March
2010
"STORIES"

As many of you know we are in the process of building Peterbilt 389, Freightliner Coronado, and Western Star glider kits.  These are the only 3 glider kits available from the OEM's, so if you want something else, please call the truck manufacturer and ask them.  I have called Kenworth for the T-660 and their answer was it would take a lot of engineering to be able to install a 2002 or older engine in that chassis.  I asked them to build me T-660 gliders without the engines and transmissions and I'll do the required engineering to put older engines into the trucks.  So far I have received no answer from Kenworth and all they want to sell me is a complete truck.  Peterbilt is now at a 4.5 month wait for the 2011 glider kit, yet you can buy a 2011 truck with a DPF Engine in about 6 weeks.  Peterbilt will only build two glider kits per week so if you want one, you should call us and put a deposit on it and let's get it on order.

  Last month we received our first Peterbilt glider kit and this white flat top 389 will sit in our booth at the Mid-America Trucking Show.  It will be powered by one of our completely remanufactured Signature 6NZ Caterpillar engines and have every item we have to produce power and fuel mileage.  This 389 will have the Pittsburgh Powerbox installed, which will give it the ability to produce 800 horsepower and we expect the fuel mileage to be 8 mpg or better.  It will have an Eaton 18 Speed double overdrive transmission just like the majority of owner-operator trucks do on the road today, however it will have a 2:64 locker rear gear which means you will drive this truck in direct gear.  First overdrive will only be used for long downhill grades and if you just want to flat speed.  So why are we using the 18 speed Eaton? Because it has the ability to split a gear and it's the highest torque rated transmission available for semi truck use and with our Signature series engines we always exceed the torque ratings.

  Now many people feel the truck will lose power on the hills and mountains with the 2:64 rear gears, however the opposite is true.  A truck equipped with 3:36 or 3:55 gears loses more power to the drive tires because of the overdrive transmission.  Think about this, when pulling in direct gear the engine only loses about 9 to 12% of its power through the drive train, however when pulling in double overdrive or 18th gear or in a 13 speed, 13th gear the power loss is between 30 and 40%.  The same happens in a 10-speed overdrive, so if you have a company truck with a 10 over and 3:55 or 3:73 rear gears, the same equation applies, the 10 speeds just can't split the gears.  So get out your calculator. Let’s use a 550 hp Cat Engine putting about 490 hp to the rear wheels in direct gear. Keep in mind all hp figures to the rear wheels are in direct gear.  Now let's use a multiplier of .70, figuring a 30% loss in double overdrive, the rear wheel horsepower for your 550 Cat is only 390 hp.

So your 550 HP Cat or whatever engine you have only has 390 hp to the rear wheels in high gear if you have 550 at the crank.  So a 500 hp Detroit only has 350 hp to the rear tires.  Yes, our engines are more powerful today and because they run at lower RPM's than the older mechanical engines, we are not putting much more hp to the rear wheels because of the double over drive transmissions.  When the engineers at Allison, the makers of "THE WORLD TRANSMISSION" for motor homes and medium duty trucks made the 6 speed Automatic with 5th and 6th gear being overdrive they lost 40% of their power to the rear wheels.  A motor home with a 450 hp engine only has 290 hp. to the rear wheels.  The only good thing about the World Transmission is it has torque converter lockup in 2nd through 6th gear.  THE SPEED OF THE VEHICLE IS DETERMINED IN THE REAR GEARS, NOT THE TRANSMISSION.   So if you're a logger or pull an end dump and never see a 4 lane highway then the 2:64 gears are not for you.  Likewise for heavy haul, the 2:64 gearing is perfect for most trucks that run over the interstate highway system.

 Several of my friends and clients that I have met over the years of building engines are into Extreme Heavy Hauling. With efforts from these guys, Sid Compton, and I have put together a combination of components that will make the ultimate heavy haul truck.

Who is Sid Compton you ask? Sid Compton is the builder of the most powerful diesel engines this world has ever seen and now works with us at Pittsburgh Power. I'll talk more on Sid later. Anyways, instead of using two trucks to haul the load, one semi truck to pull and one to push, we could build a truck with enough power and cubic inches to pull 400,000 plus pounds.

Last week I had a phone call from a client who has a Bridge Cat that we un-bridged and he was pulling 404,000 lbs across West Virginia.  His Cat now produces 600 hp and he had another truck pushing that was powered with a 600 hp. Cat and the top speed on the hills was 7 mph.  Fuel mileage is of no concern when pulling 404,000 lbs., however power is.  I said to him "Let me build you a truck that will pull that load by itself and you’ll go up those hills at 21 mph."  He said that would be great and so now we have put together the specs to pull awesome weight with authority.  The rears of this heavy haul truck of the future are capable of hauling 102,000 pounds on the deck.  The transmission... oh yes, we are having a transmission built that will be able to harness 7,000 ft. lbs. of torque and it's only a 9 speed. With 2300 cubic inches and 1800 horsepower and 38 liters, we will only need 9 speeds.

 Sid Compton and I have known each other for the past 27 years and I have always been amazed at what this man could get out of a diesel engine.

How about 2,400 hp from a KTA 1150 cu in Cummins? Many of you have seen this engine at work in a pulling Peterbilt called Mr. Nasty owned by Doc Snyder of Snyder Farms in Ohio.  Sid has also built the CFI T-2000 KW known as the Red Racer that ran Pikes Peak and has 2 Signature 600 Cummins back to back under the cab.  Yes, that was an inline 12-cylinder engine.  Remember the Wild Thing I and II? Those trucks were Internationals that were built to race Pikes Peak by Cummins and IHC. The N-14 Celect engines in the Wild Thing I and II both produced 1,000 hp. Sid was the man who built those trucks, raced them, even ran off Pikes Peak above the tree line and fell 600 feet. The roll cage that he built saved his life. 

I will be writing more about Sid Compton in the next several articles and when you visit our shop discuss your engine problems with Sid. Sid is the new shop foreman and chief wrench and he is the guy.  We at Pittsburgh Power Inc. consider it a pleasure to have Sid Compton working with us. Sid has been with us since the 18th of January 2010.  George Muntean, a retired head engineer of Cummins Engine Company fuel systems said at a recent dinner "With you and Sid working together nothing will be impossible for Pittsburgh Power now."

 Written by: Bruce C. Mallinson, Pittsburgh Power Inc., 3600 S. Noah Dr., Saxonburg, Pa. 16056. Phone 724-360-4080. Email: bruce@pittsburghpower.com