Quote:
Originally Posted by KQQL IT
What the... |
Oh boy..... Want to hear a story?
Back in the early 80's, Detroit Diesel was starting to see that their 2 stroke 53, 71, and 92 series diesels were going to have problems meeting emissions standards in coming years. DDEC technology helped to a point, but the long-term solution would be a new family of 4 stroke diesels. Detroit was loosing market share as well, and GM was looking for a partner for Detroit to help develop new engines and potentially increase sales. Enter John Deere. From what I understand, Deere helped with the development of the 60 Series and was going to supply mid-range diesels to GM for Chevy and GMC medium duty trucks. A very limited number of Deere diesels were installed in GM medium trucks sometime around 1986, and the 1990 Kodiak and Topkick were being designed to use Deere diesels as well. Deere was to use the 60 Series in their largest tractors and construction machinery.
The 60 Series went on sale in late 1986, and eventually became the most popular heavy duty diesel by the late 1990's. The Deere partnership, for some unknown reason, never got off the ground. After the handful of Deere powered GM mediums were built the option was dropped and the 1990 Kodiak and Topkick were introduced in late 1989 with the new Caterpillar 3116 diesel.
Too bad it didn't work out, I think it could have been beneficial to both GM and Deere.