The Detroit Diesel
So my dad calls me one day and tells me to meet him if I wanted to turn some wrenches. However, he didn't tell me what he was working on, so I thought that maybe something was wrong with his truck, or someone's car or something. Well, when we arrived, I found out that he needed help swapping engines in his 18-wheelers. I had only once previously helped him do some minor work on a Cummins, but this time we were swapping a Detroit Diesel. I even managed to learn a thing or two about diesels (like theyre not actually all that different from a car). He had two trucks. One, a blue Freightliner, had a good engine, but had been involved in a collision. The other, a dark purple Freightliner, had a good body, but a blown engine. You know what's next.
Here's the old one. You can see the primer on the front where it was hit.
Here's a pic of the good engine. You can see that the body has been Bondo'd in several places.
Here's the blown engine in the purple truck. I didnt get a good shot of it. I'm not sure how this engine got to this state of disrepair, but I'm used to this kind of thing by now. Anyway, I'm sure you're dying to know how to remove a diesel engine...
With a forklift, of course. We rented a forklift for two days, meaning that we had to remove both engines, and swap the new one within that time period. No engine project is complete without some type of drama. You can see the back of the other truck from this angle.
The purple truck was part of a company fleet, and it still had the decals on it. Although it's a bit hard to see, this one said (in cursive script), "Freightliner makes it, and Detroit shakes it". I wanted him to keep it on there just because it was so cheesy, but he removed it. I told him that one day when he wasn't there, that I was going to sneak in and put some new letters on.
Here's the old engine finally out of the truck. It didn't take long to unbolt it considering that it didn't matter if we broke anything. The pistons are permanently frozen to the cylinder walls.
This is the front if a diesel engine. If you look really closely, the arrow is pointing to a large gear. The accessories on diesel engines are cog-driven, as opposed to belt-driven. Starting from the top left, the holes are for the alternator, water pump, a/c compressor, and the bottom right is for the power steering pump.
Here's what a diesel transmission looks like. We actually lifted it with a normal engine hoist.
He was wondering why his clutch wouldn't hold, and we found out the problem when we took the engine out. The clutch bearing is missing in the first picture. It's hard to see, but the hub is cracked also. The good transmission is from the truck with the bad engine.
The fact that his clutch is worn out doesn't help much either.
