Pete & Ken Power Hour: Paccar displays heavy-duty engine at GATS

DALLAS, Tex. — You’ll soon be hearing about Class 8 Kenworths and Petes coming off the line with Paccar heavy-duty engines, if the company’s demonstration at this week’s Great American Trucking Show (GATS) in Dallas is any indication.

“Kenworth is testing Paccar heavy-duty engines in a wide variety of applications, terrains and climate conditions,” Kenworth’s chief engineer Mike Dozier said. “The engine test program includes test cell work, testing on the paccar Technical Center track in Mount Vernon, Wash, and road tests.

These tests are serving to validate designs and manufacturing processes and will ensure that these heavy-duty engines will be ready for eventual introduction into Class 8 trucks, he added.

Paccar’s DAF division in Europe has 50 years of experience in heavy-duty diesel engine design and manufacturing. Paccar is leveraging this experience as it works toward supplying engines for Class 8 trucks in North America. The truckmaker held a groundbreaking ceremony for its new engine plant in Columbus, Miss., in July. The $400-million facility will include a 420,000-square-ft engine plant and technology center on a 400-acre site. Construction is due to be completed in 2009.

Some of the new engines will be installed at the Kenworth plant in Chillicothe, Ohio, which recently completed a 105,000 square-foot expansion. The expansion increases Kenworth’s overall plant capacity by 20 percent to position Kenworth for market expansion and enhance the industry-leading quality of Kenworth vehicles.

Paccar also currently offers Cat and Cummins options in its heavy-duty Peterbilt and Kenworth lineups. But last year, the company announced Cummins’ six and eight liter diesel engines (badged as Paccar) will soon be the exclusive spec on medium-duty models.

Meanwhile, Kenworth also announced at GATS that its new medium-duty conventional models will enter production in the fourth quarter.

“The Kenworth T270 Class 6 and T370 Class 7 models are aimed toward food and beverage distributors, propane and fuel fleets, towing and recovery operators, general construction and landscape firms, and dry, refrigerated and side-curtain van operations.

Both models are available with the Paccar PX-6 engine rated to 325 hp and 750 ft-lb of torque, and with the PX-8 engine rated to 330 hp and 1,000 ft-lb of torque. Customers can choose manual or automatic transmissions and air or hydraulic brakes. Both models offer many exhaust options for the various wheelbases, especially important to body builders that work with medium duty customers.

Kenworth’s medium-duty product line will continue to include the K260 Class 6 and K360 Class 7 cabover models.


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