6CTA8.3 engine rebuild for Sur Móvil

[74M35A2]

You could also build a quick gantry out of 2x4's over the engine, for cheap, and quick. Go 3 on edge across the top as a beam, she'll hold just fine to lift the head, maybe even just 2. Make it extra wide on one side, and use an old roller skate as a trolley on top of it. Leave the center board up a pinch higher to make a track for the skate to stay on and guide. You can get pretty creative on stuff when working alone, you'll get it done. Some will bark this is dangerous or not to suggest such, but when alone and trying not to buy a forklift, it drives you to consider other ways that will work. Just don't be under it.

Invite your friends over and burn it when you are done so your neighbors don't have to look at it. Could put together a really strong one for less than $20. Get the skate from Salvation Army.

 

[Mos68x]

Sorry guys, I missed the email notification for this thread.

Pull the hinge springs. Pull the 4 plate mounting bolts 2 people can lift it off at the fender wells and back the truck from under it. Like a push press type lift. Unless you already disabled the truck

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Unfortunately, I think I did disable it already unfortunately, but not because of the engine. I think I fried some electronics by accident. I’ve had a golf-cart/forklift style battery connector on the truck for a while that I’ve had mounted to the total 24v side of the batteries. I recently changed it to the first 12v battery to charge/jump my other car, and I totally forgot about it when I plugged back into the 24v batteries for the house to charge them a few days ago. Went to turn on the truck and powered on fine, but soon as I turned the key to start the engine there was a puff of smoke from the battery area (still had the seat up) and now there is no power available at all. Think I might’ve blown the controller box if it runs on 12v, but I hope that it is only a fusible link somewhere.

Apology, Simp can’t count to one.

Unbolt the front cross mount, go 40mph, and slam on the brakes. It will come off.

Lol I think I still want to keep my hood and headlights intact lol

No sorry I just didnt read it i just saw remove the hood without a forklift while on my phone. Um is there a reason you need to remove the hood? just loosen your front bracket bolts down between the frame and jack it up. Install longer bolts. This will allow the hood to go further forward without the support cables. I dunno why the hood needs to come off for an in frame rebuild though. You should be able to pick the head up and set it off to the side of the truck. It is no different than doing a radiator R & R in one.

OR you can also do it my way I said in the other post just use some high lift jacks on some blocks to lift it up on 3 points. each Side and below the grille in the center then back out. Putting the tires down to flat makes this a little easier on height but it throws the weight off some

I only have myself to rebuild this engine, no help at all unless you consider a teenager neighbor. I don’t mind using him to help with a lot on the truck, but I won’t risk injury to him and I don’t enjoy the thought of throwing out my back again. That is why I would rather remove the hood so I can build a front crane mount that I can use to pull the head off by myself. Unfortunately, all my friends that I know could help with this are over in AL and no one here.

Sounds like you need to make an A frame or other type over head lifting assembly. Doesn't have to be expensive just make it twice as strong as you think it needs to be.
On a separate note do you have the part numbers on the engine rebuild kit for the 8.3L?

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I’m not sure if I have the PN for the complete kit, or the CPL, it I do have PN on the boxes that were in the kit. I still haven’t taken the time yet to call Cummins for verification though.

You could also build a quick gantry out of 2x4's over the engine, for cheap, and quick. Go 3 on edge across the top as a beam, she'll hold just fine to lift the head, maybe even just 2. Make it extra wide on one side, and use an old roller skate as a trolley on top of it. Leave the center board up a pinch higher to make a track for the skate to stay on and guide. You can get pretty creative on stuff when working alone, you'll get it done. Some will bark this is dangerous or not to suggest such, but when alone and trying not to buy a forklift, it drives you to consider other ways that will work. Just don't be under it.

Invite your friends over and burn it when you are done so your neighbors don't have to look at it. Could put together a really strong one for less than $20. Get the skate from Salvation Army.

I’m not sure if I pictured what you imagined right, but it did give me an idea nontheless. Any think a 2x4 or 2x6 could support the weight of the hood or head? I think it could handle the head, but I’m not sure how much the hood weighs. As long as it weighs about 200lbs or less it should be able to handle it just fine. I could use a 2x6 beam and a couple 2x4s for legs and prop the other end of the 2x6 on the roof (its already crushed anyways). Then I can use my electric winch and a couple ratchet straps to lift it out of the way.

 

[cbrTodd]

You could also build a quick gantry out of 2x4's over the engine, for cheap, and quick. Go 3 on edge across the top as a beam, she'll hold just fine to lift the head, maybe even just 2. Make it extra wide on one side, and use an old roller skate as a trolley on top of it. Leave the center board up a pinch higher to make a track for the skate to stay on and guide. You can get pretty creative on stuff when working alone, you'll get it done. Some will bark this is dangerous or not to suggest such, but when alone and trying not to buy a forklift, it drives you to consider other ways that will work. Just don't be under it.

Invite your friends over and burn it when you are done so your neighbors don't have to look at it. Could put together a really strong one for less than $20. Get the skate from Salvation Army.

I used 12' long 4x4's for the side frames, a 14' long 4x4 for the top beam, random 2x4's for reinforcements, ratchet straps to brace one end to the driver's side front tire, and a piece of 1/4" thick x 4" wide x ~2' long flat steel and a ratchet strap as the slide for the chain hoist. The chain hoist itself is the one for the spare tire. I only had help guiding the cylinder head down on top of the new gasket. I was working by myself for everything else. It worked fine for me, and I didn't have to do a thing to the hood for working room.

 

[Csm Davis]

Maybe you could post pictures of the numbers on main box or boxes?

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[jda7271]

Does anyone have the P/N for the 8.3L 6cta overhaul kit from cummins?

 

[74M35A2]

Nope

 

[Mos68x]

A short while after I posted my reply I remembered why I was avoiding buying anything long, because I only have my car to go buy any materials to build whatever. The truck is the only thing I have that I can use to get anything longer than 8’ and it is down for the count right now. Besides, it finally dawned on me (I can be a little slow sometime lol) to build the crane mount and use it to remove the hood, duh lol. Since I’m going down to Prescott tomorrow, I’ll stop by the steel shop and see what it might cost me for the one thing I will need.

Maybe you could post pictures of the numbers on main box or boxes?

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I’ll try to remember to take some tomorrow once I get back home.

Does anyone have the P/N for the 8.3L 6cta overhaul kit from cummins?

According to Cummins, all 6TA engines don’t use the same rebuild kit. I have no idea why this is, unless they can track if a crank has had to be turned, or some other major reason. Best bet is to just call them with your serial number and get the numbers from them. If I’d know this months ago when I bought my kit I certainly would’ve been more selective in what I got. I not saying that I have the wrong kit by any means, just saying that I don’t think I have everything. I know I don’t have a full upper gasket kit, which by the way costs about $400. I hate to see what a full gasket kit will cost. I’ll probably use Cummins website to get PNs and see how much I can save (if any) by using eBay or amazon.

 

[Mos68x]

I just went through the rebuild kit I got, and as I suspected...I have some issues.

#1 - I’m missing the lower engine gasket kit. At a minimum I need the oil pan gasket, accessory gear drive housing gasket, plus what ever else I find along the way that can’t be reused. Besides, I would rather just start with new gaskets instead of trying to cheap out and make old gaskets work.

#2 - All the part numbers in the rebuild kit matched what my engine needs...with the exception of the piston. At first I got real pissed cause I thought I got the wrong kit altogether, but then I remembered that quickserve had a way to check if the part numbers were replaced with newer ones. The only PN that still didn’t match up was the piston.

Tomorrow I’ll Cummins, I suspect that I can still use these pistons but I want to check first. Somewhere in quickserve I remember stumbling across 3 or 4 different compression ratios that this engine was offered in, and I suspect that this is the only difference between the CPL#s, or at least between my engine and whatever engine this kit is supposed to be for.

 

[Mos68x]

I’m still waiting to hear back from the military liaison for Cummins, he said he was reaching out to some people that might be able to help. I called everyone local and the main Cummins office, and a few others, but no one knows what the difference is between the pistons, just that they aren’t the same lol. I did get verification though that the only difference should be in the CR. I know that mine is supposed to be 16.5:1 but since they don’t have a BOM on hand for his motor, or any military application, they couldn’t even tell me what I had for sure in mine. They had 4 different CRs in the C series according to the manual - 16.4, 16.5, 17.3, and 18. What I will probably do is just compare the two parts when I get a piston out if I can’t get a definitive answer by then. The lower gasket set will cost me anther $483, unless I find it cheaper online. It sucks that I didn’t get one in the kit, but at least the price reflected it.

 

[Mos68x]

I still haven’t heard back from the guy at Cummins yet. Been working on making the front mount but I doubt that I’ll finish it till next month. Got leave for NV in a few days to go help my brother with his engine rebuild.

 

[WillWagner]

Give me your ESN and the p/n of the pistons you got, I'll check it out

 

[Mos68x]

Will, 24P-1 says PN 3908750, QS says 3919565 (alt #s 3919930,3923164,3802398 ), and what I have on hand is a 3929161.

Still no reply from Cummins yet on the piston kit compatibility. I did find an image that referenced 3908750 & 3923164 together, but still nothing for the PN that I have on-hand.

Just to clarify, this is NOT holding up the rebuild process, though it certainly would make me feel much better. There are other things holding it up, namely because I’m leaving in a couple days to go see my brother for a week or so, and because I’m still trying to form the 1/4” strapping to the pipe for the forward crane mount.

 

[Mos68x]

I tried a propane torch and pipe wrench, but broke the vise I was borrowing. Then I welded up 1/4” flat bar and rebar to make a “brake”. Tried it with the truck, but it wasn’t heavy enough lol I just lifted that tire. I’ll have to wait till I get back from my brothers place to try the neighbor’s 20T shop press. If that don’t work I’ll just draw them up and have a shop make them, but hopefully it don’t come to that.

 

[Jbulach]

View attachment 722773

I tried a propane torch and pipe wrench, but broke the vise I was borrowing. Then I welded up 1/4” flat bar and rebar to make a “brake”. Tried it with the truck, but it wasn’t heavy enough lol I just lifted that tire. I’ll have to wait till I get back from my brothers place to try the neighbor’s 20T shop press. If that don’t work I’ll just draw them up and have a shop make them, but hopefully it don’t come to that.

The bars an your bottom die are too close together, spread them about twice the distance and you’ll need a lot less tonnage, but then your bottom plate may also need to be a little heavier or reinforced.

 

[74M35A2]

Are you making rocker arm pedestal braces?

 

[Mos68x]

No, I’m making a front mount for the HF crane using one of the pairs of bumper mounts for the tow bars.

 

[Mos68x]

Finally got the front mount made for HF crane. Once I’m done coping and grinding the steel for the ISO frame I’ll start on the engine rebuild.

 

[WillWagner]

Just a heads up, the 3929161 is not the same as any of the other p/ns listed. shoot me your esn and I can see if that number is a current one for your engine. I would hold off on installing them.

 

[Mos68x]

Esn 44725109

 

[WillWagner]

Ok, so far this is what I have found...3908750 is the piston the above esn starts out with. it does supersede a few times and there is a service bulletin regarding the changes...it is nla on QSOL, but I most likely have it in print from back in the day. All other numbers except 3929161 are related. The piston p/n 3929161 belongs to a totally different PP, performance part, option. When I break down the PP48585 option, the cams are different and that PP and piston are out of, made for, part of an industrial, non road rated 6CTC8.3-C engine, the C designates construction. Pump, cam, key, injectors, turbo show as being different. I would not install the 3929161 into the engine, you will have some sort of issue, most likely an undesirable smoke issue. Don't forget, the C series was and still is used in a mess of off road stuff like graders, dozers, generators, rollers. they run differently, usually no variable throttle input, just idle and not idle.