Hi everyone, From what I've read here and other places on the web it seems the general conclusion is the cat 3208 is great.... for a boat anchor! But there are a few people that have got good service and even like the little v8. So I'm looking at buying this gmc truck, it's a tandem truck with air brakes, has 36,000 miles a 3208 with the 4-speed Allison and a hydraulic lift on the 5th wheel. Apparently it was a yard truck at a airport, thats the reason for the super low miles. The owner thinks it is the 225 horse 3208. My question is will this truck do what I want it to? From what I read people say it's a decent motor for semi-light loads, but whats considered a semi-light load? Most of the time it would be hauling my backhoe, so maybe 22-23,000 lbs with trailer. But I'm looking to buy a dozer in the 25k range + trailer and it would be nice to be able to haul that also. I know the auto trans will be a major handicap, but will it do it? Where I live and work there are lots off steep hills, I don't mind going slow as long as I make it to the top. I would probably plan to swap the tranny to something more along the lines of a 10-speed at some point, but it would need to be functional before that. So what does everyone think? Will it do it? As far as the longevity of the motor is concerned I'm less worried about that. With the low miles it has now I'm sure by the time I hit 100k I'll be more than ready for a new more powerful truck.
Hello, as far as the cat 3208 engine i think they are a very tough and durable engines. we ran them in our cat 613 scrapers for many years 8 to 10 hrs per day and they held up very well. We are still running two 3208 engines now, one is a 3208T for turbocharged and one came out of a truck and is the 225 horsepower engine, we had to set the speed down on it as it was rated faster that what the cat scrapers need to be, as far as enough power to pull your future dozer it would all depend on the size of dozer of course, we pull our cat d5c dozer with our ford 550 one ton truck at times so ithink the 3208 engine would be plenty for a dozer that size and on down. from our experience it is best to have overkill when it comes to horsepower on moving ewuipment around. i worked for caterpillar for 30 years so in my opinion the 3208 engine is a good engine that can take a lot of abuse and keep going. good luck.:
I'm on the opposite end of the country is why I ask, will a 3208 meet Cali emission standards?
thats a good question, i would say not because it is not computer controlled which is mainly for emission control of the black smoke. i do not recall the truck 3208 engines having a fuel ratio control on them which is for cutting down the amount of smoke they put out. you might want to make sure it would be okay to operate in that state as they are more strict i hear on emission control. that was a good point
No it will not meet CA emissions. CARB will only allow it on its roads to 2014.
I'm trying not to think about the emissions end of things. I would never be able to afford a truck new enough to meet the new emissions, I can barely afford a old truck what it cost to run one. My plan is to pick up a truck cheap and run it between now and then. Then in 2014 we'll see what happens. Any opinions on how the Allison tranny plays into how well this truck will tow? Thanks for the input guys
A transfer driver told me that if you put less than 20,000 miles per year on your truck then you are exempt from the emissions requirements in California. Does anyone else know it that is true?
I am un-aware of anything like that but that may be true. i would say contact the CDOT dept. ( california department of transportation ) they sould be able to answer that for you. good luck
its 100 hours or 1000 miles. and its not CalTrans you have to deal with its CARB and Satan herself Mary Nichols
As a retired tugboat captain, I agree on the boat anchor statement, but thats just my 2 cents worth. I live in a pretty flatland area and I havent met anyone (in my area) that has ever had good luck with this engine, marine or industrial, natural or turbo. They just dont hold up and lack power, I really think people has to run them hard to get the engine to perform and no engine will hold up. I also worked for Cat in the old days and when they first came out with these engines in dump trucks, they stayed in the shop, for one thing or the other and one company traded all 10 of his new trucks, with these engines, for trucks that didnt have the 3208 To the Allison question, if you were not in a hilly area, I might say try it, but you said you were not, so I really would find you another truck and leave this one alone. I definitely would not try to change the tranny to a straight shift, thats alot of work and are you going to be able to find the adapters to do this. The biggest thing for me is the tight quarters, to change the tranny, these trucks are really cramped in engine and tranny areas. Sometimes I think, they put the engine and tranny in first and then set the cab over it. I have had several Allison trannys, on 250hp engines and they all worked good in my area, in dump trucks If the truck has been sitting a long while, stay away from, for sure, the leaking valves, will drive you crazy I always like a challenge, but this is one I would not undertake
As an owner/operator, the first truck I owned was an '85 GMC Kodiak. It was equipped with Cat 3208 (n/a), air brakes, and had a 10 speed transmission. It was only a 2axle truck (single rear axle) with a 16' flatbed dump, and 32,000 GVWR. I paid $5,500 for it, back in '96 I believe. I paid another $5,000 for a Zieman 2660 trailer. I repainted the rims, put a new floor, and wood side rails, on the bed, and recovered the bench seat. The final touch was chrome hub and lug nut caps. I used it like that for about a year and a half. She only let me down once (broken axle) but I was always a bit nervous when driving it. When I decided to move up (bought an '85 Peterbilt 385 tandem axle ramp truck) I sold the Kodiak to rooofer for $10,000. I kept the trailer and used it again, several years later, when I bought a 10 whl dump truck. I pulled my Cat 416B, and then C model backhoe (weighed 18,000# with all my buckets and attachmemnts) with that Kodiak and it always let me know where any incline was. For years I thought I had been going down hill, on certain sections of the freeway back home (in So Cal). That Kodiak showed me that it was an optical illusion. It would have really struggled had it been equipped as a tandem axle dump truck with a regular dump box on it. I like the Allison HD transmissions if you have enough HP in your truck. The problem with the truck you are describing is that the 3208 is already down on power and the Allison will waste some power. Before I had my own business one of my employers had a Ford 8000 tandem axle water truck. It had a 3208 (don't know if it was N/A or turbo) and an Allison automatic in it. That thing would puke black smoke (so bad that it was more black than the blue color that all the other company trucks were painted) and could not get out of it's own way on flat ground, empty. If it were me, right now, I would not buy it. But I would not buy the Kodiak, that I had, in this stage of my life/profession either. Sometimes you have to do what you have to do to get started (like I did when I bought my Kodiak). The best way to see how it will do is to drive it. If it has the right gearing it will probably be an OK "stop gap" way to transport equipment. It will be working hard though so it probaly is not a good solution for the long haul. I doubt it will be be good for hauling 30,000# behind it though (25k# dozer + 4-5k# trailer). Maybe on flat ground but not on steep hills. I can see it now, in my mind... The truck stalls (trying to pull the load up a steep hill) as the 3208 chugs away while the Allison grips just enough to lug the engine down but not enough to allow for any more forward propultion. Now what? Can't unload the dozer and road it the rest of the way. You get the picture. Gearing is everything in an HD truck (or medium duty as in this case). Good luck.
No need to worry then, that 3208 will never make it that many miles or hours in one year.
Thats exactly the response I was looking for. I've been in that boat before in smaller trucks with smaller loads, but I'm not looking to be there again. Thank you everyone