Case IH Magnum (Cummins) Engines

[barrylndn]

How have the Magnum 5.9 lt Engines held up over the last few years? On a 180hp. machine, what kind of fuel consumption can be expected? Engine maintenance, what needs to be done? Any info is appreciated! Oh, the one I have is roughly a '97 model. 12 valve, mechanical injection, turbo.

 

[Birdhunter1]

What model tractor is it in?
I work for a guy who runs Case/IH Magnum tractors, 200-285 horsepower (7150, 8950, MX230, MX285) and the engines in them are very good engines, run very smooth and I'm thinking under load somewhere between 6-9 gallons of fuel per hour.

 

[barrylndn]

Actually, it's not a Case tractor. It's a JCB Fastrac 3185, but it has a cummin's 5.9 ltr. engine in it. Dealership mechanic says it seems to be the same as the Case Magnum. No one hardly knows what a Fastrac is, but Case is pretty familiar.

 

[Birdhunter1]

A look at tractordata.com shows this for a JCB 3185:
TractorData.com - JCB Fastrac 3185 tractor data

All of these from Case/Ih have a 5.9L diesel in them, not all are labeled as Cummins though:

Case/IH 1896 (96 PTO HP) Year 1984-1989 doesn't say Cummins anywhere but same displacement and bore?stroke specs as the JCB 3185
TractorData.com - CaseIH 1896 tractor data

Other 5.9L engiens used by Case IH

Case/IH 5130 (86 PTO HP) year 1990
TractorData.com - CaseIH 5130 tractor data

Case/IH 5140
TractorData.com - CaseIH 5140 tractor data

Case/IH 5240
TractorData.com - CaseIH 5240 tractor data

Case/IH 5250
TractorData.com - CaseIH 5250 tractor data

Case/IH MX120(Doesn't say what this one is) TractorData.com - CaseIH MX120 tractor data

Case/IH MX130 TractorData.com - CaseIH MX135 tractor data

Case/IH MX 150 (130 PTO HP)
TractorData.com - CaseIH MX150 tractor data

Case/IH MX 170 (145 PTO HP) Probably the same engine HP as your JCB but tractor data only shows PTO hp which will probably be 20-30 lower than the engine.
TractorData.com - CaseIH MX170 tractor data

I hope this helps some, if you want to know more you may research these models more and see what you can find.

 

[chh]

Is your tractor one of the ones with the high speed road gear range in it? I saw one listed for sale a while back that claimed a 35mph(I think) highway speed. Was just wondering.

 

[barrylndn]

Yeah, it is the one with the high road speed - got up up to 34 mph the day after I got it home. Wow...that's pretty much all I can say. Awesome, and a little scary being in a tractor 102 in. wide flying down the road. It has air brakes and air suspension, so you don't have the vibration of a regular tractor, and your head won't end up through the top of the cab if you hit a bump! It also stops on a dime, or at least pretty close.

 

[art]

Barry, that size engine was never used in a Magnum tractor. Case used it to 175 engine with a turbo and intercooler in the MX175 but that tractor never took off as in order to ensure a ten thousand hour engine life they had to turn the torque down so it wouldn't self distruct so it was considered under powered compared to others in the field.
The biggest problem with the JCB's in our area was that they were light compared to other tractors in their class and had trouble pulling our hills while doing tillage work. We had one farmer (from England) and he bought two a 130 and 180. The 130 was ok for weight to power and the 180 was the best on the road but worst in the field because of the excess horsepower. The 130 could pull the same equipment with less traction problems.

 

[barrylndn]

That's actually very good to know. We aren't really in a tillage area; bought it to pull a baler. Thought about getting one of the european style mowers where you can mount it on the front and rear, but it doesn't have a front PTO, and the dealer said it's cost prohibitive to put it on aftermarket, so baling it is. I wasn't certain it was a Magnum engine; the mechanic at the dealer said it looked a lot like it, so that's what I based it off of.

On a different not, a mechanic friend that works for CAT told me that with a slight upgrade of the injectors and tweaking the pump, it could put out almost 100 hp more than it does currently, with about the same fuel consumption. Not sure if I'll go that route - seems to have plenty of power for what I'll use it for anyway.

Thank you again for the info! That's good to know. It is a little light for what it is - right around 15k lbs. Compared to other tractors of the same hp, they appear to weigh a lot more. I guess that's how they get the higher road speed. The new models, I read, have gone to a 6.4 ltr Cummins, and the big one's have 8+ ltr cummins.

 

[slowzuki]

You can tweak to get more hp and it won't affect fuel economy if you don't use that hp but it certainly will if you do.

 

[Renze]

On a different not, a mechanic friend that works for CAT told me that with a slight upgrade of the injectors and tweaking the pump, it could put out almost 100 hp more than it does currently, with about the same fuel consumption.

variants of this 12 valve engine ran up to 300 hp in the Dodge trucks... A few years ago i was visiting relatives in Canada. Their local airco serviceman had a Dodge with the later 5.9 24 valve engine, tuned to 440 hp. The guy only used the 440 hp mode when showing off with an empty truck, not when pulling his trailer because he knew it would blow.
However these engines did have a much easier life in a truck than in a tractor.

Your engine wont produce 275 hp very long with just different injectors: If you dont upgrade the intercooler it will melt its pistons in a matter of days.

About them Fasttracs: the Cummins engine wont cause you any trouble... however the rest of the tractor wasnt as reliable as competing standard farm tractors, and they lacked traction due to the small wheels.

For baling they would do good due to the huge number of gears.
If you want an aftermarket PTO kit, contact the specialists at Zuidberg, they sell aftermarket and OEM kits all over the world, for 99% of all tractors currently on the market today. www.zuidberg.nl

=== on edit: for North america visit Frontlink Inc. :: The North American distributor of Zuidberg front linkages and power drives. What is the front of YOUR tractor doing?