Foretravel Owners' Forum For owners and Fans of Foretravel Motorcoaches September 11, 2025 ...

Engine make

September 21, 2011, 05:47:44 pm

Mr. Barry Beam asked me a question that got my curiosity up. He wanted to know what make of motor I had in my 1990 36' G/V with a Oshkosh chassis.  A Cat or Cummins. It happens to be a 3208T cat.
My question Is was there any rhyme or reason to which make of motor F/T used in there Coaches?

Thanks, Mitch Sayer

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Re: Engine make

Reply #1 – September 21, 2011, 08:45:56 pm

Options decided on by the person who ordered it new...

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Re: Engine make

Reply #2 – September 22, 2011, 06:28:35 am

My 91 U225 has a 5.9 Cummins 6BTA with a 4 spd Allison. If it had been a U240 model, it would have come with a 3208T Cat and a 6 spd Allison. It seems to be a case of the higher the model number, the bigger the powerplant. But they didn't start using that system until 1991, I believe.

The 1990 models seem to have a lot of variants, from what I've seen on Barry's website. Could be one of  several engine and trans combinations in your coach.

Steve

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Re: Engine make

Reply #3 – September 22, 2011, 11:31:47 am

It amazing to me especially with the world we live In today.
That they would go to all that expense of offering a customer 3  diffrent  engine  manufactures as an option. I wonder if all the major coach builders offered that kind of choice?

Thanks, Mitch Sayer

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Re: Engine make

Reply #4 – September 22, 2011, 12:05:51 pm

In the vast majority of cases, engine and engine manufacturer were tired to model of coach.

Example was our model year, 1993:

U225  Cummins B
U240  Caterpillar 3116
U280  Cummins C
U300  Detroit Diesel 6V92

No engine choices within a particular model.  The heavier the coach/more expensive the coach, the larger the engine/ more HP.

Brett

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Re: Engine make

Reply #5 – September 22, 2011, 12:19:03 pm

the U225 was the entry level coach and the U240 was a step up, and so on.

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Re: Engine make

Reply #6 – September 22, 2011, 02:45:36 pm

Makes sense, Thanks

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Reply #7 – September 22, 2011, 03:17:14 pm

In 94 and 95 on the U300 you could spec a 6V92 or a Cat 3176, with Jake or Trans retarder.
In 95 and 96 - even on a 97 or two on the U320 you could spec an M11 400 or a 3176.
After that, it was ALL Cummins ALL the time...

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