication that somethin' ain't quite right.

 

[roaming wrench]

I cut my teeth on those old yamahas way back in the day and yup, they sound great..what did you say, I cant hear you...you have not lived until you have a silver 92 run away on you.. I take that back..detroits overspeed..mechanics run away. Another thing you will find is that if you hang a picture of a detroit on the wall there will be oil under it in the morning..I love em and miss em!

 

[Wayngrow]

Always loved the sound of the straight 8 V92 driving by.

 

[OldIron]

I have a 8V-92TA in a Transtar, good strong engine. Detroit put together properly may seep oil around gaskets which is normal, general maintenance takes care of that. Little dribbling from airbox drains can be routed into a catch tank with drain a plug, helps a lot.

 

[RonG]

I cut my teeth on those old yamahas way back in the day and yup, they sound great..what did you say, I cant hear you...you have not lived until you have a silver 92 run away on you.. I take that back..detroits overspeed..mechanics run away. Another thing you will find is that if you hang a picture of a detroit on the wall there will be oil under it in the morning..I love em and miss em!

That is funny!!Ron G