Fast Muscle Trucks

By Mark Weisseg

The reason I included this old ford truck in our forum is because the engine is near and dear to me.

You see the engine is a 5.9 Diesel engine from Cummins and I once was employed by them. This is the same engine that was used in the Dodge trucks for years before it became the 6.7 liter engine. That old mechanical 5.9 was the steady Eddie for many years. Owners would say the transmission and bodies would give up long before the engines. And it was very true.

With good, solid maintenance this truck would easily get you several hundred thousand miles before an overhaul was needed. So, why did Cummins change it? You guessed right if you said the Government. Stricter fuel Economy laws and more importantly the air pollution issue everyone faced starting in 2002. The Ram pick up truck to this day that the consumer uses still runs without SCR but the bigger 6.7 engines do use the proven SCR system.
Yes, the same SCR system purchased from the likes of International truck and many others. It is kind of funny that the Cat engine with the International parts and Cat parts use the SCR systems from the Cummins Engine Company.
Back when I worked for them CAT was our biggest competitor and as we at Cummins met and exceeded the new emission laws of 2002, 2004, 2007 and 2010 it was nearly impossible for International and Cat. International after fighting hard in the public forum and in the court systems, finally threw in towel and joined Volvo, Cummins, Ford and a few others that used a DPF in the trucks all the while using SCR. SCR was and is used in Europe for years now. It is a proven system that at first caused a lot of heartburn for some OE’s.

Now, my point is this old mechanical 5.9 diesel is a workhorse engine. Nothing against the new 6.7 at all. That is a great engine too. But anyone who was around when the 5.9 was the main stay will tell you it was a winner. Just to clarify again, the 5.9 or the 6.7 is for generally smaller diesel units. The Cummins larger engines are ISL, ISM And ISX. And I just read a few weeks ago and confirmed it last week that Cat is done – again building road trucks. They were pushing the dump trucks with a engine that came from the International Truck Company as well as there own and the SCR system was from Cummins. For some of us older Cummins guys it was weird to see a Cummins engine part in a Cat engine. Never did I think I would ever see that.

Anyway, look at the car shows this year and look for the 5.9 and the 6.7 from Cummins and you will see them in cars and trucks. Ford makes a 6.7 in Mexico for there pick up trucks that I believe came out in about 2012. Long gone are the 6.0 and 6.4 that seemed to be troublesome. Long live the Diesel power and torque. No more dirty, smelly diesel any more either. By the way , when you see a diesel car like a BMW or a Mercedes using diesel fuel guess what they add to a separate tank to make it run. You bet. DEF. Diesel Exhaust Fluid.
SCR. Selective Catalyst recirculation
DPF. Diesel particulate filter
DEF. Diesel exhaust fluid

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