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Detroit Diesel In A Pickup?

Back in the late seventies a guy from Oskaloosa Iowa had Perkins diesels in his 3/4 ton Ford pickups. Another guy from Montezuma Iowa put a 3208 Cat in his 78 Ford one ton. Both seemed to work out well , then Ford came out with the diesel in their pickups , they were hard to beat.
 
Saw a Ford PU with a 4-53T some years back. Sure sounded mean. The guy said it could use a little more power, but he loved the sound, too. Said it would have been just too lame to drive without the turbo, and he was wondering how long it would last because he kept putting his foot in it.
 
more tbhan a few detroits have been loaded in a pikup and hauled to the scrap yard,,, sorry not a fan of detroits
 
Around the 1980's (as I recall) some of the F series Fords assembled in Australia were available with Perkins diesels - might have been 6 - 354's but not sure.
 
A good friend of mine put a Detroit with an Allison automatic in an early 70"s Ford Camper Special. It was a beast of a truck! Wurb sold the truck in "94 when he bought one of the new dodge trucks. I don"t remember any of the details except for it was a tight fit and he could be heard coming blocks away. He did the conversion sometime in the 70"s when the fire department he worked for switched to Diesel trucks instead of gas. A bunch of the guys took a Diesel repair class and several did conversions of their pickups. I believe it was a 3 or 4 cylinder 71 series.

I would like to put a 5 cylinder Mercedes OM617 series turbo engine in an old 1/2 ton truck for my Dad someday. I really like these engines. Easy to work on, tough, reliable, and easy on fuel. My S class sedan can easily get 30MPG with this 1970"s technology engine.

If you do a swap, please post the details and pictures.

Josh
 
(quoted from post at 22:32:26 06/26/14) Has anyone on here put a Detroit in a pickup truck? Or a Perkins or Cat or anything else out of the norm?
Click to expand...
have not, but my neighbor has a 1 ton '70's Ford with a 4 cyl Detroit & has run it for many years.
 
Cummins got it going how did You get it to stop Seems like I remember the brakes were not that great on those years.
Ron
 
Met a fella that put a small Detroit (3-51?) in an IH Travelall back in the mid 70's. It was really noisy inside the cab!
 
Dave all the guys around here are putting 4bt cummins in the Ford rangers and broncos along with ih scouts. I have sold several 4bts for the conversion. Bell housing and parts to do the conversion are easy to come by.
 
We installed the later model disc brakes on the front and used a later model 14 bolt Chevy rearend. It stops fairly well.
 
A friend has a chevy ton truck with a two cylinder Detroit engine.It was put in probably 20 years ago,maybe more.
 
Back in the late 70's, I had a neighbor that was putting Herc motors in Ford pickups. He was running a 30% over Brownie box trying to keep his RPMs down. At that time, he was getting close to 30 MPG with them. He has since passed, and I don't think any of them are still running.
 
Ford used the 6-354 Perkins and the 300 Gas motor in the 6000 series tractor, so at least some of the Perkins should bolt in to bell housing of Ford Trucks w/ 240's or 300's. I've never seen one in person, but they are on youtube.
 
Also in the 70s a fellow here put a Duetz diesel into a Ford pickup. Never heard any good or bad reports though. Kind of forgot about it.
 
My neighbor has a 60s IH pickup with a Detroit 3-53 in it. Low on power, low on speed, and high on noise. Not very good on fuel consumption either.

Jeep offered CJs with Perkins diesels in the 1960s in the US. Didn't sell very well.

Dodge offered a 1/2 ton pickup with a 6 cylinder Mitsubishi diesel in 77 or 78. Also did not sell well.
 
Our 1965 Ford 1 ton dump had drum all the way around and some of the best brakes I have ever stopped with. Darn near throw you thru the windshield even with a load on if you really slammed on them.
 

This has a 4 cylinder Cummins Diesel.
a161436.jpg

a161437.jpg
 
Our Diesel Mechanics instructor at District One Tech had a 3-53 in his I-H pick up. Like others have said they are noisy and under powered. But it sure looked cool!
 
Back in the late 70s there was a JD rep who put a 4 cylinder turbocharged JD engine in his Ford 4wd pu. Claimed he got around 24mpg. Said you could buy the conversion stuff, bellhousing etc, from Deere if you knew what to order.
 
The 6000's used a Ford 242 diesel or Ford 223 gas
engine, not a perkins. The 242 diesel was just the
223 gas motor turned into a diesel. I think it
would fit in place of a 223 or other 6cyls that are
the same as the 223 with some effort.
 
I have the repair manual for a 1984 Jeep Cherokee.
The most common engine was the 2.8 V6, (171 cid).
They also offered a 2.64L I4, 150 cid.
Then they also had a 2.1 Turbo Diesel. 128 cid. The other engines could be paired up to a 5 speed manual or the 3 speed automatic. The 2.46L I4 had a 4 speed manual as an option.

The Diesel only had a 5 speed manual. No other option. Not available in California.

So my short answer is yes, it can be done. Used to be some farmers near Gilead, NE who had a diesel pickup back in the early 80's. Can't remember which engine it had in it.
 
Someone was putting a John Deere into a Chevy, that was a few years ago and I don't think he ever showed final photos of it.
 

Always thought a JD 414 TI six cylinder with an overdrive transmission behind ot would make a good road engine.
Since the diesel became more expensive than gasoline when ULSD was introduced. Diesel has not been a practical advantage in light duty applications.
 
3-53 from a Gamma Goat is popular. Light weight, short in length and has the proper bell housing. Gutless with only 100HP. Could maybe make 150HP if really pushed with a turbo and intercooler.
 
Back in the '70s, Dodge offered a diesel in their truck. Mitsubishi, I believe it was. I read it in my service manual but have never seen one.
 
Or you can order a new Jeep Grand Cherokee with the diesel engine. It's an Italian-made job, VM Motori I think. My neighbor is a car salesman, he says that the diesel GC makes so much torque that it'll beat a Hemi GC off the starting line. Doesn't stay in the lead for long though...

Y'all have a good weekend.

Anthony
Grand Cherokee diesel
 
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