Which engine for a used Winnebago Journey?

which is easier to service for a do it yourselfer

changing filters etc??

Cat will have more hP and torque.
5.9 will get better MPG but be a little slower

I would buy the one my wife like best

I have a cat and it seems like a good power plant. If given a choice I'd prefer a cummins, but there are more important things.

It turned out that the motorhomes in our price range that we liked the most didn't really offer us a choice. We had to buy a CAT, so we did! (We didn't end up with a Journey after all.)

All we can say so far is that the CAT is definitely far better than our old Chevy gas model.

John Wayne wrote:
Are both allison transmissions the same, or does the 5.9 have a smaller 5 speed and the cat a bigger 6 speed?

The Allison 3000 transmission came standard with the Cat. engine.
a 6 speed and more robust transmission.

The allison 2500 5 speed came standard with the cummins engine, with an option for an upgrade for a Allison 3000 transmission.

Personally I would opt for the Cat./Allison combo and would only consider the Cummins if it had been ordered with the optional upgrade to the Allison 3000.

This was when I was shopping for a new Journey in 2004, and found my like new 2002 Journey.

We owned a 2002 36' Journey for 8 years with the CAT 3126E 330 HP engine and the Allison MH3000 transmission. Never had any problems. The CAT ran flawlessly and had good power for that size coach. I would not want less torque/HP than the 330 in that size coach.

I would choose the C-7 Cat over a 5.9 Cummins. Even if the Cummins has the inflated 300 HP rating and the Cat is rated low (300 HP rather than 330 or 360) the 16% larger Cat has 30-40% more torque and will be generating the power at lower RPM.

Other sizes? I would probably choose the 8.3 Cummins over a C-7 for the same reason, but might choose a C-9 over a C-series, because the 9 is more comparable to Cummins similar size ISL. But sinceyour choices this time are C-7 vs B-series, the C-7 was the engine upgrade on the Journey. It was a pretty expensive upgrade. It came with a heavier grade transmission to handle the extra torque, and that was a big part of the cost difference.

A few years ago we had similar size rv, a 2006 Winnebago Tour 36 rd, with the 350hp Cat C7 engine. It was a little slow up mountain grades, especially towing our Jeep Wrangler. I wouldn't want a smaller engine powering that heavy of a motorhome, especially if you are towing, or doing a lot of mountain driving.

Are both allison transmissions the same, or does the 5.9 have a smaller 5 speed and the cat a bigger 6 speed?

I would opt for the C7 CAT. My experience with the small Cummins has not been good on my motorhome and my farm machinery. The design is good but the problems always come back to poor quality control of the components made in their Brazilian factory. If you get a good one they are good but if you get a bad one it gets very expensive.:)