Cat 3406 was white in peterbilts in at least 1986 as a buddy had one. He said white was the origianal color for that year. I had a 1987 3406B in a Pete and it was the typical cat yellow.
The naming of model SN prefixes to people is absolutely correct. An example is the LBM which is named after an Australian engineer working in Mossville at the time whose initials were LBM. From memory this is a Euro 3 C-12. Lou was liaison for rest of world (North America being prime) engine spec/design at the time. An awesome engineer who could go into any of the meetings by the various specialties (cooling, fuel, emissions etc) and be able to be very knowledgeable in each of them. “A Jack of all trades is a master of none, but often times better than a master of one” very much describes Lou's abilities. The Deutsch connectors where selected over every other connector available at the time due to their easy of serviceability and reliability. They were selected over the proprietary Cat connectors. The 3406B PEEC and 3176 (released at the same time as the DD S60) engines used them but using the HD style connector (same pins and sockets). However HD connectors proved to be both expensive and large so with the C-10/12 and 3406E they changed over to the DT connectors which are used to this day. The brown engines were an exclusive FL spec as part of the way Cat got into the FL80 build. FL wanted be able to say the engine was exclusive to them.... The engines actually being identical apart from the paint. The Ford LTS and Sterling needed the slant engine and in Australia it was even harder to get the engine in due to the RHS config putting the steering shaft right thru the turbo..... The 3406C (I think, may have been the E) was eventually engineered in though on the journey the breather was in the way which ended up with the classic line from the Cat account manager saying to just remove it....... For some reason the engineers didn't agree with this suggestion. FYI we had the 3208 installed in the Ford Cargo as the only engine for many years and had to store 2 years supply (from memory) when Cat stopped production but the truck was still being made.
I’ve worked on private yachts my whole career and every cat engine I have turn wrenches on they come from the factory white but underneath if you chip the paint it’s cat yellow.
@@willriccio7524 is because the white paint, usually, contains some sort of anti corrosion chemical that is necessary when the engine is exposed to a marine environment
I’m an agricultural engineer for a claas dealer, some claas combines use cat engines and they are painted in a claas grey, no hint of yellow underneath that paint either
Prob find the engine numbers will be refused at a cat dealer. John deere are the same with yanmar, boss forklifts remove the id tags from perkins, but are too tight to buy the engine No’s as perkins still help. Hyd pumps on manitou are the same, pump maker wont sell ya parts to a mani’ pump number. Its fair enough on 2yr old but on 20yo its a piss take.
The injectors on some of Cat Engines (HEUI's and C's) had not the regular Deutsch Connector style, because are made by Navistar. Under an emergency situation, I used injectors from a DT466E on a Cat engine. No issues (no trim code modified). And regarding the Cat yellow paint... that paint is also designed to change the shade of yellow towards the darker brown, even black, depending of how hot the component has being working. So that way, the Tech only need a quick look to find overheated component. CAT even have charts with the color shade and it's temperature range related
There are more than one "Cat Yellows". I used to work as a cat engine mech here in Finland, and we always had to check which cat yellow we order as some engines were of lighter yellow than others. So, we had two different cat yellow spray cans to choose.
Allot of issues in color is due to knockoff parts. Some will be due to weathering but color, part number location, etc. is used in caterpillars quality inspection for core returns and a large number of these core returns are not Caterpillar parts and become scrap.
Same with the paint being purchased. Caterpillar has only used 3 paint codes and companies don’t want to use the real paint we (I actually work in the remanufacturing facilities) only use a specific paint that protects surfaces, it’s extremely expensive.
A friend has a CAT engine in his trike, mated to a 5 speed BMW gear box and a Ford back axle. The engine was out of a gen set , a three cylinder, CAT technical helped him along the way as a gen set runs a one speed a trike car ect needs a rev range. Top speed 65mph but excellent fuel economy.
The 3406A model Cats were painted white. Also the Ford LN9000 trucks had tilted engines when using the 3406 engines but they also done the same when using the 14 litre Cummins Big cam engine. I think it was all just a matter of fitting the larger engines under a short hood and the doghouse in the cab. Also Cat over the years has used many different shades of Cat yellow for their yellow paint.
Cats were also painted white in Paccar products aka Peterbilts and Kenworths in the Late 70's into the 80s. Until the introduction of the C series Cat if you ordered the 3406 engine in a Pete or KW it came in painted White.
Worked for cat doing R&D on the medium and heavy duty engines. Had a full feature file for a 3406E that had a marine map accidentally loaded in it. It pulled a fully loaded trailer up route 6 hill like I was in a corvette. About 1200hp.
Why would the marine engines make more power? My understanding of why tunes are limited is typically either emissions or longevity, as marine engines also want longevity I'd assume it's because boats aren't under the same emissions laws?
@@quillmaurer6563 My guess is better cooling because marine engines have access to the body of water the vessel is in for cooling. Then again, it's not as if you would have the need to use full power all the time so a normal radiator should be enough for cooling unless you're driving up a big grade while trying to go as fast as you would on flat ground.
@@quentagonthornton49 Makes sense I suppose. But as you point out, the truck wouldn't need sustained power so much as brief power, while the boat presumably would need sustained power, so I'd expect the truck's tune to allow for greater peak power than the boat's.
Marine engines can make more power because they don’t use it as often. We estimated no more than 10% of the time thus not over stressing the engine. With an OTR truck full hp would be used often putting a lot wear on it. It was our goal for a million miles before a major rebuild. At least before Tier 4.
@@quillmaurer6563 , the main limiting factor is the melting point of aluminium pistons, which in it's pure form is the low 600 C range. Boat engines have an unlimited supply of raw water to keep aftercooler temperatures low enough to effect Exhaust Gas Temperature below 600 C. In the race diesels i've tuned for myself, i've data-logged that a drop of 1 Degree C of intake temp = approx 2 degrees C of exhaust temp. In a machine such as an excavator, which due to long periods of high load, CAT or Komatsu specifies a maximum EGT of 575 degrees C, measured before the exhaust turbine of the turbo.
There was actually two “cat” yellows starting in 1931 it was Hi-Way Yellow until 1979 when it was changed once more to the Official Cat Yellow we all know now
Yes, which I know Sterling was basically owned by Ford before they went under as well. I saw an early 80's Ford water truck tilted a couple weeks ago and should have taken some pictures of it. Thank you for the comment.
@@AdeptApe I knew you had seen them. My buddy runs a 1990 LTL with a B model. We're anxiously waiting for your mechanical video. I run a converted C model Peec engine. Thank you for sharing your vast knowledge. You've helped me several times.
Almost all the older military CAT engines were originally yellow, then were overcoated with the CARC (Tan or Green/camo, depending on the year) until they started shipping them raw to let the military contractors do the CARC coating directly. Most new CAT engines in military vehicles are that lovely mustard yellow.
In regards to the deal with the connectors, the term you're looking for is _"commonality."_ Many believe the amount commonality a product has is an example of how well it was designed and engineered. Personally I find that a very hard statement to argue
I have worked on 7 ships with 24 Cat engines between them. Main engines, generators, standby generators, emergency generators, every one of them was yellow.
Benjamin Holt started Caterpillar in Stockton, Ca. If for some strange reason you find yourself in Stockton, the Hagin Museum in Victory park has most of the entire lower floor dedicated to Benjamin Holt and early Caterpillar equipment.
Oliver 2255s (later White) used the Cat 3150 and 3208...they were painted Meadow Green. The White 2255 used red, and the replacement 2-180 had their Cats painted black. I grew up literally one mile from Caterpillar's Mossville engine facility and my father was a metallurgical engineer there...I was in the plants a fair number of times and saw all sorts of colors used on engines, including dark blue, possibly for Ford's Louisville Line. The white engines were probably most common from what I remember, after Cat yellow, of course. I recall seeing workers wiping the white engines down after dyno testing as they got fairly grungy.
There was a period when Cats in Petes were painted white. Not sure if Peterbilt was painting them or if Caterpillar was painting them at Peterbilt's request.
My dad worked for a dealership in the 80's.. I saw more than a couple of Cats that were white (for marine engines) and a few that were red. The red ones were fire pumps. I saw a few custom engines that were kind of cool. A matching pair of 475hp 3208ta's that were white with chrome trim (rocker covers, air cleaner box, ect) for someone's pleasurecraft. If I recall correctly, the Cats that were in the Army Corps of Engineers dredges in the area were gloss gray with chromed trim also. Those were one offs, but the majority of the engines (even marine application), marine gears, and gen sets I saw were indeed Cat yellow.
Your videos are always full of great information. I’m getting ready to start a equipment technician program that’s sponsored by Quinn CAT at a local community college. I watch your videos to get some training on the company and their products. Keep up the great work!
Great Video Josh as always I found it interesting that Cat only used one electrical connection. I have found other proprietary Cat features that really refine them Maybe you could do a video on the origins?Ive noticed Fastners,Hydraulic couplers Turbos and the cast iron It makes for a better product because everything is built to their standards
Cat changed their color from a standard safety yellow (at the time) to their own proprietary color today sometime in the 80's, but they certainly didn't tell the various mfg facilities to throw all the old paint out. And yes, the Chief Engineer gets to pick the SN prefix for a model change, within reason.
Yeah I think that's right. I've had a1693ta that was white and it was in a 1975 Kenworth W900A Michigan special. I've seen a few also. I always loved hearing that engine work. It was a beast
CAT's come in more colors than yeallow. Their marine engines often come in white. The reason they seem to "lean back" in the engine bay to help with prop shaft alignment (trans to rears).
When you are working on a new product introduction at Cat, someone gets to pick the prefix and they all have some meaning behind them. Someone behind the curtain approves or denies, basically like customized license plates. I have heard of teams raffling off the right to designate the prefix, going towards charity and such.
Our fire department used nothing but the CAT 3406 series diesel engines until CAT quit producing them. We still have one in service with over 170,000 miles on it and still nothing has gone wrong. Normal maintenance and monthly oil changes.
New cat yellow and old cat yellow.. I worked as a engineer on a dredge it had 4 D370's and 2 3306's and 1 3304 they were old cat yellow when I repainted them it was in new cat yellow. Cheers Rory PS the were and are an awesome engine all of them they were new in the mid 1970's.
Early Cat tractors from the 20s were all gray and some special individual ones from expositions were white. Check out the tractor museum in Woodland Calif.
I was assigned to 3rd Shop Direct Support , We had 43 different units at one point , At the moment it slips my mind the various Unit numbers but one had a damn fleet of these things an they had cat yellow & a few OD Green ones , where as another unit had what I mostly saw in Boats being " Marine White ", an a few of those you see Cat Yellow under the White where the paint had cracked or chipped off . Some of the damn Gamma Goats had Detroit Green engines , where as others were OD Green , usually if they were OD Green meant the engine had most likely been rebuilt at the Civilian Depot . They also usually came to me to train their drivers as very few people had experience with them .We had a CWO-4 that was cool as hell He got me assigned as His Driver an anytime one went down We would load up the Jeep & Trailer an head off to check it out , He would do the usual meet & greet when we got there an after the formalities were over he would pull on a pair of Coveralls an jump right in there working on it . He always had this big ass pipe he smoked , it was great watching him address Captains & Majors , Lt Col an Full Birds sometimes he comment what a idiot that fucking clown is 🤣, One Time he told a Bird to go Unfuck Himself " SIR " . Several times he scored us Chopper Rides plus he had to maintain X amount of Flight Hours himself an tell me we're going sightseeing tomm 👍. When I made E-5 I was assigned one of the Dodges M880 that had a mechanics service box on it . An of course a 11 man squad - that was a pain in the ass but so it goes .
Color, quite a miss on that. Original CAT engines were actually Battleship Grey with red lettering, and all the way up into the 1990's many engines were white. The white ones were common mainly in marine and industrial uses, though they would occasionally be found in trucks as well. The CAT yellow was originally called Highway Yellow, before it became Caterpillar Yellow, and a great deal of effort was invested into finding the color that would stand out the most on a construction site.
I can confirm that the component serial numbers are often made up from the inetials of the product group lead engineer or engineers and the number of kids in there family or team members. This is an option rather then a rule. Also white is a colour option available in the marine product range, you can also chose yellow, white or black filters. Early Ford truck engines pre 3208 (I think 3196)engines were blue. Cheers mate🍻 As always very good information, keep up the good work👍
The sterling thing isn't entirely correct. Sterling was originally Ford heavy duty trucks, sold to Daimler (which owned freightliner) then rebranded as sterling. The sideways engine thing was happening well before the ford HD truck division was sold to Daimler and Cats weren't the only engine they did it with. I know they did it with the cummins N14 because I've worked on them, so it's possible that they did it with others too.
Another great informative video from the Cat Master. Yeah I know it wasn't about pulling pistons or replacing timing gears and other manly stuff...but it was chock full of cerebral stuff to feed your mind....and besides for a few minutes I got to quit watching Hallmark Christmas videos with my wife.
I had a 1976 International Fleetstar 2010 A ( think that was the model). Anyway it had a 290 cummins which was installed on a slant also. Also had the doghouse in the cab as part of the engine stuck inside.
I know that International licensed the HEUI injection design from CAT, but those injectors you showed look EXACTLY like Powerstroke injectors, down to the goofy 90 degree electrical connector.
I retired from Cat after 41 years and I can attest to the fact that that the alphanumeric serial number prefix were often the initials of the lead engineer, the lead project manager or the program manager responsible for the new product introduction.
And one was mine. I carefully checked inside the whole Corp - and I am the only one. Mossville HD engine design and assembly. Very thankful for the recognitions.
With 20 experiences operates tractors, variety rigs, repos, a few years, most effective, power and torque a 3406, I can't remember since I've early retire heartattack and stroke, I think it was 3406 E ? Best little giant, best was 600 hp. Twins fast C15 it was almost new like 2006 W9 condo . Thank you,
My 79 Pete came with a white 3406 @ 375HP. Should have waited for the 380 with direct injection. The savings in fuel costs would have paid for the truck twice.
I'm older than you and I've seen white 3406 engine color back in the 70s early 80s for highway applications. (Edit) I see by the other comments that I'm late to the game about the white coloring. Enjoy your videos.
C11, C13, C15 in 2006 ACERT for paccar had 30 distinct yaws and pitches. The oil dipstick selection is very important. Good news is that assembly guys and girls will verify selection with engineering when question arises.
Some industrials can be had painted white, and some can come with chrome accessories in white or yellow. Also, every cat emergency firepump engine I've ever seen came painted red from the factory. Schlumberger 3512 frac engines come painted blue from Cat.
I remember that 3126 engine it was one Cat paid us to put it in "Top Tuna" ,a Pt hull we molded in Port Canaveral, Titusville,fl actually at Thompson Trawler Plant. IT was an experimental with a new type electronic fuel injection system. It was awesome til it sank at the dock!
Only work on Chevy's but a good friend who rebuilds heavy equipment answered my question about CAT being as good as they say. "If you're an operator, they're awesome. If you own them and pay to fix them, they suck".
Ive seen Cat engines in blue, grey, black, green, orange, red, you name it. Then again, I work on the industrial/marine side, so whoever makes the machine paints it to match the color of whatever the engine is put into.
My grandpa worked for Cat in their Hydraulics from the 60’s through the 2000’s. Learned coding and general computer skills to stay ahead of the curve, all for me to make the connection that the Cat’s Byte and Black Ops 3 Zombies have the same “255” problem
I work for BLM with the equipment crew, we have a sterling transport truck with a c15 in it. I have looked at that thing many times thinking it looked wierd as all hell and now i know why. Thanks for lifting confusion off my mind
My Dad and myself ran heavy equipment building roads, our favorite was Cat, the power and durability of these earthmoving machines was remarkable . My nephew has a freightliner with a Claterpillar, if it ain't a Cat , then it's a Rat.
Interesting, pulled a pair of 3208's out of a boat back in March, was curious why they were white, figured it was the boat manufacturer but after spending some real time with the engines, realized there was no yellow underneath
You must not be old enough to remember back in the '70s paccar had White Cat motors I had a 79 Kenworth with a 375 3406 and from the factory it was white
The ford heavy trucks, ( Louisville 9000) did the tilt long before Ford bought the " Sterling" line, the hoods were very short and the angle was exaggerated with the engine under the dash.
Cat 3406 was white in peterbilts in at least 1986 as a buddy had one. He said white was the origianal color for that year. I had a 1987 3406B in a Pete and it was the typical cat yellow.
The naming of model SN prefixes to people is absolutely correct. An example is the LBM which is named after an Australian engineer working in Mossville at the time whose initials were LBM. From memory this is a Euro 3 C-12. Lou was liaison for rest of world (North America being prime) engine spec/design at the time. An awesome engineer who could go into any of the meetings by the various specialties (cooling, fuel, emissions etc) and be able to be very knowledgeable in each of them.
“A Jack of all trades is a master of none, but often times better than a master of one” very much describes Lou's abilities.
The Deutsch connectors where selected over every other connector available at the time due to their easy of serviceability and reliability. They were selected over the proprietary Cat connectors.
The 3406B PEEC and 3176 (released at the same time as the DD S60) engines used them but using the HD style connector (same pins and sockets). However HD connectors proved to be both expensive and large so with the C-10/12 and 3406E they changed over to the DT connectors which are used to this day.
The brown engines were an exclusive FL spec as part of the way Cat got into the FL80 build. FL wanted be able to say the engine was exclusive to them.... The engines actually being identical apart from the paint.
The Ford LTS and Sterling needed the slant engine and in Australia it was even harder to get the engine in due to the RHS config putting the steering shaft right thru the turbo.....
The 3406C (I think, may have been the E) was eventually engineered in though on the journey the breather was in the way which ended up with the classic line from the Cat account manager saying to just remove it....... For some reason the engineers didn't agree with this suggestion. FYI we had the 3208 installed in the Ford Cargo as the only engine for many years and had to store 2 years supply (from memory) when Cat stopped production but the truck was still being made.
My stepdad has an old Ford 9000 and they did the same on that truck and That Was 1980 Something. And she's still a good driver to this day.
I have seen cats that were painted white in Kenworth trucks from the 70.
I’ve worked on private yachts my whole career and every cat engine I have turn wrenches on they come from the factory white but underneath if you chip the paint it’s cat yellow.
I was going to say the same thing
Do you know if they were all originally yellow? And do you know why they re-painted them white?
@@willriccio7524 is because the white paint, usually, contains some sort of anti corrosion chemical that is necessary when the engine is exposed to a marine environment
@@axelcastillo9544 Aah ok. That makes sense! Thanks Axel!
Same with Deeres I've seen on gennies.
Green for the base coat and whatever the gen manufacturer's color is
I’m an agricultural engineer for a claas dealer, some claas combines use cat engines and they are painted in a claas grey, no hint of yellow underneath that paint either
Prob find the engine numbers will be refused at a cat dealer. John deere are the same with yanmar, boss forklifts remove the id tags from perkins, but are too tight to buy the engine No’s as perkins still help. Hyd pumps on manitou are the same, pump maker wont sell ya parts to a mani’ pump number. Its fair enough on 2yr old but on 20yo its a piss take.
I was about to mention this
The injectors on some of Cat Engines (HEUI's and C's) had not the regular Deutsch Connector style, because are made by Navistar. Under an emergency situation, I used injectors from a DT466E on a Cat engine. No issues (no trim code modified).
And regarding the Cat yellow paint... that paint is also designed to change the shade of yellow towards the darker brown, even black, depending of how hot the component has being working. So that way, the Tech only need a quick look to find overheated component. CAT even have charts with the color shade and it's temperature range related
There are more than one "Cat Yellows". I used to work as a cat engine mech here in Finland, and we always had to check which cat yellow we order as some engines were of lighter yellow than others. So, we had two different cat yellow spray cans to choose.
sure that's because over timr the paint breaks down under sunlight
I had a freightliner with a 3126 cat that came from the factory in a dark gold or bronze color......weird
Allot of issues in color is due to knockoff parts. Some will be due to weathering but color, part number location, etc. is used in caterpillars quality inspection for core returns and a large number of these core returns are not Caterpillar parts and become scrap.
Same with the paint being purchased. Caterpillar has only used 3 paint codes and companies don’t want to use the real paint we (I actually work in the remanufacturing facilities) only use a specific paint that protects surfaces, it’s extremely expensive.
White truck engines were very common in the late 70's and early 80's.
2 more fun facts:
- Cats are often stolen for their metals
- Cats hate you, but expect love
My cats loved me 1979 to present 2 kws 2 cats great service
A friend has a CAT engine in his trike, mated to a 5 speed BMW gear box and a Ford back axle.
The engine was out of a gen set , a three cylinder, CAT technical helped him along the way as a gen set runs a one speed a trike car ect needs a rev range. Top speed 65mph but excellent fuel economy.
The Sterling tilted engine is left over from FORD days . Ford was great for doing this. My guess is it gives the driver more foot space !!
60 series , N14 all are tilted in ford, 2000 sterling are straight up
Ford ltl 9000 did it to 3406 b fit air filter housing under the hood
My dad drove Ford CLT with a KTA Cummins and the engine was canted to the side to fit under the cab.
I have a couple old Lousiville's with big bore engines that were tilted. Still run them, pain to work on but they drive nice.
The 3406E in my 01 Sterling AT9500 is straight in
The 3406A model Cats were painted white. Also the Ford LN9000 trucks had tilted engines when using the 3406 engines but they also done the same when using the 14 litre Cummins Big cam engine. I think it was all just a matter of fitting the larger engines under a short hood and the doghouse in the cab. Also Cat over the years has used many different shades of Cat yellow for their yellow paint.
1693swere white to
I remember white cat engines and Ford conventionls tilting their engines too. Sterling are Fords from back in the day.
Pacar painted all their engines white for a while , International painted all their engines red
There is nothing stopping a customer from buying a Cat engine & painting it whatever color he wants.
Cats were also painted white in Paccar products aka Peterbilts and Kenworths in the Late 70's into the 80s. Until the introduction of the C series Cat if you ordered the 3406 engine in a Pete or KW it came in painted White.
Sterling: orders 34 06s and C15s for their trucks
Guitar riff
Worked for cat doing R&D on the medium and heavy duty engines. Had a full feature file for a 3406E that had a marine map accidentally loaded in it. It pulled a fully loaded trailer up route 6 hill like I was in a corvette. About 1200hp.
Why would the marine engines make more power? My understanding of why tunes are limited is typically either emissions or longevity, as marine engines also want longevity I'd assume it's because boats aren't under the same emissions laws?
@@quillmaurer6563 My guess is better cooling because marine engines have access to the body of water the vessel is in for cooling. Then again, it's not as if you would have the need to use full power all the time so a normal radiator should be enough for cooling unless you're driving up a big grade while trying to go as fast as you would on flat ground.
@@quentagonthornton49 Makes sense I suppose. But as you point out, the truck wouldn't need sustained power so much as brief power, while the boat presumably would need sustained power, so I'd expect the truck's tune to allow for greater peak power than the boat's.
Marine engines can make more power because they don’t use it as often. We estimated no more than 10% of the time thus not over stressing the engine. With an OTR truck full hp would be used often putting a lot wear on it. It was our goal for a million miles before a major rebuild. At least before Tier 4.
@@quillmaurer6563 , the main limiting factor is the melting point of aluminium pistons, which in it's pure form is the low 600 C range. Boat engines have an unlimited supply of raw water to keep aftercooler temperatures low enough to effect Exhaust Gas Temperature below 600 C. In the race diesels i've tuned for myself, i've data-logged that a drop of 1 Degree C of intake temp = approx 2 degrees C of exhaust temp. In a machine such as an excavator, which due to long periods of high load, CAT or Komatsu specifies a maximum EGT of 575 degrees C, measured before the exhaust turbine of the turbo.
There was actually two “cat” yellows starting in 1931 it was Hi-Way Yellow until 1979 when it was changed once more to the Official Cat Yellow we all know now
Earlier Ford's with 3406b like the 1980s LTL9000 had tilted engines also.
Yes, which I know Sterling was basically owned by Ford before they went under as well. I saw an early 80's Ford water truck tilted a couple weeks ago and should have taken some pictures of it. Thank you for the comment.
@@AdeptApe I knew you had seen them. My buddy runs a 1990 LTL with a B model. We're anxiously waiting for your mechanical video. I run a converted C model Peec engine. Thank you for sharing your vast knowledge. You've helped me several times.
@@AdeptApe some early 1150, 1160s were Ford engine blue when installed in Ford medium duty’s.
@@AdeptApe Freightliner bought out Ford heavy trucks and renamed them Sterling.
@@AdeptApe electronic governors were out in the late 80's- peec system, 8tc im much older than you- unfortunately
Almost all the older military CAT engines were originally yellow, then were overcoated with the CARC (Tan or Green/camo, depending on the year) until they started shipping them raw to let the military contractors do the CARC coating directly. Most new CAT engines in military vehicles are that lovely mustard yellow.
In regards to the deal with the connectors, the term you're looking for is _"commonality."_
Many believe the amount commonality a product has is an example of how well it was designed and engineered. Personally I find that a very hard statement to argue
God, I love CAT so much
I have worked on 7 ships with 24 Cat engines between them. Main engines, generators, standby generators, emergency generators, every one of them was yellow.
These are from Lafayette, Indiana. The C11 thru C18 marine engines from Mossville were white.
The Cummins was also tilted in the Ford/sterling trucks.
White tilted them too
I did enjoy that, I’m such a diesel nerd :D I was fascinated by the Mitsubishi D3 and there were generators with komatsu gauges.
White marine, red fire engine, green military, grey and blue. Shipped pink for a lady trucker.
Benjamin Holt started Caterpillar in Stockton, Ca. If for some strange reason you find yourself in Stockton, the Hagin Museum in Victory park has most of the entire lower floor dedicated to Benjamin Holt and early Caterpillar equipment.
interesting, wonder how the main plant ended up in my shit hole.
Thank you Mr Harris. Most interesting.
Oliver 2255s (later White) used the Cat 3150 and 3208...they were painted Meadow Green. The White 2255 used red, and the replacement 2-180 had their Cats painted black. I grew up literally one mile from Caterpillar's Mossville engine facility and my father was a metallurgical engineer there...I was in the plants a fair number of times and saw all sorts of colors used on engines, including dark blue, possibly for Ford's Louisville Line. The white engines were probably most common from what I remember, after Cat yellow, of course. I recall seeing workers wiping the white engines down after dyno testing as they got fairly grungy.
There was a period when Cats in Petes were painted white. Not sure if Peterbilt was painting them or if Caterpillar was painting them at Peterbilt's request.
We have a 85 pete with a white cat
I have only seen 3406a that were white
A models were white
International Harvester used to paint their engines red for the Transtar trucks. Saw two red 3406B's at a show just a few weeks ago.
I've heard this same thing about Cat engines once.
I have worked on many 3126 cats. They were all yellow. And marine applications, such as yacht boats/ fishing boats, they are often white.
Note to self: add engine when searching for "brown caterpillar"
Unless you want to look at a picture of a bunch of caterpillars
Lololol
Hehehe. my friend once tricked me into looking up docking. Good gawd, can't unlearn that. Barf.
Thats funny as hell right there
My dad worked for a dealership in the 80's.. I saw more than a couple of Cats that were white (for marine engines) and a few that were red. The red ones were fire pumps. I saw a few custom engines that were kind of cool. A matching pair of 475hp 3208ta's that were white with chrome trim (rocker covers, air cleaner box, ect) for someone's pleasurecraft. If I recall correctly, the Cats that were in the Army Corps of Engineers dredges in the area were gloss gray with chromed trim also. Those were one offs, but the majority of the engines (even marine application), marine gears, and gen sets I saw were indeed Cat yellow.
CAT yellow has changed over the years. At least 3 times that I have come across so far.
The 3406A was painted white. Had one in a 86 W900
White in Paccars ( Kenworth and Peterbilt ) Red in Internationals. I believe some ended up Ford Blue in Louisvilles.
Marine cats are usually white and so were the 3406a truck engines.
I remember those engines back in the late 70s early 80s
I sure love CATS, but decided to repower my truck with a Detroit.
Detroit makes a good engine, can't blame you.
Your videos are always full of great information. I’m getting ready to start a equipment technician program that’s sponsored by Quinn CAT at a local community college. I watch your videos to get some training on the company and their products. Keep up the great work!
Hope your studies are going well.
Early Ford/Cat 3208’s were blue.
Thats what i thought ! I have have 3 olympian gensets that have the 4cyl perkapillars in them ! Good engines for being 20 years old !
Great Video Josh as always I found it interesting that Cat only used one electrical connection. I have found other proprietary Cat features that really refine them Maybe you could do a video on the origins?Ive noticed Fastners,Hydraulic couplers Turbos and the cast iron It makes for a better product because everything is built to their standards
Cat changed their color from a standard safety yellow (at the time) to their own proprietary color today sometime in the 80's, but they certainly didn't tell the various mfg facilities to throw all the old paint out. And yes, the Chief Engineer gets to pick the SN prefix for a model change, within reason.
Yep - New Cat Yellar
I don’t know anything about CAT engines but UA-cam knew i would be interested
Cat were also painted white in trucks, and marine power engines.
Yeah I think that's right. I've had a1693ta that was white and it was in a 1975 Kenworth W900A Michigan special. I've seen a few also. I always loved hearing that engine work. It was a beast
Caterpillar marine engines are painted white from the factory.
Deutsch and ampseal connectors are both made by Te Connectivity.
CAT's come in more colors than yeallow. Their marine engines often come in white. The reason they seem to "lean back" in the engine bay to help with prop shaft alignment (trans to rears).
Was hoping you would cover gas compression engines. I’m new to the gas compression business. 3606 is our big engines. 2000 hp ish.
The color is actually Cummins beige.
When you are working on a new product introduction at Cat, someone gets to pick the prefix and they all have some meaning behind them. Someone behind the curtain approves or denies, basically like customized license plates. I have heard of teams raffling off the right to designate the prefix, going towards charity and such.
lol there's an engine prefix "666". It is a C6.6
@@axelcastillo9544 and I don’t remember the model but there is also a GAY prefix.
@@basketofdeplorables4253 😅
Our fire department used nothing but the CAT 3406 series diesel engines until CAT quit producing them. We still have one in service with over 170,000 miles on it and still nothing has gone wrong. Normal maintenance and monthly oil changes.
New cat yellow and old cat yellow..
I worked as a engineer on a dredge it had 4 D370's and 2 3306's and 1 3304 they were old cat yellow when I repainted them it was in new cat yellow.
Cheers Rory PS the were and are an awesome engine all of them they were new in the mid 1970's.
Early Cat tractors from the 20s were all gray and some special individual ones from expositions were white. Check out the tractor museum in Woodland Calif.
I worked at a freight co where we had yellow and brown(ish) 3126s and the the tilted C15. I believe the brownish ones were 3 valvers.
Neat video! Related to #1, Cat built olive drab-colored engines for military vehicles. My M35A3 has a olive drab 3116 in it.
I use to specialize on the Ole Nam era GOER
@@paulrooster2108 TY for your service! Those GOERs are beastly! Did they have green Cats or yellow ones? Curious :)
I was assigned to 3rd Shop Direct Support , We had 43 different units at one point , At the moment it slips my mind the various Unit numbers but one had a damn fleet of these things an they had cat yellow & a few OD Green ones , where as another unit had what I mostly saw in Boats being
" Marine White ", an a few of those you see Cat Yellow under the White where the paint had cracked or chipped off . Some of the damn Gamma Goats had Detroit Green engines , where as others were OD Green , usually if they were OD Green meant the engine had most likely been rebuilt at the Civilian Depot . They also usually came to me to train their drivers as very few people had experience with them .We had a CWO-4 that was cool as hell He got me assigned as His Driver an anytime one went down We would load up the Jeep & Trailer an head off to check it out , He would do the usual meet & greet when we got there an after the formalities were over he would pull on a pair of Coveralls an jump right in there working on it . He always had this big ass pipe he smoked , it was great watching him address Captains & Majors , Lt Col an Full Birds sometimes he comment what a idiot that fucking clown is 🤣, One Time he told a Bird to go Unfuck Himself " SIR " . Several times he scored us Chopper Rides plus he had to maintain X amount of Flight Hours himself an tell me we're going sightseeing tomm 👍. When I made E-5 I was assigned one of the Dodges M880 that had a mechanics service box on it . An of course a 11 man squad - that was a pain in the ass but so it goes .
Color, quite a miss on that.
Original CAT engines were actually Battleship Grey with red lettering, and all the way up into the 1990's many engines were white. The white ones were common mainly in marine and industrial uses, though they would occasionally be found in trucks as well.
The CAT yellow was originally called Highway Yellow, before it became Caterpillar Yellow, and a great deal of effort was invested into finding the color that would stand out the most on a construction site.
The Ford LTL series was well known for the " Crooked Cat"
BuT iTs YeLlOw, It CaNt bE a FoRd EnGinE. Never mind the Ford engineering numbers on the parts, and castings though....
I can confirm that the component serial numbers are often made up from the inetials of the product group lead engineer or engineers and the number of kids in there family or team members. This is an option rather then a rule. Also white is a colour option available in the marine product range, you can also chose yellow, white or black filters. Early Ford truck engines pre 3208 (I think 3196)engines were blue. Cheers mate🍻 As always very good information, keep up the good work👍
If I could funnel the knowledge of my viewers into videos I would never run out of information. Thank you Michael.
3406 engines in paccar truck products were white in color in the early to mid 80’s.
@Carlos Torres I don't know of an E that wasn't yellow.
It were some of the A's and the B's that were painted white. Only seen it in Paccar products.
The sterling thing isn't entirely correct. Sterling was originally Ford heavy duty trucks, sold to Daimler (which owned freightliner) then rebranded as sterling. The sideways engine thing was happening well before the ford HD truck division was sold to Daimler and Cats weren't the only engine they did it with. I know they did it with the cummins N14 because I've worked on them, so it's possible that they did it with others too.
FYI, The C9s in 2011 and up Claas harvester combines are grey.
Years ago you could order a white cat in a Pete or freightliner. Werner has one in their museum if I’m not mistaken
White and orange are also often found on cat engines, white for pleasure craft Marine and orange is typically emergency power for hospitals
There is actually Old cat yellow and new cat yellow.
Didn’t they used to paint them white?
Years ago we had a 1960's Diamond -T (990 Series) with a 220 Cummins that was tilted to fit under the hood and cab. Interesting truck it was.
Ford 1964 ht 1000 cabover, had the 15 deg tilt NH 220 for the shift tower clearance if I remember right. That was 50 years ago when I worked on them.!
That cabover is definitely in the same era of Dinosaurs we're talking about!
Another great informative video from the Cat Master. Yeah I know it wasn't about pulling pistons or replacing timing gears and other manly stuff...but it was chock full of cerebral stuff to feed your mind....and besides for a few minutes I got to quit watching Hallmark Christmas videos with my wife.
🤣
I'm sorry to distract you from Christmas movies Larry. Thanks for commenting.
@@AdeptApe Oh no...thats a good thing.
My Series 60 Detroit went 1,100,000 before rebuild and would touch 9 mpg across LA and TX on I-20, in a semi GVW 42,000. Now that's an engine.
Next time someone sends me cat facts, I’m gonna send them Cat facts.
I had a 1976 International Fleetstar 2010 A ( think that was the model). Anyway it had a 290 cummins which was installed on a slant also. Also had the doghouse in the cab as part of the engine stuck inside.
I know that International licensed the HEUI injection design from CAT, but those injectors you showed look EXACTLY like Powerstroke injectors, down to the goofy 90 degree electrical connector.
Cat does build a marine engine that is painted orange. I worked at LEC in Lafayette Indiana.
I was always curious about the 255 fault count thing.
Same reason why you 3 terabyte hard drive is NOT 3 terabytes when formated. All ties in to the same thing.
I retired from Cat after 41 years and I can attest to the fact that that the alphanumeric serial number prefix were often the initials of the lead engineer, the lead project manager or the program manager responsible for the new product introduction.
And one was mine. I carefully checked inside the whole Corp - and I am the only one. Mossville HD engine design and assembly. Very thankful for the recognitions.
With 20 experiences operates tractors, variety rigs, repos, a few years, most effective, power and torque a 3406, I can't remember since I've early retire heartattack and stroke, I think it was 3406 E ? Best little giant, best was 600 hp. Twins fast C15 it was almost new like 2006 W9 condo .
Thank you,
Oo'
I recall seeing numerous white painted 3408's 1693's 3406 a and b's
Cat marine engines are painted white
@@jessiesimmons9408 yes those are as well.
The 1150 or 3208 Cat put in Ford trucks in the early ,mid 70s were painted Ford Blue, and in fact said Ford Diesel by Caterpillar ..
You had 1140, 1145, 1150, 1160 and 3208.
By the way I love ur videos ur mic is great u can explain things great too. Great job man
Absolutely concur, he does an excellentt job explaining.
Hioe
CAT Yellow claim; What about 3406A’s? Didn’t they come from the factory painted white?
My 79 Pete came with a white 3406 @ 375HP. Should have waited for the 380 with direct injection. The savings in fuel costs would have paid for the truck twice.
You are 100% correct but it wasn't about the model number it was because they were shipped to paccar Incorporated
What about the early cat tractors? They were all painted grey before they started using yellow.
What about all the marine application C7s that are also grey. I’ve never known yellow to be the only color that they used.
@@Ezraroberts686 yea I agree. All the marine engines are white.
I can remember some 1693 truck engines being off white back in the late 70s & early 80s
Cats were red in international trucks 92U prefix 3406. I've seen blue cats in industrial application also white in paccar 28v 3408s 3406 up to 7fb
Cat make some of the best engines made
I'm older than you and I've seen white 3406 engine color back in the 70s early 80s for highway applications. (Edit) I see by the other comments that I'm late to the game about the white coloring. Enjoy your videos.
Cat marine engines are usually Matterhorn white.
Wade Bullard seen a lot of 3408's that were white in trucks. Not positive if that was factory or not
3406A are white as wall
3208's also white
This channel is fucking awesome, love your work man
Hey thank you!
C11, C13, C15 in 2006 ACERT for paccar had 30 distinct yaws and pitches. The oil dipstick selection is very important. Good news is that assembly guys and girls will verify selection with engineering when question arises.
Some industrials can be had painted white, and some can come with chrome accessories in white or yellow.
Also, every cat emergency firepump engine I've ever seen came painted red from the factory.
Schlumberger 3512 frac engines come painted blue from Cat.
The official color on the 3126 was called Mojave. The Marine products are Matterhorn white.
I remember that 3126 engine it was one Cat paid us to put it in "Top Tuna" ,a Pt hull we molded in Port Canaveral, Titusville,fl actually at Thompson Trawler Plant. IT was an experimental with a new type electronic fuel injection system. It was awesome til it sank at the dock!
Only work on Chevy's but a good friend who rebuilds heavy equipment answered my question about CAT being as good as they say. "If you're an operator, they're awesome. If you own them and pay to fix them, they suck".
Had a White-Freightliner cabover which had a Caterpillar motor in Detroit Diesel green.
I painted it myself.
Ford also used the tilted to the right engine. It's a total nightmare when you go to swap out the engine into a better truck
Try to find parts for those old fords. Like a fan clutch or fan clutch mount. They just aren't out there any more.
Fact....that expensive yellow paint will bankrupt you
Ive seen Cat engines in blue, grey, black, green, orange, red, you name it. Then again, I work on the industrial/marine side, so whoever makes the machine paints it to match the color of whatever the engine is put into.
My grandpa worked for Cat in their Hydraulics from the 60’s through the 2000’s. Learned coding and general computer skills to stay ahead of the curve, all for me to make the connection that the Cat’s Byte and Black Ops 3 Zombies have the same “255” problem
I work for BLM with the equipment crew, we have a sterling transport truck with a c15 in it. I have looked at that thing many times thinking it looked wierd as all hell and now i know why. Thanks for lifting confusion off my mind
The C-7 had the nastiest smelling exhaust of any engine.
1980' 3208 when it's 0 deg will have you on all 4's gasping for air
My Dad and myself ran heavy equipment building roads, our favorite was Cat, the power and durability of these earthmoving machines was remarkable . My nephew has a freightliner with a Claterpillar, if it ain't a Cat , then it's a Rat.
Commercial Cat Marine = Yellow. Pleasure craft Cat Marine = White.
Interesting, pulled a pair of 3208's out of a boat back in March, was curious why they were white, figured it was the boat manufacturer but after spending some real time with the engines, realized there was no yellow underneath
Matterhorn white.
Thank you! I am glad that I found your channel and subscribed. I just wish that I had found it sooner.
Thank you for the kind words.
@@AdeptApe
You are welcome.
You must not be old enough to remember back in the '70s paccar had White Cat motors I had a 79 Kenworth with a 375 3406 and from the factory it was white
Sea Rays Cats were white as well. Not sure if that’s a Sea Ray job or cat. Either way, great video
Pleasure craft Cats = white. Work boat Cats = yellow.
Best wishes
@@carlthor91 ahhh, cool thanks
A lot of industrial cats were white , I ran a tub grinder with a 3412 that was white , I’ve also seen 3406b’s in trucks that were white
Interesting trivia about Cat diesel engines . Always amazed with your video content Josh. Learn something new every time . THANKS Amigo.....
Cool information about the yellow and now brown Cats
The ford heavy trucks, ( Louisville 9000) did the tilt long before Ford bought the " Sterling" line, the hoods were very short and the angle was exaggerated with the engine under the dash.
I remember the first time I worked on one of the old fords like that