Posted by Don in Missouri [184.169.1.33] on Thursday, May 02, 2013 at 22:08:26 :
The Hostess bankruptcy has finally affected the 4bt market. I haven’t seen prices come down, but availability should be way up. I’m seeing dozens of bread trucks come through wholesale auctions and piling up at local lots.
My advice: don’t pay any attention to odometer readings. If the truck is ten years old or more, add a million to the odometer reading. Run the engine serial number (ESN) through Cummins Quickserve. That will at least tell you what year your engine was built or rebuilt by Cummins Recon. I’d pay the premium for a p-pump motor over a VE injection pump. Before you stick it in your conversion project, pull the pan and check for wear in the thrust bearing (especially if it had a manual trans). You might as well pull the head and take a look at the cylinders. I haven’t seen many problems other than thrust wear, but the peace of mind of seeing still-visible hone marks in the cylinders is worth the price of a new head gasket.
If you can’t find a donor in your area, I might be talked into selling the ’98 Freightliner I just picked up. Does anybody know what kind of trans Freightliner used? It is a 5-speed manual, but I haven’t identified any other details yet.
Happy hunting!
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