BigBad Posted March 18, 2012 Posted March 18, 2012 Has anybody driven these machines way back when? How were the old DD's, really. I keep reading they didn't have much torque, others that they were leakers and all kinds of more or less good things. So give your honest opinion, I'd like to know more about these beasts. My personal favorites: 12V71 and 8V92.
scale trucker Posted March 18, 2012 Posted March 18, 2012 i got a 8v71 and that thing goes like hell good ole 318
pete3522 Posted March 18, 2012 Posted March 18, 2012 (edited) we had one in our fire truck when i belonged to the fire dept i thought it ran good would out pump any other truck around 8v71 Edited March 18, 2012 by pete3522
Semi Trailer Mechanic Posted March 19, 2012 Posted March 19, 2012 Back in '91 I was at Northwestern Bus College in Lima, Ohio where I took Diesel Technology. In the Detroit/Mack lab I went thru a 6V. In the dyno room was an 8v. Both were 92 series. Lab instructor would do something to the engine and we had to diagnose it. He'd back off the buffer screw or pull off a rocker cover and throw off the rack setting stuff like that. When they ran in time and tune you could put nickels on end and it wouldn't knock em' over. That just sounded like a beast! A lot of the 12v's were marine applications, gensets, and off road construction. The 8v's were HEAVY. The first truck I worked on in my life was a GMC Brigadier. The cross member below the engine busted in half. If I recall those leaked oil so much because seals around the head bolts called floras tamer seals would break down. The concept behind the two stroke was in the liners mid way down were slots that the intake charge was forced thru as the piston went from was at bottom dead center. As it traveled upward on the compression/power stroke it covered those slots and at TDC it would ignite sending the piston down. As it passed by those slots the fresh air charge forced in by the blower and at the same time force out the spent charge thru a process called cylinder scavenging. There was only one trucking company I worked at that had an 8v. It was in a '73 Road Boss. The owner kept the truck up because it was one of the first trucks they bought factory fresh.They still had it doing local runs. An old driver they called " Aggy" wouldn't give up that truck if he was forced to at gun point (this was in '99) Driving that old truck to me felt like being in a chopped top hot rod. My head touched the roof. If I looked straight ahead my eyes were above the top of the windsheild so I actually looked slightly down when I had to drive it. I want to say that had a 13 speed in it. Starting out in an upper gear it would launch like a hot rod. It just had that sound to it. Those stacks right behind ya just screaming you could hardly hear yourself think. It's no wonder the film makers of Convoy used the audio of a Detroit in some of the scenes.
Ben Posted March 19, 2012 Posted March 19, 2012 (edited) Hey Robert, if you like the 8V92, hop over to the "resin" section here in the forum and look at the pictures I just posted of a resin 8V92 kit I just bought from Real Model in the Czech Republic!!!!!!!! It's 1/35 but wait till you see how detailed it is!!!!!!!!!!!! The title of my post in the resin section is "You guys gotta see this!! Outstanding resin piece" Edited March 19, 2012 by Ben
BigBad Posted March 19, 2012 Author Posted March 19, 2012 Up to now it sounds pretty good. Speaking of sound, I think that is one of the best features of any 2 stroke DD, from the smallest to the biggest. Thanks for the insight Scott, that is really interesting. Speaking of the leaks, were they easy to repair, did they happen like really often? i got a 8v71 and that thing goes like hell good ole 318 You have one?! What is it running in? gimme details Gordon!
BigBad Posted March 19, 2012 Author Posted March 19, 2012 Hey Robert, if you like the 8V92, hop over to the "resin" section here in the forum and look at the pictures I just posted of a resin 8V92 kit I just bought from Real Model in the Czech Republic!!!!!!!! It's 1/35 but wait till you see how detailed it is!!!!!!!!!!!! The title of my post in the resin section is "You guys gotta see this!! Outstanding resin piece" Don't mind if I do, Ben!
BigBad Posted March 19, 2012 Author Posted March 19, 2012 Old Albion, aka Dave scratch built a beautiful big 1:16 scale 12V71. That is one nice piece of scale engineering! He has pictures of it in his site http://public.fotki.com/oldalbion/ Hope you don't mind Dave, I'm pretty sure some people haven't seen that beautiful green monster yet...
cargostar Posted March 19, 2012 Posted March 19, 2012 Alot of old Toronto fire trucks had DD's in them.......A long time fire fighter (now a captain) say you had to dive them like you were mad at them, and then they would perform. There is a guy on Youtube that goes by "torgeorge" IIRC that has some videos of some of them leaving on runs....
Guest Johnny Posted March 19, 2012 Posted March 19, 2012 Had the good old 318 Detroit in my Transtar II Eagle. Great flat land truck! Could pull 80,000 @ 95mph all day long across Montana if you ha a mind to. But you were for sure going to be on the low side creeping up the mountains!
Aaronw Posted March 19, 2012 Posted March 19, 2012 When I was a volunteer firefighter I was assigned to a 1971 Van Pelt pumper with a 350 hp DD 8V71. That thing could really move, it is still one of the fastest engines I've ever driven. It sounded better than any truck I've driven too.
Guest Johnny Posted March 19, 2012 Posted March 19, 2012 The Screamin' Jimmy! The old guys used to say before you climb in walk over to the work bench and hit your thumb with a hammer and then take it out on the Jimmy! 2100, 2100, 2100 just as fast as you can shift! Gotta keep it wound up to make the HP. Let her lug and it will heat up drop the oil pressure and destroy the engine! Love the sound! We had a 671 to run the rock crusher at the quarry! Ran wide open 8-10 hours a day 5 days a week! Same with the water pumps for the irrigation system on the sod farm! Just could not kill one!
rctruk Posted March 19, 2012 Posted March 19, 2012 Yes those old detroits were something else. I drove an old White with a 318...had a 5x4 and a chain drive mixer. Like it has been stated,you kept it at the top of the rpm range. It was good in traffic when it was empty,but loaded was another story.
scummy Posted March 19, 2012 Posted March 19, 2012 (edited) When i was a young fella i worked for a company that had atkinsons and one 4070a transtar and they had 8/71's in them and they would do 75mph all night as they were an overnight express company . All the TNT overnight runners had 8/92t's and you could not kill them with a stick , rumour had it that they had got detriot to mold them their own blocks where the pours in the metal were closer than a stock block so they could rev harder . I was told that when you turn on a detroit drive the guts out of it and when you get where your going turn it off ! No idle down or nothing .They did leak around the rocker covers and the side plates but not as bad as the cummins fans will tell ya . Below is a photo of my hotrod which was takin around 76-77 . Edited March 19, 2012 by scummy
Semi Trailer Mechanic Posted March 19, 2012 Posted March 19, 2012 Up to now it sounds pretty good. Speaking of sound, I think that is one of the best features of any 2 stroke DD, from the smallest to the biggest. Thanks for the insight Scott, that is really interesting. Speaking of the leaks, were they easy to repair, did they happen like really often? You have one?! What is it running in? gimme details Gordon! 80% of the Detroit (2-stroke) work I got into was at tech school. I quit working on trucks after my first year in my career and started doing trailer repair. Nearly 20 years later still fixing trailers. Back then trucks always seemed to be covered in sludge. Not so much these days. The tractors out at work (JB Hunt) are nearly spotless undercarriage and exterior.
CDA Posted March 20, 2012 Posted March 20, 2012 The Army has what we call HEMTT's (Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck) They had DD 8v92's (Latest versions have CAT C15's) These things, even hooked to an Allison Auto, would pull a house off its foundation!!! I hookeded to a much heavier PLS, Groessed at 133,000. Wouldn't climb the bank I just walked up. Had no idea the driver applied the park brake, and pulled it up the bank with power left over!!! Never leaked a drop of oil, ever!
ARTEMIS1759 Posted March 20, 2012 Posted March 20, 2012 I hope they are as bad ass as everyone says because I can't wait to fire this old girls 6v53 up for the first time since 97. Only downfall is it has an auto (people and their ###### automatics in rigs and sports cars???) Like buying a muscle car with an auto.
BigBad Posted March 20, 2012 Author Posted March 20, 2012 So i guess these DD's were actually good for something! So I'll stand my ground defending them even if I don't know what the heck I'm talking about!! The basic design of those engines must have been outstanding, because thy've been around since the late 1930's until pollution laws put most of them away. I still see some older city buses driving around with their Detroit V6's, an old Louisville dump truck with an inline 6-71 and of course all the people posting videos of Detroit powered trucks and what not on U-tube...
BigBad Posted March 20, 2012 Author Posted March 20, 2012 (edited) I hope they are as bad ass as everyone says because I can't wait to fire this old girls 6v53 up for the first time since 97. Only downfall is it has an auto (people and their ###### automatics in rigs and sports cars???) Like buying a muscle car with an auto. Well if the engine's power is not badass, it's sound will be! Are you planning to put this big ol'girl back together again?? Edited March 20, 2012 by Z06Bob
ARTEMIS1759 Posted March 20, 2012 Posted March 20, 2012 The Army has what we call HEMTT's (Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck) They had DD 8v92's (Latest versions have CAT C15's) These things, even hooked to an Allison Auto, would pull a house off its foundation!!! I hookeded to a much heavier PLS, Groessed at 133,000. Wouldn't climb the bank I just walked up. Had no idea the driver applied the park brake, and pulled it up the bank with power left over!!! Never leaked a drop of oil, ever! The Army has what we call HEMTT's (Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck) They had DD 8v92's (Latest versions have CAT C15's) These things, even hooked to an Allison Auto, would pull a house off its foundation!!! I hookeded to a much heavier PLS, Groessed at 133,000. Wouldn't climb the bank I just walked up. Had no idea the driver applied the park brake, and pulled it up the bank with power left over!!! Never leaked a drop of oil, ever! I agree we got some bad a** toys now days in the Army.
Semi Trailer Mechanic Posted March 20, 2012 Posted March 20, 2012 So i guess these DD's were actually good for something! So I'll stand my ground defending them even if I don't know what the heck I'm talking about!! The basic design of those engines must have been outstanding, because thy've been around since the late 1930's until pollution laws put most of them away. I still see some older city buses driving around with their Detroit V6's, an old Louisville dump truck with an inline 6-71 and of course all the people posting videos of Detroit powered trucks and what not on U-tube... I hope they are as bad ass as everyone says because I can't wait to fire this old girls 6v53 up for the first time since 97. Only downfall is it has an auto (people and their ###### automatics in rigs and sports cars???) Like buying a muscle car with an auto. 53 Series... Now that's RARE!!! The only 53 series I ever saw was in an old Hendrixson yard mule! Talk about an rpm revin' engine! Those flat out screamed!!!
Dodge BigHorn Posted March 22, 2012 Posted March 22, 2012 I used to run a small core rig with the 3-53DD. At low end it just made a lot of racket and had no power. Wind it up to the rev limiter and it had all kinds of power. Our other rig was 2 miles away and the guys on it could hear it barking over their Duetz turbo. The service rig I have now has a turned up 6-71 on it and we've tried killing it with 100,000 lb string of tools and it won't die. Got to wear ear plugs because the cheapo company won't buy me a muffler for it!
chrismooney Posted March 23, 2012 Posted March 23, 2012 My favorite fire engine at work is a 1991 Stuphen with a Detriot 6v92... It runs the best out of all our Pumpers and the ladder with the Series 90 Detroits. i can hear the sound of that engine now as I type. http://www.google.com/imgres?q=forty+fort+fire&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1366&bih=712&tbm=isch&tbnid=MrQ4bXhbInRR9M:&imgrefurl=http://www.northeastpafire.com/Luzerne-County/Forty-Fort-Borough/6292875_mdBfXQ/396672447_oRq74&docid=7RuqJCDv2ye99M&itg=1&imgurl=http://www.northeastpafire.com/Luzerne-County/Forty-Fort-Borough/DSCF0018/396672447_oRq74-L.jpg&w=800&h=600&ei=Q8drT_DQCObg0QHX1Ii6Bg&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=260&sig=103055683790979409687&page=1&tbnh=156&tbnw=214&start=0&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:14,s:0&tx=135&ty=98
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