453T Detroits Being Swapped Into Pickups

I was looking at a bunch of tractor videos on Youtube this morning and somehow came across this video:



I was pretty surprised that someone would go to all that trouble, but there are plenty of other videos from folks doing the same thing. I suspect many of them are doing it purely for the sound? Sure the 453 is tough and simple, but it must still be a lot of work to make it fit.

Rob,Thanks for posting this info. That sure is a sound from the past,something rarely heard these days. I enjoy hearing those 2 cycle Detroits, when I am not driving one.From the 238 to the 318 +many other v6& v8 Detriots,i put quite a few thousand miles on,beating the gear shift lever like I was mad at it. That was a diesel engine with little torque,they had to be run in the higher rpm band to get anywhere.I was up thru N.Y.,Vt.,N.H.,Ct.,Ma.,& other states hauling steel building joists with the various 2 cycle Detroits. I was very happy when I finally got a Cummings to pull the loads.Even drove dump trucks with the Detroit,go to pull out of a tough spot & nearly stall the engine ,but recover it,leave the clutch out & find that the engine is now running backwards shut the engine down,restart & then go.Fun to hear,i would not want to go back to driving with one tho.I would think that with all the bread trucks with the 4 cylinder Cummings ,those would be the engine to install rather than all the mods done to get that Detroit in that F350.

Well thats a cool sounding truck , Member Roadoiler has or had a older Chevy or a GMC (I can't remember now)with a Detroit in it as I do remember talking with him about It.

The first truck I ever got to drive had a Big Cam Cummins in it. I foolishly thought all trucks drove like that...until I had to drive the neighbors Autocar with a 6 cylinder Detroit. I let out the clutch at an idle and expected the truck to move.. Instead it just stalled. Same thing on the second attempt. I finally got it moving and was trying to nurse it through the gears with a lot of frustration. One of the others guys called me on the radio and said I should stop, get out, slam my hand in the door, and then get in and drive. I didn't slam my hand, but after that I sure kept it on the floor whenever possible. It drive alright if you were used to it, but it was no 350 Cummins.

When I was pretty small I got to hear the truck our local salvage yard had. A Pete with a 12V71 Detroit. What a beast.

I never drove one, but I heard that an 8v71 with an Allison automatic was a great combination. Kept the engine in the powerband and was easy on the rest of the drive train.

Working from memory here so some details could be a little off. Back in the mid 70's a big wheel at Kenworth retired. He was very well liked and the engineers, on their own time and in secret, built a true to scale KW conventional cab pickup truck for his retirement gift. Powered by a 3-71 DD with some flavor auto trans. I can't imagine what the true cost of duplicating that would be. I have never seen or heard of it since, I imagine it is sitting in someone's private collection.

I also put in quite a few hours rowing these things up and down the mountains. I ran a 6-71 across the Rockies many times. Not enough power to pull most of the passes in second gear, just drop it into compound low and yank the throttle out. About an hour and a half later I'd make the crest, blowing coal out the stack the entire time. I often wondered if I could get it rolling again if I had to stop on the side of the mountain. Crossing Nebraska with a head wind I usually had to drop a gear which meant about 47 mph top speed. Talk about a long ride. Running Florida and Texas she would book right along about 62 mph and get 6mpg. I could run from Phila Pa to Houston TX and back for $200, while earning about $3,000 so it did make money.

From that I stepped up to a Double Breasted 8v-71 with a RTO 9513. Performed a lot better but sucked up a lot more fuel. Other than crossing the Rockies it would run with a 350 Cummins. They could pull me a little on the hills but I'd get them on the downside. The thin air and long pulls out west just killed it.