Caterpillar RSS

2021, Caterpillar, Peterbilt -

Drive what you like. Many times I get phone calls from owner-operators asking me what truck they should buy.  My answer is “What is your favorite truck, what would be your dream truck.”  Many of us still prefer the long hood trucks, 359, 379, 389 Peterbilts, W900 Kenworths, Western Stars, and the Freightliner Classic.  Yes, the fuel mileage is about ½  mile per gallon less than an aerodynamic truck, and that mileage can be made up by driving via the turbo boost gauge and slowing down slightly. However, if you’re like me, you want to love the truck, car, motorcycle,...

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2020, Caterpillar -

With great pleasure I am introducing you to a very special old school owner operator from Mississippi.  JR Hillhouse’s beautiful black 2007 379 Peterbilt is powered by an NXS Caterpillar that JR’s gets his hands on every Saturday.  You see the old school way of trucking was to drive for 5 days and work on your truck the 6th day.  This is what JR does.  He changes his own oil (Mobil 15-40), greases, replaces the brakes, tires, washes and waxes the truck.  This Pete gets hand washed at home every Saturday, waxed every 2 months with McGuire’s and an F-11...

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2019, Catalyst, Caterpillar, Dyno Tuning -

        One amazing aspect of the diesel engine business is you never know what is coming through the door, or what the cat dragged in.  When you have the attitude, anything is possible. People with trucks and diesel-powered equipment know that you must be ready to accept the challenge. This week in the shop we have a Caterpillar C-32 V-12 equipped power washer.  This machine can pulverize concrete up to 18 inches thick using high pressure water. The reason the machine is in our shop is for vibrations. The V-12 Cat engine is solid mounted along with the water pump, which...

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2019, Catalyst, Caterpillar -

          HIGH PERFORMANCE DIESELS= If you build it right, maintain it, it just might last you a lifetime! 25 years ago, a young man from the Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania came into my office and said he wanted to spec out a new Marmon tri-axle logging truck that would carry the loader behind the cab. This truck was to be a 25 year old Nathan Exley’s first new truck. I was 45 years old at the time and had been a Marmon Truck Dealer since 1990. Nathan and I were rookies at building a specialized log truck that will never...

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