What types of equipment had the 3-53 and 4-53 engines? I've seen them in gensets and an old fork lift. Was a V series made in the 53 and was there a 6 and 8 cyl??
Yes,yes.Somebody brighter than me will be along soon.Ron G
It would be easier to try to list types of machines that did NOT use a 53 series Detroit. I don't think there were any aircraft or lunar landers! Besides the 3-53, 4-53, 6V-53, and 8V-53 I believe there were some limited numbers of 12V-53 made. Not sure about 2-53's, I know there were many 2-71's used in genset applications so a 2-53 may have been available?? Did a quick Google search and yes there were many 2-53 Detroits made, looks like John Deere used some in tractors.
I believe the old pull behind smaller vibratory sheepsfoots had 2-53 on some of them. I remember then being a 2 cylinder Detroit. Someone will correct me if they were a different series.
Some log skidders had 4-53's 3 & 4's powered a lot of small work boats. I have seen and worked on 4-53's that powered small (10-15 ton) mobile cranes. The only 2-53's I ever rebuilt when I worked at the Detroit shop had 2 valve heads. I also saw a couple of pickup trucks that were re-powered with 4-53's. I went on a Cook Inlet gillnet trip on a 32 ft boat that had a 4-53.
I also rebuilt a 3-53 that was in a small UPS delivery truck.
The old FMC skidders used the 6V53. I've worked on plenty of the 4 and 6V53 engines in Drott excavators. I seem to remember the 6V version to have wet liners and four valve heads but I could be wrong on that. Plenty of the salmon fishing charter boats out of Westport and Ilwako Washington used the 5-53 for mains. I've seen a couple of motor yachts 4 cylinder auxiliary gensets. A long time ago while driving across country I spotted plenty of irrigation pumps on skids at the ends of fields with the little green monsters.
Military used plenty of Detroit's also . M113 personnel carrier used 6V53 . It was also an FMC product like the skidder that John C. mentioned . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M113_armored_personnel_carrier
I believe all the 53 series were wet sleeve engines, I know the 3-53 was and the 4-53 so I doubt any of the others were not wet sleeves.
Wow! A lot of them out there. I recently purchased a blower that turns out to go on a 4-53. Having no 4-53 to use it on, I was looking to see who might be a purchaser of said blower. I was hoping to find a buyer in a niche market, but I guess the market is potentially large. From the little bit of research I've done it seems the blower is not a high failure item. Looks like I might sit on this a while!!
John Deere 435 ag tractors had 2-53's http://www.tractordata.com/farm-tractors/000/0/5/54-john-deere-435.html FMC Link-Belt HSP 22 RT cranes had either a 6V53 or or a 6V71, I can't remember Some Tuckers had 4-53's including this 1981 model.
That was a good link,very informative and thorough.I was in Germany when the M113 arrived to replace the M79 APC that we were using at the time.The early versions had gasoline engines as the article stated,they came through with the Chrysler 413,what a sound!Our driver was a Mopar nut,Michalski,and he made sure we could enjoy it.At night it would shoot flames out of the exhaust grate,right beside the passenger compartment.The old M79s had two 302ci GMC in line sixes in them.Ron G
This JD 440 crawler had a 2-53 in it. We had a 440 JD crawler loader with a 2-53 also I couldn't find a picture of it though........Clyde
I worked on one of those 440 dozers for an old guy, fun little machine... two cylinder detroit has a funny if distinctive sound to it!
Nothing like the sound of a screaming jimmy. I have a 453t that I want to put in a pickup but I just don't have the time. Not sure the blower is worth much there are lots of detroit stuff out there. Lots of airport ground equipment still use them.
I was researching to see if a 1-53 was ever built. I thought Detroit probably had built some as they did build a 1-71. What I have found so far is that the single cylinder 71 was built but I can find no mention of a single cylinder 53 series. Now I wonder why not, other than maybe not enough power to be practical.
Here I am holding back an M113.This was in Germany,probably operation WinterShieldII about 1961/1962.Ron G
Cool Pic Thanx for your service - the Cold War vets are always forgotten!!
Brandt Detroit blowers are getting harder to come by, at least 71 and 92 series, I would post on Craig's and eBay. A lot woods guys on the east coast using them in older equipment
Love that picture RonG ! My Dad was on an M109 Howitzer crew in 1969/70 . It was powered with 8V71 Detroit . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M109_howitzer#/media/File:Self-propelled-howitzer-vietnam.jpg They used a lot of those M113's for support vehicles . He said when they would move to a different location He might ride on the M109 or hop on the M113 .
I drove an FWD plow truck with a 6V53 in it with a 5 speed. Even though the exhaust exited at the rear of the truck you needed headphones to drive it, it was LOUD!!!! I think top speed was around 45mph, that sure was an experience!!
Even though I was an operator I was still a squad member and had to go with my squad on alerts etc so I got to ride in the PC with them because they did not usually require the dozer to go with them.The Howitzers still had the gas engines while I was there,either Ford or Leroi as I remember.The military was changing to the multifuel engines,we phased out the M-48 tanks for the M-60 and shortly after I left the M-113 with that big Chrysler V8 was replaced with the Detroits. Steve,the last scraper that I ran had a Michigan prime mover with a Hancock scraper and that V6-71 had two stacks exiting right in front of the windshield.I don't have to tell you about the sound.Ron G
Our local National Guard unit has some smaller 6 wheeel drive, single tired multi use vehicles. They are still in new shape but about 15 years old. They have military spec,ed 6-71 Detroits in them that the driver told me is pushing close to 400 HP. In his words they will run on any **** fuel. I was lined up behind him in the local parade about a year ago and it sounded great. It even had that great of "puff" of black smoke whe he poured the fuel to it.
US Army M561 Gama Goat used the 3-53.
I've seen 3-53 in old farm water pumps also. I had a 1973 Chevy 1 Ton with a 4-53NA in it for a couple of years. While your not going to win any speed or towing contests with it it was unique and drew a lot of attention. Mine had a Clark 285 trans and when the conversion was done in the early 80s I'm sure that was fine but now days you certainly would want a overdrive.
We have a US Marines, 6 ton 4 wheel drive, hydraulic crane, about mid 1980's, with a 453. It always starts and runs good but is miserable to listen to for very long. In Votec Diesel school, my son and the other students experimented with a Detroit 671, and poured sand down the intake it eventually seized but started up again after a bit. Tough engines, the newer Detroit four cycles are real good too.
Oliver tractors uses the old Jimmy diesels in the Super 99 which had a 3-71 , 990 had a 3-71 , 1900 had a 4-53 and the 1950 had a 4-53 in it. I had a 1950 with the 4-53 , it would burn a JD 4020 any day. I also had a 98 Massey which was a rebadged 990 Oliver. I use to pull them at county fairs , was a lot of fun at the time. We had a 435 John Deere that used the 2-53. My 990 GM powered Oliver would set at 115 hp on the dyno no problem.
P&H H418 and later 1250 excavators used 6V-53's. I knew a guy that bought 6 of them back in the day for pipelining. He wore a hearing aid!
One thing distinctive about the 53 series is that many of them were set up for high RPM. If my memory serves me, governed speed on some cranes I worked on with 353's and 453's was 2800 RPM.
One 353 I have on a log loader is governed at 2700 running the hydraulic pump. I have two 453s working hydraulic pumps and they are both set at 2400.
For people thinking of repowering former 53 series units with conventional diesel 2100 RPM engines, that's something that needs to be considered. A 20% reduction in pump GPM would certainly disappoint the operator.
When I served my apprenticeship at the Detroit Diesel-Allison shop there were about 30-35 engine mechanics who did everything from in-frames in the truck shop to components like heads, blowers, injectors etc. to assemblers. One time a guy had a 6-53 on the dyno for the run-in. All was normal until a piston grabbed the liner and pulled it down and through the block and started spinning free, chopping the block and heads into pieces. Oil was going everywhere along with all sorts of what used to be 6-53 parts. When it was over, the only salvage was a few nuts and bolts and the fuel pump.
I don't think its a major deal to raise the rpm , I believe all you need is to shim the governor spring. Former Wrench , I have heard horror stories about these engines running away , shut the fuel off and they will pick up oil to burn. I always thought they were good engines with a unique sound. The parts interchange ability is nice as well.
I always liked that fact that so many parts fit so many applications too. I have even seen a few 8-53's that were military spec engines that were converted to marine applications.
Back in the mid eighties when I worked on diesels, there were basically two kinds of diesel mechanics; Detroit "Jimmy diesel" mechanics and everything else mechanics. I was the latter variety. I hated Detroits. In hindsight, they weren't that bad. They just had a lot of "parts overlap" in their design which required extensive disassembly for what should have been minor tasks and they were so different from the rest. Fuel systems required a lot of knowledge since you didn't just pull a pump and send it to a injection shop, you fixed a lot of it yourself. I think the original investment in cost per horsepower was less for Detroits than most other makes and they really got their heels dug in with the oilfield and marine industries. In the offshore oilfield, they were everywhere, mostly in applications where they would only get a few hundred hours use in ten years. They held up really well in those conditions and had no problems due to sitting for months and not being run.
I started with Detroit, but that led to fixing trucks, which led to Cummins and Cats, which led to heavy equipment and welding, which led to tug and fishing boats. Did some operating too. It has been a long interesting ride.
Probably better money in fixing them than running them.
I went the other way. The loader had a worn out 4-71 that had been installed sometime in its previous before me life. It was way oversized for the tandem pump and set at 1800 RPM. I went to the 3-53 and my speed went way up. I am a happy camper now.
John Deere 435 2-53
More brands that ran Detroit: Terex, Trojan, maybe Champion?
Dynahoe Backhoe had GM Diesels, 140 thru 190 have 3-53, 190-4 & 490 have 4-53 and 200-4 have 4-71. The 290 and 490K have John Deere engines.
I worked for years at a plant that had a Trojan 4000 with an 8/53 in it.Talk about sound!!I don't have to tell you that you could hear the old girl for miles.Of course it was configured to run the hydraulic pump at the design RPM which required that that Detroit be cranked wide open to achieve that RPM which was music to a gearhead like me,even if I wasn't running it you could hear it from a long way off.I think it turned 2800.Ron G
2-53 that powers a hyd. pump on our drill fills... previously powered our irrigation pump. Used every year about this time... OCR
Detroit 16-184 and 16-338 four vertical banks of four cylinder two strokes. No blowers installed in the pic. WWII USN engines. There was a good history page about Detroit Diesel at dieselduck.info, this is a picture, but the link is broken now. Also U-12 71inch engines, two 6-71 cranks side-by-side geared together. And horizontal 6-71s.
What a cool looking engine. I have owned a horizontal 6-71 and the U12-71s were quite common on pumps in offshore applications but the vertical Detroit shown is completely new to me. When you say 184 and 338, what do them numbers stand for? Certainly its not cubic inches per cylinder as in 53, 71, 92, and 110 is it. If so holy sh*t.
Yup, 184 ci/cyl. Link to a article on the engine: https://oldmachinepress.wordpress.com/category/marine/
Thank you for that link. Bet they sounded cool. Now I want one! Sounds like the 184 was much better than the bigger displacement engine.
Can only hope there are some of these in a museum somewhere, would love to see one!
English Electric had a slightly different take on making a compact engine for MTB propulsion unit but they went at it in a different way to EMD and succeeded in designing one with the crankshaft horizontal. Anyone ever seen one of these..? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3bj47TAYiU Still active on the main line today hauling rail enthusiasts' specials - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGf94cMOu9s
Old iron and kenh, that is the oldmachinepress article I was remembering... Thanks!
Nige, Napier was something! The Saber, the Nomad and the Deltic. (Dagger and Rapier too). And British Internal Combustion Engine Research Association variable displacement diesel engines. Fairbanks Morse built some opposed piston two stroke v-type engines, but the upper and lower pistons were not the same diameter; the upper were about one half the diameter of the lower pistons. The engine only had two crank shafts. The upper one, in the V, moved the upper pistons by rocker arms on top of the engine, to move the pistons on each bank of the 'V'. They were stationary engines, I guess; "1000/1250 horse power per cylinder @ 400/450 rpm"! PS: http://modelenginenews.org/gallery/croft/eagle/index.html
The submarine I was on had a Fairbanks - Morse opposed piston engine (as a back up to the reactor). I think it was an 8 cyl / 16 piston in line. I never saw it apart, I worked 2 levels up in the Navigation center. I do remember that pre- lubing it was a big deal. If I heard that the engine was going to be pre-lubed, I knew they were gonna run it. My job was to make sure that too much water didn't come in when we opened the air induction mast/snorkel.
When I was at Collage we had a 9 pot Deltic engine to play with,1 task I had to do was remove the front gear chest exposing all the gears like a big Swiss Watch that linked all the drive ends to the common centre shaft, the gears I can recall had an untrue shine to them almost like stainless steel, on the front of the engine was a plate with some history of C.Napier and all the speed records held by the Napier engines, they seemed to cop the lot as there was Air, Land and Water speed records held for years. tctractors
I recall as a youngster watching trains on the East Coast main line back in the 60's during steam's twilight years. When the Deltic DP-1 prototype first appeared on the main line the initial reaction was probably something like seeing the Space Shuttle for the first time ..... http://www.curbsideclassic.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/NapierDeltic1.jpg
Thats the innards you see on the Deltic, the last time I looked at that lot it would have been 43 ish years ago, the engine had been pulled down so many times by students the nuts and studs all seemed worn out, we also had a Maybach (Spelling?) engine Ex Loco to play with, Voith and other Loco transmission units, this is well off topic now. tctractors, p.s. the 9 pot Deltic motor was I think 44 ltr in capacity, with the 18 pot = 88 ltr
What was the general torque pattern like head bolts etc for installing the cover and how long did it take?It would seem like a two man job at least.What a work of art,you have to love the challenge of timing such a beast.Thanks for sharing.Ron G
What amazes me is that the gear train is straight-cut gears and not helical. All things being equal you shouldn't be able to hear the noise of the engine over that whining of that lot ......
And I thought a Cat D346 had a lot of gears! What with the dual cam drives, one up each end of the engine, and the balance gears!
I just came across this clip taken 3 weeks ago of a Deltic. Turn the sound right up and fast forward to 2:53 then listen to the sound of a "spirited" departure from Doncaster accompanied by the usual clouds of 2-stroke exhaust smoke...... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjm6mm56-aI
Wow.....keeps the skeeters under control )Ron G
Nige, thanks! The sounds @ 3:15, and on, are very cool. The EMD and GE locomotive engines here are slow chuffing sounds, by comparison.