Cummins or Caterpillar ?

The CATs I've been around got the same fuel mileage as Cummins. I prefer CAT and have had great luck with them. Had one problem on the last one, it had an injector break off the tip at 30,000 miles but it was under warranty, went to CA from TX and back with it hittting on 5 cylinders.

Dog Trainer wrote:
a couple of points here is that unless you are comparing older MH then the Cat /Cummins is a moot point as Cat no longer produces on road Diesels.
2nd point is that I would not make Cat/ Cummins a point of concern when purchasing a MH find the Layout and coach that you want and accept Cat/ Cummins as a good motor either way

If you check the Cat website you will see where Cat will still sell you any engine you want or they will rebuilt your engine and warranty it as if it was new.

And Cat is back with engines for heavy duty dump and tanker trucks for road service. They got out of the RV industry usage because at the time the EPA had set some pretty strict regulations. But Cat in partnership with another company are manufacturing engines for road usage.

a couple of points here is that unless you are comparing older MH then the Cat /Cummins is a moot point as Cat no longer produces on road Diesels.
2nd point is that I would not make Cat/ Cummins a point of concern when purchasing a MH find the Layout and coach that you want and accept Cat/ Cummins as a good motor either way

After the experience at work, I would absolutely NOT own any vehicle with a Cat C7 ACERT under any circumstances. I would MUCH rather have a Cummins.

CJBROWN wrote:
Cat is no longer building diesels for over the road vehicles. So anything relatively new will have a cummins or navistar. I'm not aware of any others for full size units. Oh, I guess there might be a few duramaxes in top-hat type rigs.

I have only heard thru forums that the cummins is easier to service, but I have no experience with either. My Dad had a cat in a early alpha seeya but we never worked on it and he passed over ten years ago.

Actually Cat does started manufacturing diesel engines again for over the road use, but they are only on real heavy duty equipment like dump trucks and tankers.

As to which engine is better Cat or Cummins, I favor Cat because they hardly ever give trouble. I have had both.

Power they are pretty close if you match the engines correctly.
ISB vs C7 Cat has a slight edge.
ISL vs C9 both about the same torque
ISM vs C15 Cat hands down.

DSDP Don wrote:
Sad to say that anyone who bought a Monaco with a Navistar engine will probably find their resale value will be below a Monaco with a Cummins. Monaco IS gone, all that is left is the parts department (a good thing). ASV is just throwing their stuff in a coach and calling it a Monaco. The Roadmaster chassis is what made a Monaco a Monaco. It's gone, never to be seen again.

Everyone is being polite not to start a battle of the engines. They're both good engines, but Cat fuel economy is definitely less than the Cummins in several engine sizes.

I had not checked in on Monaco in quite some time but the other day I went to their website and saw the new coach. I got really excited when I saw the engine and "Roadmaster" chassis as I remain a HUGE fan of the S-Series chassis -- solid steer axle and all. The coach looked great and I called out to my wife to tell her. She got excited too and said "I'll be there in a minute." But by the time she was ready to look I had figured out it wasn't a Roadmaster chassis at all and told her "never mind, it's not the same..." Pity.

Sad to say that anyone who bought a Monaco with a Navistar engine will probably find their resale value will be below a Monaco with a Cummins. Monaco IS gone, all that is left is the parts department (a good thing). ASV is just throwing their stuff in a coach and calling it a Monaco. The Roadmaster chassis is what made a Monaco a Monaco. It's gone, never to be seen again.

Everyone is being polite not to start a battle of the engines. They're both good engines, but Cat fuel economy is definitely less than the Cummins in several engine sizes.

CJBROWN wrote:


...I keep hearing all over to stay away from Navistar. Then I heard Monaco had gone down that road...damn! The Knight was always a favorite of mine, 36 footer with a big block...

You probably are not hearing that from HM owners who actually own a Navistar/MaxxForce engine. While the original Monaco company is long gone the Monaco line was purchased by Navistar and then by ASV and is still in business. They are currently redesigning the entire line and they now use Cummins engines.

CAT! I drove 44-1/4 years, OTR driving with CAT motors and just love them! I've had extremely good luck with them in my driving career!

I have had both. I like the Cummins. The Cat has to build oil pressure before it will start. After setting a while my Cat would crank for 10-15 seconds before starting. Other people are looking at you wondering if it is going to start. Hit the key and the Cummins is running.

Some one is going to comment that building oil pressure before starting add to engine life. There are a lot of OTR trucks with Cummins engines, therefore must not be too big of a problem.