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3116 vs 3126 with exhaust brake
- Thread starter Markhor
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Driving my 2003 almost 28,000 lb overland vehicle I can honestly say I absolutely love the exhaust brake. Especially going down hill.
Thanks. Really helpful.
Ronmar
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You can also fit an ex brake to the A0…
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A1R is the platform to have IMHO. C7 with exhaust brake and capable of 370 HP with a flash plus LOTS of other upgrades too numerous to mention.
The 3116 is anemic due to it's smaller displacement. Won't run ECO hubs as effectively for a large build on a 6x6 chassis. It's also old - saw a Facebook group post recently that a fellow looking for injectors called CAT and they had two of them in the entire country. Support is waning and sunset is approaching on it.
The 3126 had teething problems. All of them seemingly have lubrication issues often resulting in HEUI issues at the high RPM the stock gearing ran them at. Some of them have block cracking issues..... It was a short lived engine from 1999 to 2004.5. ECM's are harder to find and two to four times the price used. Expect to spend ~$5k to $10k getting it sorted in terms of the lubrication system, etc. They are limited to 330 HP with official CAT flash files. I'm not a huge fan although they work well when sorted and maintained. Remember the lubrication parts from CAT are $$$$$$$. $1700 for the engine oil pump. $2500 for the HEUI pump with the lift pump and all the other bits. And the injectors are $1k each. Then you figure labor and the HEUI pump post-filter ($1k). You can easily buy a 3126 truck and be "surprised" when it needs $10k just to be reliable again.
The C7 came in around 2004.5 and is still being used in the A1P2 built by Oshkosh to this day. That's 20 years of continuous use and improvement. They make more power, are more reliable, and will be supported long into the future. There are A1P2 trucks in the military system that have 15 years ahead of them still. That means support for the next 20 years is not only probable but absolutely necessary for the DOD. Which means surplus for our trucks long into my retirement.
My ranking is thus:
#1 C7
#2 3116
#3 3126b
Exhaust brake can be fitted to the 3116. But it's not even in the top ten of things I'm worried about when choosing a truck.
The 3116 is anemic due to it's smaller displacement. Won't run ECO hubs as effectively for a large build on a 6x6 chassis. It's also old - saw a Facebook group post recently that a fellow looking for injectors called CAT and they had two of them in the entire country. Support is waning and sunset is approaching on it.
The 3126 had teething problems. All of them seemingly have lubrication issues often resulting in HEUI issues at the high RPM the stock gearing ran them at. Some of them have block cracking issues..... It was a short lived engine from 1999 to 2004.5. ECM's are harder to find and two to four times the price used. Expect to spend ~$5k to $10k getting it sorted in terms of the lubrication system, etc. They are limited to 330 HP with official CAT flash files. I'm not a huge fan although they work well when sorted and maintained. Remember the lubrication parts from CAT are $$$$$$$. $1700 for the engine oil pump. $2500 for the HEUI pump with the lift pump and all the other bits. And the injectors are $1k each. Then you figure labor and the HEUI pump post-filter ($1k). You can easily buy a 3126 truck and be "surprised" when it needs $10k just to be reliable again.
The C7 came in around 2004.5 and is still being used in the A1P2 built by Oshkosh to this day. That's 20 years of continuous use and improvement. They make more power, are more reliable, and will be supported long into the future. There are A1P2 trucks in the military system that have 15 years ahead of them still. That means support for the next 20 years is not only probable but absolutely necessary for the DOD. Which means surplus for our trucks long into my retirement.
My ranking is thus:
#1 C7
#2 3116
#3 3126b
Exhaust brake can be fitted to the 3116. But it's not even in the top ten of things I'm worried about when choosing a truck.
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Thanks. Thats a really helpful explanation. I also looked into installing an exhaust break, like Abel MTV did. But not sure if its a good idea in the long run. Better spend more upfront and get a better starting platform rather than upgrades.
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I think the last time I saw a M1078A1R for sale was last October, @fuzzytoaster had one. How plentiful are M1083A1R's on the civilian market?
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I had one more that sold in July. A1R trucks are very few and far between, especially MTV (6x6) variants. There's a M1085A1R for sale on facebook market plate right now for $49,999.
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There's more than you think and less than you hope.
@AKPacker bought his M1079 A1R from a private party in the last few months. It was on Facebook for I think over a month with no takers for a much more reasonable price than MME would have asked.
Unfortunately surplus has dried up for now. The A1 and A1R trucks are being held back. In case. Going to APS sites. They may be needed and they will, in all probability, never return. Or maybe at some point in the future they get dumped on the market en-masse.
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I know of an M1078 A1R in the Houston, TX area for $45k. PM me for details. Needs some work but has some upgrades. Lockers, highway gears, and a bunch of other stuff. The owner doesn't have time for tire kickers though.
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After driving most of the way across the continent in one go, I can say that the exhaust brake is one of my favorite features on my truck. I leave it active at all times and it handles probably 95% of my braking outside of stop-and-go city traffic. I wouldn't want to drive one of these truck near hills or curvy roads without one.
On the topic of trucks for sale, there is what appears to be an early M1083A1R in Indiana listed for sale on Facebook right now.
On the topic of trucks for sale, there is what appears to be an early M1083A1R in Indiana listed for sale on Facebook right now.
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They are out there. And often sit on the market being passed up because they aren't "the best deal" in the eyes of the uneducated buyer. To someone that's new to this world it might seem obvious to buy the $20k 1997 truck with 6,000 miles on it vs. the $40k 2005 truck with 6,000 miles on it. Especially when someone spouts off about the "all mechanical engine!!!" 
...... They would be wrong. But they most likely won't know this till it's much too late.
...... They would be wrong. But they most likely won't know this till it's much too late.
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That's Tyler's favorite ad copy. "Ultra reliable mechanical engine"
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I looked at the '08 BAE A1R when I bought my A1 but I didn't like the look of it. Plus it was tan, and Joe Millionaire wanted 15k more. Plus it had more tire shine lol. I had a 30k budget. back in '21. My feeling is that there's always a better truck out there. Knowledge comes slower than money.
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IDK that this will be the case. A1P2's may never reach the civilian market and honestly - having worked on them - you really don't want one. Just needlessly overweight and nothing to be done about it - cab weighs 4,500 lbs and then you have another ~2,500 lbs of counter-weight in the back to keep the rear wheels on the ground when braking. So an extra ~6,000 lbs to carry around using the same drivetrain. Visibility isn't bad but it's not as good either. Much more complex cab tilt system involving four hydraulic cylinders...... no thanks. The rest of the truck literally is THE SAME as an A1R. Same wiring even for the most part.
So what does that leave for a "better truck" than the A1R? I don't know of anything better *for me*. Nor do I foresee that really changing appreciably in the next couple decades. Perhaps there are better alternatives for those who aren't willing or able to do their own repairs and modifications - I wouldn't entertain any of those options so I really am not sure. I don't want to deal with a dealership or a manufacturer or really anything civilian - the community/network surrounding US military trucks is just FAR better in terms of knowledge, help/assistance, etc. Most of us aren't here to get rich off each other.
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As a 'new' member (July 2023) "the community/network" is the best part by far—