Was Caterpillar's exit a genius business move, or the ultimate betrayal of the American owner-operator?
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And government vehicles don’t have to have one piece of emissions equipment installed on them, yet the little guy trying to pay bills will be thrown in jail if he tampers with it when he can’t afford to fix it and keep food on the table for his family.

I work for an oil and gas outfit in Alberta, the majority of our pumps have two pre emission C18s. They regularly hit 50000 hours before the valves run out of adjustment.

2007 KW T600, Acert Cat 2,000,000 miles and still rolling

Scariest words ever… “I am from the government and I’m here to help”

make engine
Government say engine wrong
Refuses to elaborate
Leaves

Because you can't make the government happy, they want too much magical emissions standards for any serious engine maker to continue to build a truly bulletproof over the road engine.

Cut my teeth on 3406B, 3406E, and 6NZ. The company that owned them were meticulous with maintenance. Rebuild every 1,000,000 and logged 2,500,000‐3,000,000 in most of the ECMs on the electronic engines.

I was a tech right in the middle of those times, I knew the 3406B inside and out. Best engines ever made. I was also a tech when the dreaded Maxxforce engine came to be. Horrible time for me as a tech and the company I worked for. We had more trucks broke down than were on the road. Most of the ones still on the road at that time were the old Macks they still had.

The funny part is, we fucking won on the glider front. They're legal to build and own now. I'm in the middle of building myself one with a 3406E under the hood lol

I had 680,000 on my 2006 C15 ACERT in my Peterbilt 387 when I overrevved it going down Tehachapi due to a moment's inattention and broke a rocker arm. Got the rocker arm fixed, but it still had a knock. $2500 later, nobody could find the knock. But, until that happened, I had no problem getting 7-8 mpg while pulling 80,000 pounds over every major and minor mountain on a U.S. Interstate. Almost every point in this video about the engine itself applies to the 600hp+ version, which wasn't common. My 435hp version had none of those issues. It still had 1850 lb-ft of torque at 600 rpm. It never overheated. I never got back a bad oil test. I always ran synthetic. The compound turbos broke their studs three times, but those studs were finally replaced with bigger stronger studs, under warranty, and that stopped happening.

I drive for Estes Express lines, we still have a considerable amount of glider kits running. I run 600 miles a night in one. What you said about maintenance and repair downtime is so true. My truck is rarely in the shop and when it is, it's for age related wear and tear, but never down for anything engine related because the pre emissions stuff just RUNS! No stupid derate, no clogged filters. I wish there was a compromise between the old stuff and the new ones where you could still have a clean truck without all of the problematic after treatment crap.

I worked for NC/Caterpillar from 2004 to 2009. Rebuilt lots of 5EK, 6NZ and ACERT engines. I was also the tech that rebuilt the 3126 STRYKER engines that came through. 350hp little bombs! I was the CAT rep at the Kenworth plant, overseeing the last of the pre-emissions engines going into the new trucks before the 2007 emissions standards cut the reliable engines out of the market. Was sad to watch, what a waste. Now I operate a propane company and I see to it all my trucks have pre-emissions CAT engines. I see the other companies cycling their trucks through the shop for emissions issues, my trucks just run! Great video, I was wondering if I would agree with your takes.

I'm still running my 1993  Peterbilt 379, Cat 3406b, 13 speed Roadranger 🍷😎👌💥

I love the C18 builds pushing 800-1000+HP. It's wild as hell to see a 379 or W900 smoke it's tires or run 16-17 second 1/4 mile

Started to watch this but there were too many inaccuracies in the first 5 minutes that I figured it wasn't worth the time. I worked at Cat for 35 years - most in the engine division.

i worked for Caterpillar and Goverment regs just did not math, we as mechanics saw it coming .

Listening to this while driving my 02 w900 with the last of the good cats in it lol.
I know how shady they had gotten once they started building the MBN Acerts. This 6NZ was the very last good yellow on roads legally

I remember using c7 engines in the Stryker and it never failed amazing engines

Makes me want to build a serious Bonneville record holder that is diesel powered.   JCB is at it again right now with Andy Green at the wheel.  Andy Green holds the world record at 763 mph in a jet powered car.  The wheel driven record is over 500 mph with a turbine engine by the Vesco team...
 I use to drive over the road...  I use to haul water in the Bakken oil field... I use to work in the oilfield with Cat 379s V8 sand 398 V12s...  All I remember before the diesel electric era was these Cat motors did the job.  I am  retired now and would love to put Caterpillar in the spot light Bonneville.  Caterpillar has played a vital role in making America productive.