The 10 Best Truck Engines ( EVER)!

this is my personal list of my 10 favorite best engines over the last 40 years now I based this on longevity and reliability of the engine so let me know what you guys think of this list if you've got different opinions or different favorites let me know number one the 300 horsepower Mack engine made by Mack motors reliable as all hell drove on back in the in the 70s and no matter how cold it got you didn't have to plug that thing in that thing would always fire great reliable engine took abuse worked in awful conditions great engines the next one I found that I really liked again very reliable motor was the 350 Cummins one of the basic engines back in the day and from which stemmed the 400 big cam series engines also a favorite of mine they the early big cam Cummins engines the big cam one and two great motors reliable not that great on fuel economy but fuel economy wasn't that important back then because fuel was a lot cheaper another favorite engine of mine back in the day the 1693 cat one of the early cats one of the earliest cats that I'm aware of to go into highway trucks kind of loud lots of power great engine very reliable next came the 380 cat also made my list of favorite truck engines strong reliable powerful not bad fuel mileage all things considered after that on my list comes the 3408 cat now great engine very strong engine terrible on fuel but again fuel economy wasn't the thing of the day power was horse power was these things were rated about 450 horse they were putting out about 550 horse or more great engines after the 3408 came the c15 cat and the c16 cat both of which excellent excellent reliable engines great warranties on them workhorse is not too bad on fuel but a good working engine very reliable and when I was hauling produce you needed reliability and these things were perfect for that they never let you down now the only modern engine to make my list is the 60 series Detroit now the 3406 cat didn't make my list as much as I like Caterpillar motors because it had head gasket trouble a lot of head gasket trouble so that let them out of the list and you'll notice that none of the new Cummins engines made my list because they had problems with reliability because of the emission system and you'll notice too that unfortunately the new pack our engines didn't make my list and they've had they've had sending unit trouble more than anything else they may turn out to be a good engine once they get all the bugs out but they didn't make my list either the new Detroit engines are the only new engines to make my list that the 60 series and the DD 15 engine seemed to be the only ones that are reliable and have conquered this emission systems problem so while well not a big Detroit fan these things have been the best of the new fleet of engines come out and speaking of 60 series Detroit's reminds me of a story so back back in the early nineties or mid 90s I bought a used Kenworth I knew the history of the truck and it was a big beautiful truck and the guy that had it took meticulous care of it but it came with a 60 series Detroit engine the first one I had ever ever owned I wasn't too sure what to think of that but bought the truck got a good deal on it and as I said I don't usually buy news trucks but that one I knew the history so it was good and my my friend will let his king was in between rides at that time and place and I I put the lettuce King this big beautiful truck and he really liked the truck it was kind of an odd color it was purple it had a great big bunk on it but something about it that he really liked so the lettuce king took off for California and we put it to work running lettuce back and forth out uh Salinas so after a couple trips and owning this truck for a few months the lettuce king who was used to caterpillar power he was used to the 3408 and stuff like that and he said you know it's a really nice truck but the motor is weak as hell didn't like the motor didn't like the motor and I never really drove the truck I didn't care he always complained how weak the motor was so the Wolcott Truck Show comes along and the lettuce king decides he's gonna take this truck and put it in the Wolcott Truck Show because it really was pretty sharp and kind of unusual so he's in there the trucks on display at Walcott and sure enough the Detroit guys come along see the engine and make the mistake asking the lettuce king how he likes the motor hoping for some good good press out of them well the last king goes off like a rocket tells them what a piece of crap it is stomps up and down hates the motor weak weak weak no power no power no power the Detroit perhaps didn't want the bad press and they quiet him down they said don't well where you where you going right now and the last king says well I'm headed for California the guy says okay UMP out in California we've got a shop in Bakersfield I want you to take that truck up to the shop and Bakersfield will tune that motor for free no charge because we want you happy we want you to say good things about this Detroit Diesel so no charge take it up there we'll tune it up and then see what you think about it so the last king empties out in LA on the way up to the lettuce fields he stops and Bakersfield and he's in Bakersfield for about two days while these guys work on the motor some sort of a hot Detroit engine shock he comes out goes up to Salinas puts on the lettuce and head step to go up 80 up to Truckee uh needy you know by God the trucks pulled in like Jack the bear he can't believe it's the same motor and he just comes sale and all the whole different truck all together and just thrilled with it after that there's the moral of the story is if you're the last king and you complain loud enough you get a good engine out of the deal and he certainly did cuz after those guys and Bakersfield worked on that engine ran like a clock and had gobs of power so that's my lettuce King Detroit story you guys take care keep the rubber side down let me know what your favorite engines are and I'll see you on the back all [Music]

Channel: Smart Trucking

Views: 377,751

Keywords: best truck engines, truck engines, best diesel engines, top truck engines, top diesel engines, best 2019 diesel engines, top 2019 diesel engines, best semi truck engines, the 10 best truck engines ever, 10 best truck engines of all time, best big rig engines, big rig engines, 300 hp mack, big cam cummins, 60 detroit series engines, c15 cat, c16 cat, dd15 engine, 1693 cat, 380 cat engine, 3408 cat engine, 350 cummins engine, best big rig motors

Id: 6CfpkrIuvnU

Length: 7min 23sec (443 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 18 2019