Caterpillar 3406b

[komatsu d475-1]

Hi everyone,
Was wondering if anyone had came across a Caterpillar 3406 B 14.7L turbocharged engine.
Friend of mine is thinking of buying a boat which has one of these for its powerplant.
Does anyone know what hours these are good for and if there are any problems specific to this model.The engine has 6500 hrs on it. 1984 model.Cheers Mervyn

[muckshifter]

i have a good friend who has a converted pilot boat with twin 3406s in, they had never been started for some 3 years when he asked me to take a look at them for him, i changed both fuel filters on both engines and charged the batteries up, next day i went to start them they fired up without hesitation, i couldnt believe it, very very reliable motors, depends on what the boats been used for i would guess,

[SRB]

If it has an auto timing advance unit on the gear train for the fuel pump, the counterweights in there can play up, but wouldn't expect much trouble with those kind of hours on it.

Cracking motors, fair simple and bomb proof will keep plodding away for a good while yet, plenty of spares avail. gen and none genuine (obviously i'd recomend only genuine CAT parts.....)

[komatsu d475-1]

Cheers lads,all info greatly appreciated.
Regards Mervyn

[tctractors]

Water pumps are/can be a bit of a dog, some of them have plastic impellers fitted but these can be swapped out for steel, Ex truck engines (Paccar) have lots of bits fitted that are not to handy on a boat, Jake' brake and Blue Ox retarders sort of spring to mind, the Blue Ox brake saver uses larger exhaust springs, there is also a compressor to remove, most common HP ratings are around the 400-450 area but this banger can poke out over 650 HP in the right build, the intercooler might be tricky to fit in a neat and tidy way, but the 3406 is not a load of £££ to buy from truck breakers, I am working on 2 of these things at the moment (see Jobs thing).


tctractors

[modelman093]

Here's a couple of pics of the Cat engine installation in the Dungeness Lifeboat.
Angus