| Author |
Message |
S.M. Heath (66.82.50.1)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, June 20, 2004 - 10:48 am: | |
I Have 3208 Cat ("Recon in Mid 90's) Schooly. My question: is it ok to cruse this "kitten" @ just below Governer limit? |
bowlingshoegiverouter (65.179.192.32)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, June 20, 2004 - 11:48 am: | |
yes |
bowlingshoegiverouter (63.185.80.247)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, June 20, 2004 - 10:48 pm: | |
only problem you will have with the 3000 rpm engine is the bearings need to be changed every 90,000 miles ..AND....they are scared of hills |
sCOOLbusnut (66.43.13.1)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 21, 2004 - 12:57 am: | |
SM Heath,
What is your top speed with your current setup?
My brother-in-law has the same bus as you and he is considering replacing the third member to gear it up. He is able to go 60 mph all day, but no faster.
I suggested that maybe he could go to 24.5 tires (currently he's running 22.5) to gain a little more speed.
Thanks
Mark
75 gillig 636D |
John the busboy (12.72.235.44)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 21, 2004 - 3:29 am: | |
The slower you run your diesel, the quieter it will be. Lot's quieter! Don't know if this is a problem with your setup.
Mark: A 4.11 with 22.5's gives 60 mph at about 2200 rpm in our BB/GMC.
John the busboy |
bowlingshoegiverouter (63.185.80.114)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 21, 2004 - 10:31 am: | |
the n/a 3208 is much different,it developes its power between 2800 & 3000,if you don't keep it wound up,you have no power...rod & main bearings every 90,000 miles,or else.. |
S.M. Heath (66.82.50.1)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 21, 2004 - 10:33 am: | |
I don't know the actual Final Drive Gear Ratio (Single Reduction) of Differential. The Trans. is a Fuller 5 Speed Manual (My Best "Guess"). Top Speed in this Bus is just above 50 MPH Slooooow! RPM of GOV. Has ben pre-set @ 2500 by Cat (Stamped on Tag of Fuel-Injector). This engine on This Bus Definitly has Loads of Simpathetic ("Harmonic") Vibrations, paticularly @ Between 950 to 1100 Then again @ 1900 to just above 2100 RPM. But @ about 2200 & above it gets very smooth. It seems that the actual combo. of this 3208 Cat Engine in 35' single (Drive Axel) Gillig Model D Schooly has an enherently high level of "simpathetic" viberations I am hopeing that Building more Walls, Cabinits, ecct. will Mute this Un-Wanted Noise. It Was Deffiningly Loud When I first started this Project Paticularly after Remooveing all but 2 of the bench seats. For the next 2 weeks I Found myself saying What? all too many times (More than normal even for Me!). So guessing from the Ansures so-far,...It Is Ok To Drive @ 2500 RPM all day with this set-up. |
S.M. Heath (66.82.50.1)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 21, 2004 - 11:03 am: | |
bowlingshoegiverouter, I noticed Your last post was 2 min. before my previous post. What do You think about The Vibrations in this set-up? Harmfull? (to bus I mean I know it hurt my hearing) Also I was told by many Truckers that as long as you dont lug them, the 3208 cat's (In Trucks) are 500,000 Mi. for Top-End & 1,000,000 Mi. to replace Whole Eng. (Assumeing 70 MPH in trucks). So Theroeticly I should get 50/70'ths of that, provided;I don't Lug or Over-Rev. & do all of the maintence correctly. Were Theese Truckers Jiveing Me? or are Buses that different from Trucks?... IE: More Gears in trucks therefore keeping Ideal RPM (in Trucks), Wheras The Buses have to "Work" Eng. "Harder" because of "Gear-Spread"? |
bowlingshoegiverouter (63.185.80.114)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 21, 2004 - 12:07 pm: | |
like I said..the engine turns high rpm for a diesel,& the rods & mains should be changed every 90,000 miles,....wow...don't want to hurt your feelings,they really weren't much of an engine..I drove a turboed one for a while & they are really underpowered & slow going up hills...don't know what you are going to do with it,if it's a week-end camper ,you should have lots of fun with it,if you plan cross country trips,often, you will be disapointed |
JImmci9 (209.240.205.68)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 21, 2004 - 12:08 pm: | |
the caterpillar 3208 evolved from the 1100 series engines cat made in the'70's at requests from ford motor company to produce a diesel for their medium duty trucks...these are good engines for school busses, 4-6yd dump trucks and city delivery trucks... no longer in production, but remanufactured engines are available from you local cat dealer....the 3208 has seen numerous upgrades, like going to a 3-ring piston... but had problems meeting epa guidelines....top rpm (automotive ) was anything from 2800-3200...vibration wasn't noticable....check all your motor mounts, transmission mounts, look closely at your pulleys, accessories and the vibration damper....i've seen many of these engines last well over 250k miles....adhereing to regular maintainence schedules, oil sampling....but after 250-300k miles, they were "tired'... needed fuel system work, had excessive blow-by... (only 2 rings on factory pistons)....btw.. i work for a cat dealer... |
john wood (209.137.231.91)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 21, 2004 - 5:39 pm: | |
Jim;
I have a 1990 3208T with 130k. Gets a 4 gal oil change every 10k or so. It is a bit underpowered in my rig and I would ask what would be a good modification or a bolt up engine with more Hp?
Also any tips on keeping this one running well. Seems to smoke a lot of black. Had aneroid diaphram replaced which helped the power and smoke, but is coming back. |
S.M. Heath (66.82.50.1)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 21, 2004 - 7:24 pm: | |
The Main Reason I Purchaced This Bus is because the Engine Did Not Smoke As Much as most other diesels @ Idle & it seemed normaly nominal (Smoke) under reasonable load conditions. Unfortunately I Do like to go away on medium long trips & 50 MPH on Freeways is an eye-opening experence. IE: Witness to all kinds of Traffic siduations as Most traffic is either passing me or The un-usual slower Special Vehicle &/or the Real troubled Vehicles(Drivers)Ahead that I have to Carfully Pass.Seems like if bus had 10 gear ratio's + split (2) Diff. it wold be even more exiteing . But probly still slow up "steep" hills. I do under 10,000 Mi. per Yr. so I Should get at least 5-8 more years with proper maint...HOPEFULLY... S.M. Heath. |
S.M. Heath (66.82.50.1)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 21, 2004 - 7:32 pm: | |
Anyone ...What is the "Aneroid Diaphram"? I never heard about that part before now. Hopefully it is an Engine part that you are refereing to & not something personal... (LOL)...(???.).S.M. Heath. |
RJ Long (67.181.211.253)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 21, 2004 - 7:52 pm: | |
SM -
The Gillig skoolies use "off-the-shelf" HD truck parts, more than likely your rear axle is either an Eaton or a Rockwell/Meritor. The ratio should be on a tag or plate somewhere around the "pumpkin".
To get more speed out of your coach, at the expense of having to shift down earlier when climbing hills, you will need to change your rear axle ring & pinion to a taller ratio than you now have (which is probably a 5.38:1).
3.73:1 is commonly used in MCIs, some have 3.33:1 ratios. Something in between 3.50:1 and 4.00:1 would probably work for you, but you need to touch base w/ JImc9, as he probably has access to Cat's computer program used for matching powertrain components to applications, similar to DDA's SCAAN system. This will help pinpoint exactly what you need for what you want to do. Then it's a matter of hitting the HD truck boneyards to find a used axle with that ratio. Lots and lots of trucks out there, you'll be able to find something.
Oh, a side benefit: Your highway fuel mileage will improve!!
HTH,
RJ
PD4106-2784
Fresno CA |
Tom Caffrey (Pvcces) (65.74.65.65)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 21, 2004 - 8:48 pm: | |
SM, a lot of those transmissions are available as straight through high gear ( 1 to 1 ) or overdrive versions. Generally, if the shift lever is back in the highest gear, it's likely not to be overdrive. If it's forward, it's probably overdrive.
Changing to an overdrive unit may be just as easy or cheap to do as changing the rear axle, so you might try to solve your problem either way. The transmission will likely have a tag on its side that will give you the model number.
Good luck.
Tom Caffrey PD4106-2576
Suncatcher |
Jimmci9 (209.240.205.68)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 21, 2004 - 10:03 pm: | |
caterpillar calls it an "air/fuel ratio control"... detroit calls it a "throttle delay".. mack calls it a "puff limiter"... cummins calls it an "aneroid valve".... what IT does is limit the amount of fuel, by mechanical linkage, until the "valve" senses "boost" from the turbo... it was an attempt to cut down on overfueling, black smoke on take-off....industrial engines dont have 'em... automotive engines do.... |
S.M. Heath (66.82.50.1)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 21, 2004 - 10:13 pm: | |
Jimmci9, Thank's for info. I guess my 3208 dosen't have turbo so I don't think I will need to know all that after all. Thanks. |
Pat Young (202.78.97.13)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, July 13, 2004 - 11:04 pm: | |
Howdy
No diesel that you want to keep alive should be run at more than 90% of the governor. Yor CAT should be at about 2850.
I run my V8 CAT (an 1160) at about 2650, a consistent 62-3 mph. I have 12 X 22.5 tires, but the 11 X 20s I had give you the same road speed.
Pat Young
Gillig guy
Fresno, CA
559 251-3814 |
S.M. Heath (66.82.50.1)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, July 14, 2004 - 2:14 pm: | |
Pat As I stated in beginning of this topic: My Governer on Gillig With 3208 N/A Eng. IS Set @ 2500 RPM By cat Mech. (it Cuts @ about 26.5 (Hundred) RPM & Dosen't re-engage untill 23.5. Anoying but not as much so as bent Rods wold be! In Your Opinion, Is cruseing @ 2500 OK? |