Sterling trucks are no more

John Deere 3520 · Jan 11, 2009

well builder i just trying to say GM is better.. which it is... cough cough

John Deere 3520 · Jan 11, 2009

well if this guy did seem a fleet of GM trucks because of the allison hes crazy we tow quite a bit and never have a prob we had an 5speed allison and dads had two 6speed allisons and i have a 6speed allison and we love them they dont hunt to find gears what so ever and from what i can remember neither did the 5speed.. sometimes i wish i had the ZF6 instead of the allison but shifting gears and plowing sucks.. and the 6.0liter was the worst motor for probs for the diesel lineup..

Paystar · Jan 11, 2009

Builder said:
The Sterlings did turn to junk. Ford built a decent vocational truck.

So CAT pulled out of it's transmission project? I heard they were going right after Allisons business!

No they didn't pull out of the transmission business. That's why I thought it was so strange they pulled out of the truck engine business. They did say they were going to continue development on medium duty motors though, so maybe that fuels the fire of an upcoming pickup motor rumour that's been circulating?

Builder · Jan 11, 2009

Paystar said:
No they didn't pull out of the transmission business. That's why I thought it was so strange they pulled out of the truck engine business. They did say they were going to continue development on medium duty motors though, so maybe that fuels the fire of an upcoming pickup motor rumour that's been circulating?

Nope. CAT pulled out of all OTR diesel engines. Of course they could come back, but CAT had a lot of trouble meeting EPA regs.

WilliamBos · Jan 11, 2009

Builder said:
Nope. CAT pulled out of all OTR diesel engines.

They are concentrating on the off road stuff, apparently more of a money maker for them.

Builder · Jan 11, 2009

WilliamBos said:
They are concentrating on the off road stuff, apparently more of a money maker for them.

I think it's also because CAT has basically waived the white flag to the EPA regs. The accert engines have been less than stellar. The new round of emmissions regs on the way are just too much for CAT and they decided to hang it up in OTR.

WilliamBos · Jan 11, 2009

Builder said:
I think it's also because CAT has basically waived the white flag to the EPA regs. The accert engines have been less than stellar. The new round of emmissions regs on the way are just too much for CAT and they decided to hang it up in OTR.

I agree. And mot to stray too far off topic here, but that is one main reason why they purchased Perkins from MF, they (CAT) are totally clueless on how to build smaller diesels.

John Deere 3520 · Jan 11, 2009

the on road diesels were only 10% of CATS sales belive it or not..

WilliamBos · Jan 11, 2009

John Deere 3520 said:
the on road diesels were only 10% of CATS sales belive it or not..

which explains why they ditched them. Not really worth it if you factor R&D costs to return in sales. BUT, off road emission regs are becoming more and more stringent every day. So only time will tell.