Looking at a 84, 8000 Ford road tractor with 7 speed tranny. Hear the 3208 was a throw away engine. Was just wondering if I should stay away from making a purchase. No way of knowing how many mile it has on it. Was going to use it to pull a 35 foot hay trailer. Have not heard it run or drove it yet.
- Thread starter NEKS
- Start date
Had a few trucks in the mid 70's, ford 9000 with the cat 3208 in it with a 5x4 trans was a good pulling and easy to maintain. also had a ford 9000 with a 290 cummins with the 6+1 transmission ,best riding truck. both were good trucks. Cheapest running truck was R model mack with 5 speed trans, Aka a poor mans truck,After you get it paid for you can aford to drive it. LOL. hauled rock and dirt with them. hard heavy loads. haul a load with it before you buy it and see how it does?
Anonymous-0
Well-known Member
That motor is gutless. I drove one in a 60' boom truck for 5 years and it was gutless. I bought a c60 dump with a 350 gas motor because the owner bought a 80's ford with a 3208 cat motor. About a week after, he came to me and wanted to buy his old truck back because his new truck couldn't keep up with what he could do with his old truck. Just my opinion, maybe it would suit you just fine.
John M
Well-known Member
- Location
- Nunyafn business
Thats what the mechanic calls it in one of our yard trucks, but its the oldest and only one that gives minimal problems!
Anonymous-0
Well-known Member
Forgot to mention, once put a equipment trailer behind the boom truck. Loaded a new cat backhoe on to move it. The truck had a 7 speed spicer transmission for all that matters, but hopped on the expressway and couldn't get going more than 45mph and took forever it seemed to get there. Probably felt worse than it was because traffic was whizzing by at regular speeds and I was just struggling along.
I used to drive one of those in the 80's hauling freight in Toronto. It was an 85 with a 3208 rated at 200 HP with a 5 speed trany and a 2 speed rear end. They were a great city truck and I pulled 40000 pounds with it way to much, and one time pulled 56000 pounds through 6 miles of small hills. (Lots of ways around a scale in the city) They lug down to about 1300 RPM before they loose their power. However, I quit in '88 and went farming so I don't know how they lasted, but I do think they are better than some people give them credit for. The straight trucks in the company with the same setup got up to 13 mpg (Canadian gallons). It could be that the cost of rebuilding might be what makes people call it a throwaway engine, because a 8 cylinder will have more parts than a six.
Fritz Maurer
Well-known Member
Opinion: I believe that the throw away term is just another myth. You can hardly open any heavy equipment paper and not see an in-frame kit for a 3208 in the engine section. If it were truly throw-away, Cat would not charge $10,000 for the core. Like the one about Detroits have no bottom end power. Some people can't seem to understand that a two-cycle Diesel is not the same as a loop-scavenged weed eater. But the 3208 is a fine motor, you won't have any trouble with it, if it's in decent shape now.
Gambles
Well-known Member
Perhaps you already know this, but the 3208 does not have removable liners like most industrial diesel engines do. That's why it was called a throwaway. That being said, a brand new engine was SOMETIMES cheaper than having it overhauled. We've had a couple of them that got many hours, but personally never overhauled one. YMMV.
NEKS,To answer your question It was the "Block" that was considered "Throw-away" it has no sleeves or additional wall thickness to allow Boring.
They we as the others have said a great 40000 lb truck engine. One could consider it a Dsl replacement in a Med-Duty for a Chevy 427 so to speak but were in many slightly heaver trucks.
Had a neighbor in the High Tx Panhandle who had a Fleet of Manure trucks he hauled out of the local Feed Lots and spread it on the fields for us just about every yr on some field. Most of his trucks were the 3208 they pretty well worked for him. I wouldn't be afraid of one if it was maintained well.
Later,
John A.
They we as the others have said a great 40000 lb truck engine. One could consider it a Dsl replacement in a Med-Duty for a Chevy 427 so to speak but were in many slightly heaver trucks.
Had a neighbor in the High Tx Panhandle who had a Fleet of Manure trucks he hauled out of the local Feed Lots and spread it on the fields for us just about every yr on some field. Most of his trucks were the 3208 they pretty well worked for him. I wouldn't be afraid of one if it was maintained well.
Later,
John A.
Fritz Maurer
Well-known Member
There's little round,cylindrical things on the outside of the motor, they could be white, black, yellow, orange or red. These are called "fuel filters".
Anonymous-0
Well-known Member
Hey wiseguy, the guy was asking for opinions. I've had plenty of seat time in one and thought I would give him mine. All our trucks were fleet maintained so yes filters were on a preventitive maintance schedual. I just think they were put in trucks bigger than they should have. If he's only hauling a 35' trailer of hay it might be fine. I personaly would not buy one unless I got a steal of a deal. Maybe I should just chime in and say, yup, from my poarch they seem to be good motors going down the road or how bout my neighbors brother in law had one 20 years ago and that little 200 horse truck hauled on overload permits all the time?
glennster
Well-known Member
i had a ford dump truck with a 3208 in it. good truck, never had a problem with it, but i didnt beat the snot out of it either. decent power, good fuel economy. old mechanic told me, when you start it cold, let it idle, never rev the engine till it gets up to operating temp. he said it was easy to scatter the engine revving cold.
I worked for commercial freight line and at one time had 6 Ford tractors powered with the 3208 Cats and 3 others that were Cummins powered. They were a gutless motor and loads over 36,000 lbs. worked the daylight out of them. The only way our company got any life out of them was by putting new bearings in the bottom end at about 90,000 miles. The 3208 can be sleeved I think everyone of those engines were sleeved twice. We has a place out of Granger,In. called Shaker Racing that bored & sleeved them and they also sleeved our 366 & 427 Chevy truck engines. Later years two of the tractors were repowered with DT 466s whitch was a much better engine.
We ran a lot of the 3208s in fertilizer floaters. All of them turboed and all set at the highest horsepower you could make. Other then throwing a push rod out the rocker cover on one, and breaking the nose of the crank on another, they were awesome motors. I wouldn't be afraid of the motor!! What I would be afraid of is the 7 speed. Not near enough gears for a low torque engine. Maybe behind a Mac engine, but not Cat nor Cummins!
I wonder how many of you "the sky is falling", "it"s a throw-away engine" guys realize the famous 5.9 Consolidated/Dodge/Cummins is also a "parent bore" engine, as are quite a few other diesels nowadays?
That being said, I have owned two of them for years, in tandem farm trucks, and they have done the job quite well. Mine are the NA version and you ain't gonna get a speeding ticket, but they have hauled a LOT of wheat!
That being said, I have owned two of them for years, in tandem farm trucks, and they have done the job quite well. Mine are the NA version and you ain't gonna get a speeding ticket, but they have hauled a LOT of wheat!
RickieBlue
Member
In the early 80's I was working on a fleet of 50 garbage trucks that had 3208's......210 HP with Allison's behind them. We had issues with maybe 2 of them, needing major repairs....most issues were losing an injector from time to time, or governor shaft seal, water pump...nothing major. These trucks would gross out at 60,000 lbs quite frequently and all of the units had over 12,000 hours on them when they were retired. I wouldn't be scared to buy something with a 3208 in it!
Bill in Colo
Member
- Location
- Rio Blanco County, Co
I"m not a fan, ran one in a field queen chopper had lots of pump problems.
Also have a SIL and a good friend each with a Massey 4x4 setting in the fence row neither tractor has over 2500 hours.
Also have a SIL and a good friend each with a Massey 4x4 setting in the fence row neither tractor has over 2500 hours.
Did your chopper have a CAT pump or a Bosch (as many ag or industrial versions used) Either way, IMHO, pump problems with EITHER IP before MANY thousands of hours would be UNUSUAL. Sounds to me like there make have been a fuel or tank or plumbing issue contributing to the problem(s).
Anonymous-0
Well-known Member
Throw away refers to them not having liners. They can be bored however and if they need to go bigger than can be bored, there are after market sleeves available. IPD makes 3 ring pistons for the 3200 series engines that give more compression and a lot less blow by than the stock 2 ring pistons. I've heard in a truck application they are a fairly good engine but in an industrial application like the 225 excavator they weren't very good. Like was said, if they're kept around 210 HP they are OK but when pushed to their limits will have problems.
That deal sounds like it's got 3 strikes against it before you list the price....
It's an 84 Ford.
It's got a 3208.
It's got a 7 speed....
It's hard to get away from rotten steel cabs in that class of truck... but if you just want a single axle tractor for pulling a gooseneck trailer... it's hard to go wrong with an S-Line and a 466 engine. A 6 speed would suffice for that. If you need something heavier... just get an old road tractor like and Eagle that has an aluminum cab, Cummins power and a roadranger. 8LL, 9, 13 or 15 would be the main preferences.
The 3208 was an OK engine if it was used in it's intended application... basically a single axle truck up to 35K gross or so. They were fairly economical on fuel. They just tended to need a lot of bottom end work if they got pushed.
Rod
It's an 84 Ford.
It's got a 3208.
It's got a 7 speed....
It's hard to get away from rotten steel cabs in that class of truck... but if you just want a single axle tractor for pulling a gooseneck trailer... it's hard to go wrong with an S-Line and a 466 engine. A 6 speed would suffice for that. If you need something heavier... just get an old road tractor like and Eagle that has an aluminum cab, Cummins power and a roadranger. 8LL, 9, 13 or 15 would be the main preferences.
The 3208 was an OK engine if it was used in it's intended application... basically a single axle truck up to 35K gross or so. They were fairly economical on fuel. They just tended to need a lot of bottom end work if they got pushed.
Rod
Anonymous-0
Well-known Member
The 3208 is a parent bore engine which means that to rebuild you need to bore it out and install larger pistons or install dry sleeves and run standard pistons. Arrived after most of the development was completed but got in a few licks on this engine. Pretty good lower cost engine, that doesn't like to be lugged nor ran at constant high rpms (roughly above 3000 rpm). If willing to shift more often and keep rpms in roughly a range of 1900 to 2900 rpm) it will serve well. Constant high rpms cause severe rod bearing cavation. Initially this series engine had the fine scroll fuel system with oil lubricated fuel pump camshaft and governor. Cat went to the lower cost SMFS (sleeve metering fuel system) on the 3208. Pretty good system, better than the common rotary system, but similarly the fuel pump camshaft was lubricated with fuel, and fuel temperature could greatly effect governor settings. The three ring piston was an improvement. Story was that Ford whom bought most of the engines wouldn't pay for another compression ring nor desired the improved engine life. When it was all over they spent as much or more money developing/solving problems on the SMFS than if they had continued production with the more expensive scroll pump. Then decided to investigate an even cheaper fuel system to actually save money; called the neutator (not sure about the spelling, that had a projected cost comparable to the common cheap distributor/rotary arrangement (CAV,Roosa Master). It had many problems and was quickly dropped during a budget crunch.
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