Hi Everyone, I recently hired on at a small sand and gravel operation in Central WA. Been turning wrenches my whole life but this is the first job I've had working on trucks and heavy equipment. Basically if it has wheels or tracks I work on it. We have a fleet of old dump trucks and mix trucks, about a dozen total, nothing newer than 2010. We only have one truck with a DPF, and most of them are 1990's vintage. In addition to those we have two Cat backhoes, a 426 and a 446b, two Cat loaders, a 966G and a 988G, two Cat tractors, a D9N and D9R, several old excavators made by Cat, Hitachi, and Komatsu. And a Madill yarder from some time in the 80's. You can imagine that there's plenty of work. Basically I just go to the fire that's burning the brightest and start there. What I need, besides getting my head checked, is training specific to the equipment I'm working with. I'd imagine I can get reimbursed for it, but we're so far out in the sticks that driving to a diesel tech school won't work. The closest one is 2.5 hours away. Can anybody recommend any sort of online training that has a good reputation in the industry? Thanks, Dave
What sort of training are you looking for specifically? It'd be next to impossible to get factory training on iron that old. Or are you just looking for the theory and some insight on stuff like brakes, suspension, hydraulics, air systems etc?
I dont know of any school that would teach generic theory about such a broad range of subjects short of going right through a full on trade school and getting your journeyman's ticket ( or equivalent of whatever your state has). Im in a similar boat as you, I spent lots of years pulling wrenches, but in the gas compression industry, then switched to heavy equipment and trucks. Its definitely a learning curve no doubt. For me, I want to learn about every aspect of what ever I work on, so I will read, research, watch videos, buy manuals and ask questions of whoever I can. Phone dealerships or OEMs to ask specific questions about what Im working on at the time. The problem is starting to be that the people who really knew the old equipment are getting old, retiring and or passing on, and in many cases there is nobody to replace them
Perkins, Cummins l10/m11,cat 3406/3176 & odd ball Japanese diesel most information can be found online or shop manual or any good mechanic would do "red tag" it
Dave- Lucky for you, I think you’ve found the right place for the knowledge on the equipment you’re being asked to care for. There are dozens of good folks here from around the globe that will be more than happy to help you sort through nearly any issue you have. You might even learn a thing or two along the way. Good thing about being far out is, they’re just going to have to be patient with you when you’re asking for advice. I’d bet that no matter the piece of equipment, judging from your list, someone here has access to the information needed. Nearly all of them are happy to share their knowledge. Glad to have you aboard, hope you find your stay as enjoyable as I have.
First off, take a pic of ALL serial tags.... There is a load of guys here that can tell you it's that lefthanded nut on the right wheel by that info.... Good luck here Dave. Marcus
There really isn’t any one size fits all option. You can dig up old training stuff on the Cat equipment, there are a couple decent HD truck texts. YouTube can be a good resource, or not. Use your discernment. NAPA Traction and Carquest off some good instructor led courses. But, you can hang out with us. There are some sharp dudes on the HEF.
Bendix has a bunch of online brake training stuff. Bendix University. Wabco does, too. Gates has good stuff. Horton has a good online fan clutch class. ASE does weekly web based training, every Tuesday. Eaton has good online transmission training.
With as many pieces he's starting out on ...... YEP P.S. Get the serial numbers..... seriously!
Welcome to the party! I sent a young guy through a community college diesel tech program a couple years ago. A lot of the laptop hook up tech, has very little relationship to the equipment I run. We're mostly older stuff also. But the general "this is how a air brake system works"- gave him a great base knowledge. I don't know that he couldn't have gotten the same info by studying the ASE test material, or study courses. https://www.ase.com/uploads/MedHeavyTruckStudyguide2021_210112_141631.pdf The community college tech program was probably a little more geared toward a tech going to a KW/ freightliner dealership, or something like Prime trucking (which is local to us) where they have almost 8,000 trucks. As opposed to us with only a few heavy trucks, a bunch of cranes, pickups and assorted trailers and forklifts. Small companies you work on it all vs. the big companies, where you might just do trailer brakes, 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Don't be afraid to post up issues with anything. There's very little that you could post up, that someone here hasn't seen before. I'll also encourage you to try to get your employer to get manuals for the equipment. Maybe they have them, maybe not, but I find it can help a lot if you need help to search the wiring/ hyd schematics to find issues.
Perhaps you can get some wise counsel at the Operators Regional Training Program? Just a thought, some of those mechanics keep some really crusty stuff going, along with modern gear. http://www.oetraining.com/
When I'm in a position like that I just want all the correct service manuals and now its special computer crap that is also a necessity. And all that cost too much for someone like me that would rarely use the knowledge if at all now. So what do they have for manuals for those machines?
With all those positive replies you should be able to jump start something.
You have come to the right place my friend...........we fix it all here! Tractors, loaders, excavators and relationships of all vintages. With a few drinks of the good stuff, we can even see the future!
Pew!
Thanks everybody. I will investigate the various leads that were posted. Yes I stumbled across this forum a little while ago and I'm glad I did. Thankfully the guys I work with have a fair amount of experience too. But when it involves wires they all start looking at me, lol. This past weekend I was shooting at a local range and one of the guys there was describing to another guy what I did for the company, and he said "He's a mechanic." I quickly jumped in to correct him, lol. A few weeks ago we had a service truck come out to figure out some hydraulic issues on the Komatsu. This guy was 73 years old and used to teach the classes on hydraulic systems that I want to take. He had it diagnosed correctly in under an hour (faulty pressure reducer valve that supplies oil to the control hydraulics, probably caused by shrapnel coming from the high-pressure screens that got blown up because of air bubbles created when somebody drained the hydro tank and didn't bleed the pump.) He lined me out on how to get at it, ordered the part, locked up his class-8 service truck and was out before lunch. THAT guy was a mechanic. Yes JEVANS, alot of valuable info dies with the old guard. Stories aside, I'll share what I have going on currently: I'm working on a '92 KW/McNeilius mixer with a Cat 3176 7LG. Had a guy take it for a test drive with me in the cab (I really need to be able to test drive these trucks myself,) truck starts out fine, and after a few minutes, like when it's warmed up, the engine seems to lose almost all it's power. Max speed drops to 45mph. Driver says the throttle is dead. Truck will coast down a slight hill at 45, with the pedal on the floor, and once we start going up a hill the ECM seems to deliver more fuel in an attempt to hold the speed/rpm (I found a Cat document describing the engine, SENR5108 - 3176B SysOp, which says that it will do that). Check engine light comes on. I did the Key-On-->Cruise-Off-->Resume to read the codes with the CEL and it beeps 55, which of course means No Faults. My first thought was the Throttle Position Sensor. In said document I saw the TPS uses PWM so I measured the duty cycle with my Fluke 87. Duty cycle ranges from 21% to 91% at WOT. Since I read that the ECM calibrates the TPS each time you fire up the engine I figure that the TPS is not the problem. It was replaced a year or two ago anyway. A colleague thought that the sensor on top of the bellhousing was a crank speed sensor, and that the ECM was going into a de-rate because of that. It's a two-wire sensor with a magnet inside and resistance testing shows an open circuit. But I'm pretty sure that this sensor is for the tach (which recently stopped working,) and that the ECM doesn't care one bit about the tach. My colleague thought the motor was a C10, which has a different sensor layout. I didn't read anything about a de-rate or limp mode on the 3176. Said colleague has a DieselLaptops Handheld unit, which doesn't seem to want to work with this engine. I'm currently on the phone with them to make sure the thing is updated and so on. So I'm hoping I can get the handheld unit up and running and get in and read the ECM codes that are stored, in the hopes that there may be an intermittent fault that gets logged. Beyond that I'm pretty much at the limit of what I can do with the tools and training I have. On the more basic side of things, we've replaced the fuel filter ;-) I know that the 3176 has a reputation yet this truck has been one of our most consistent runners. Forums like this one are awesome. I think that more and more people want to keep the older stuff on the road and resources like this are vital. I see a business opportunity for full-mechanical conversions... I hope to one day be able to post something that is helpful to someone else. OK, there you go. I've got tougher problems if this one is too easy. Have fun!! -Dave
Sound like a speed limiter because it maintains speed up hill. Engine rpm limited from PTO or phantom PTO signal? Im no real help but throwing around ideas.
Y'all are gonna love this. I started looking at the other sensors thinking maybe one of them was defective and in the process of checking out the coolant temp sensor I discovered that the truck was like 6 gallons low on coolant. The ECM was doing it's job and derating the engine because it was overheating. The best part is that the gauge was not even hooked up and it was stuck on about 150. Fixed the leak and plugged the gauge back in and the problem miraculously disappeared. A humbling reminder to check the basics even if the problem seems unrelated, lol.
Alas, the saying K.I.S.S comes to be Born…. Awesome that you gotter beat tho!
Hey, at least you can admit your oversight. If I had been you ide have pointed the finger at everyone within sight lol
To err is human. To blame others shows management potential.
KW don't forget simple check of the fuel filters & water separator