prentice 110

[DWittenbreder]

looked at a loader the other day and need some advice. Ran the hydraulics ok the claw has some wear at the pivot area the pin in the center pivot is a little loose other than that it seems to work ok....the guy is selling it awful cheap which raises my suspicions. The cab of the truck is really rough and is in need of some major TLC. Any input on the CAT 3208 diesel engine? good or bad?

 

[Pacific]

If you get it cheap enough take the loader off and put it on another truck. Its not worth dumping money into a old truck you end up spending more on it than buying another truck. If the truck is a tandem with a 3208 its too under powered. The 3208 is a throwaway engine not one of the best engines out there.

As for the grapple it must be a pulp wood grapple it it has a power swivel on it that can be expensive to repair. It would probably cheaper to find a used grapple than trying to repair the worn pins. If the pins are worn the hydraulic cylinders will be well worn.

So is this truck a old GMC or a Ford Louisville because they were commonly powered with a 3208.

 

[DWittenbreder]

money pit

the truck is a 79 L8000 the cylinders have all been rebuilt. this truck looks bad but was maintained fairly well. there is some wear in the pins which worries me this could cost alot to repair. for $5000 is this truck worth the money?

 

[Pacific]

Its hard to tell without seeing the unit but for 5 grand you will be hard pressed to find any truck with a loader on it. The old Ford L series is known for rusting cabs I imagine that is what is wrong with the truck you are looking at.

As for the grapple you probably could keep using it untill the pins finally wear out and fall out. Aslong it doesn't bind it will prolly be fine.

 

[treeman45246]

Am I wrong here or is the 3108 the throwaway engine? I've heard nothing but good things about the 3208... unkillable, etc. etc.

 

[Pacific]

I never heard of a 3108 the 3208 is the V-8 diesel around 10L displacement built by Cat it was classed as a throwaway engine.

A 3208 in a tandem axle truck is severely underpowered Ford used them in L8000 single axles and tandems. A 3208 in a single axle is fine but its still not as good as a newer 6 cylinder with the same displacment like a L10 Cummins.

The 3208 is fairly tough it does have its problems personally I wouldn't have a truck with one. Once the engine is dead you will have a tough time finding a rebuilt engine. Parts for the 3208 are tough to find.

I like old L series Fords but a old truck with a 3208 really isn't worth owning. I imagine this 79 that we are discussing here probably smokes so much blue you can even see the truck when you fire it up cold.

For 5 grand your pretty much buying the loader I don't know what a Prentice loader runs price wise down in the US.