Posted by Paul (in NY) on Saturday, October 28, 2006 at 7:41PM :
Today I was tearing down a Cummins 4BTA Parts Engine. Nothing but a long block, no accessories. I wanted to harvest the good internal parts. I pulled the pan and you can see in the picture what was in the bottom. The is one side of the flanged bearing shell. Crank Journal 4 uses a Flanged Bearing Saddle on the top only to control crank end thrust. This parts engine must have been run to the death before being pulled out.
When I bought the Cummins 4BTA for the Carryall, I had documentation I felt was accurate. I cleaned up the engine and installed her in the Carryall. Now over 5000 miles later she has proved to be a good engine and the documentation was accurate. The 4BTA in the M37 was a take out with no documentation whatsoever. On the test stand it runs great. On the Test stand, all the engines I bought last week run great. However, are they healthy, if work was ever done on them, was it done correctly......this is the unknown. Since about 1pm today, I have been fighting with myself on the M37 engine...trust it, dont trust it, trust it, dont trust it. I have made my decision, I am pulling the 4BTA out of the M37 while it is still in the open and relatively easy to pull. It will be check against Cummins Specs. Whatever needed will be replaced. Then and only then will I have a engine that I know is good. Imagine, down the road having a problem and having to pull it after the truck is complete.
Each of the engines I bought last week, before install, will be pulled down, checked and rebuilt. Running on a test stand will not disclose all problems. Now if I had a Dyno and could really fully load the engine, you could learn more about her health.
The reason I am posting this is for all of you that have bought 'Take Out' engines, your dealing with the unknown. Finding 1/2 side of the thrust bearing saddle in the oil pan convinced me of this. You too, may want to consider tearing her down and checking and rebuild before use.
This is going to set back the M37 a tad, but think of the huge problem if she developed a serious problem later. Even Cummins Fail.
Paul
Follow Ups: