Any old timers saw this engine in a truck? CAT 3408

Get all that straw out of there before you crank.

Do whatever you can to preserve those. They get rarer as the years go by.

That engine a two others are worth more to me than the prettiest lover on earth.

 

Looks to be a early 80s pete .

Those engines were the top dog right along beside the KTA Cummins back in the day. Both excellent motors but expensive to fix and hard on fuel.

Sign of the times, they got phased out because of those two reasons. Other wise any true blooded American trucker would still be running up and down the road with one I'm sure of that.!

 

Used to be an old man. I think it was 1986 in Tx had one. Big Black Peterbilt. Pulling a bull wagon, and man did it run. I was idling along at 80 MPH. And seen a pair of head lights dancing behind me.
Old man told me to hold on. This would not hurt but a second or so. Went by me like I was sitting still. I still had 2 gears left, Dumb me . Hit high gear back to the dash. Never did catch that old man that night.
Seen the truck a few weeks later in a truck stop. Got to talking to him, and he laughed. As he was sure what I wanted to see and ask about. he has a 3408 in that old Gal. Engine was clean as a Pin.
Would have loved to have had a camera back in those days. Because sitting by his truck. Was a white Pete, and it had get this. KTA600 in it and they both were runners for sure.

Both truck sitting there at idle. Was the sweetest Music made. That old man looked over at me............ Boy that sound will get your Cummer hug. And

 

All I have heard is those were far more problematic than the 1693 engine which was the first certified million mile engine.
I dont like the sound of the 3408. Not even close to smooth sounding as a 3406.
But I've never drove or been near one to see or hear in person.

 

Real truck, real engine:

 

Used to work at a company in the mid-west, the owner likes to collect and restore things. Has a Pete, late 70s
Has a stock V8. was about 15/16 months doing the restore. That engine has a very nice purr.

 

Worked as a oo at accompany late 70 early 80’s had several 3408’s
2 Pete’s, freightliner, KW and Autocar.
The freightliner turned over on i35 near Davis, OK. Was seeing how fast he could top the hill. The one in the KW had a 6x4 trans and pulled a beam trailer, knocked the driveline out twice starting out and bumping the throttle to hard.It was a 1981 with a aerodyne sleeper, list price $103,000.
Cat still makes a 3412 if anyone wants to build a super truck.

 

We had six of them from the early 70s until the mid 80s. The guy that started this company didn't believe there was any engine except Cat. I always liked that idea, too.
Four were in logging trucks and two were in lowboys. I think the horsepower was somewhere around five hundred but I don't know for sure. I don't remember anybody ever asking. You'd just tell them you had a 3408 that was pumped up and their eyes would get glassy and they'd drool a little, and ask if we were hiring anybody.
In those days fuel mileage wasn't a religion. That was good because those V8s absolutely drank fuel.
They smoked too...not dainty little puffs of gray smoke but huge rolling clouds of pure black.
They'd pull and they'd pull down, too. We had 6&4s and I don't know how many times I'd have one on a hard climb up out of some god forsaken hole back in the woods and if I had to drop one in the brownie it was so steep that I'd lose it all. With the 3408 I'd just put my foot down a little more, let it rattle and shake...and smoke...until I got to a place where I could grab a gear or drop a gear. They never let me down.
As they wore out and with parts getting hard to find and expensive, they were replaced with 3406s.
The old 3408s were sold to a tugboat company in Coos Bay. Seems fitting somehow.

 

3408 + Autocar = Nirvana