Usage:
A simple elastic "tool" and a convenient pre-assembled cylinder pack have enabled System Reefer Service, Inc. of Cypress, California, to cut diesel engine in-frame overhaul time from five days to one and half days.
System Reefer Service, Inc. of Cypress, CA has cut their frame overhaul time for 3406 Engines from five days to one and a half days by using Caterpillar's new Cylinder Pack Repair System. Company President Lewis F. Stokes reports these downtime savings have been verified 16 times over the past 18 months without loss of engine reliability or performance.
The company has verified this savings 16 times over the past 18 months without loss of engine reliability and performance according to company management.
"We're getting as high as 400,000 miles on our in-frame overhauls, " advises Lewis F. Stokes, President of the 30-year-old cross-country produce hauling organization. "We aim for an 800,000 mile life and often get it. We used to trade our trucks every three years but now we hold on to them for four. Our miles per gallon is up 10%, partly because we're watching overall operations better. Mileage certainly hasn't suffered from our engine overhaul efficiency. "
System Reefer Service employs two key components to steamline the rebuilding of its Caterpillar 3406 Engines. The first is a unique patented cylinder pack removal tool, supplied by Caterpillar. This tool looks like an oversize drum sanding cylinder. By tightening a nut at the top of the tool, the rubber sides expand outward. When tightened in the cylinder liner of a Caterpillar Diesel Engine, the tool can be used to safely ease the complete liner, piston and rod assembly upward and out of the block.
Caterpillar's patented Cylinder Pack Removal Tool allows the cylinder liner, piston, rings and connecting rod assembly to be removed as a unit. This greatly reduces the time and number of special tools required to replace these parts.
The second component is S.R.S.'s system is the "Preassembled Cylinder Pack " program now offered by Caterpillar Engine Dealers. Caterpillar's Remanufactured Cylinder pack consists of a cylinder liner, piston, rings, wrist pin and connecting rod, all assembled and ready to install in the block.
System Reefer Service buys the Caterpillar Cylinder Packs needed to overhaul a complete engine, exchanging the old components across the counter as their mechanics pick up the Remanufactured packs.
A Caterpillar exclusive! Caterpillar's patented Remanufactured Cylinder Packs consist of cylinder liner, piston, rings, pin, retainers and connecting rod, preassembled and ready for installation as a unit. The cylinder packs are backed the same as new parts warranty.
"Fastest time we ever turned a truck around with this tool and the cylinder packs was a day and a half from down to back on the road, " confides Stokes. "That was with two mechanics and included going to the Caterpillar Dealer, 15 miles away, to exchange the components.
"The time savings amounted to at least three days. Since our trucks average 1,000 miles a day, the dollar a mile rule-of-thumb operating cost would yield us a minimum of $3,000 in previously unavailable revenue. That's not counting 45 to 50 hours of shop time saved. "
Bob Grout, System's Shop Manager, has even invented an accessory device to provide compact lifting power for the Caterpillar cylinder pack removal tool. Grout's contribution uses two of the stubby pneumatic cylinders which provide lift for big rig cabs. The small cylinders are connected by a 12 " crossbar welded to their end frame, with pistons pointing down. The stem of the Caterpillar cylinder pack removal tool is bolted through a central hole in the crossbar.
When pressure is supplied to the unit via flexible tubing, the pneumatic cylinders push down on the block, gently easing the cylinder pack out of its bore. The set-up time is about ten minutes per cylinder.
One good idea has generated another. Bob Grout, Shop Manager for System Reefer Service, demonstrates the simple but effective lifting device which he developed as a companion item for Caterpillar's cylinder pack removal tool. The two stubby cylinders were originally intended for lifting tractor cabs. When pressure is delivered to them they lift the Caterpillar removal tool, (and the complete cylinder liner assembly) out of the 3406 Block. Set up time is about 10 minutes.
Grout advises that the Caterpillar tool costs several hundred dollars and that his shop made up his attachment lifting device for $300-$350.
"The entire system is faster, easier, and safer than anything we've tried before, he declares. " "We're overhauling an engine, in-frame, in less time than it used to take to wash the parts. Our mechanics love it because if there's one thing a master mechanic hates to do, it's wash parts. "
"Years ago, it was so expensive to overhaul a diesel engine that you almost had to borrow from a bank before starting, " laughs Stokes. "Now we're doing it for a fraction of previous costs, even in times of inflation and continuous industry cost increases. This engine overhaul program developed by Caterpillar has made the Caterpillar 3406 Engine very advantageous to the trucking industry. "
Caterpillar's Cylinder Pack Repair System blends the use of Caterpillar Remanufactured Cylinder Packs with an exciting innovation in tooling and repair technique. The result is significant time and cost savings at overhaul. In fact, so much time is saved that when scheduled in advance, it is now possible to complete a 3406 in-frame overhaul in one day.
"Anybody can sell a truck. Anybody can sell an engine. To get 800,000 miles from your equipment though, you need some support. We like doing business with Caterpillar and its dealers, " he emphasized.
System Reefer Service offers solid proof of Stokes' conviction. Parked neatly at the rear of the company`s attractive two-acre yard is a cluster of four-year-old Peterbilt tractors, some with as many as 800,000 miles on their odometers. These are trade-ins, awaiting arrival of a dozen new trucks, every one equipped with a Caterpillar 3406B power plant.