Power unit

[HPPDRoss]

I got an opportunity to purchase one of three power units for my circle mill. A U6 International, LAE Case, and a 371 detroit. Can yall more experienced sawyers give me your input on them. This is not a production mill. I mainly just use it some on the weekends.

[jason.weir]

purely on fuel economy alone - I'd go with the Detroit 3-71 - the other 2 will be gas hogs

DD 3-71 is a 3 cyl 213 CID diesel 2 stroke - around 100hp depending on injectors\turbo, etc..
IH U6 is I believe 4 cyl 248 CID gas - no idea of hp but guess its 30-40
Case LAE is a huge 4 cyl 403 CID gas - 60-70hp & 5 gals of gas per hour - ouch

I've got a 3-71 I bought from forum member JSNH - working on hooking it to my Lane shingle mill now.



I had an LAE for a while



Never got around to use it - sold it to Ralph Bradley in Woodstock NH - he had a couple - one running his circle mill

here is some more info on the LAE

Case VAE Powerplant in Sawmills and Milling

[starmac]

I have an idea parts availability will be better down the road for the detroit too.
Are you sure that that is a 371, and not a 353?

[HPPDRoss]

Its definitely a 3-71, Ive got a 671 on the mill right now but it is out of a truck and doesnt have the proper governor on it and it loses rpm's terrible and wont pick back up fast enough. 

[jason.weir]

Ive got a 671 on the mill right now but it is out of a truck and doesnt have the proper governor on it and it loses rpm's terrible and wont pick back up fast enough.

Well that changes things in my mind - If your otherwise happy with the 6-71 I'd look for the correct governor for it - I've got the service manual here and I believe it describes the differences.  If so, I'll scan the pages and post them..

[HPPDRoss]

Those governors are high $, at least the ones I looked at are. Plus the truck is slobbering oil out the exhaust pretty bad so I was just gonna get one of these power units and pull the truck to the side.

[Gearbox]

I run  50 inch circle mill with a 3 71 . 8 inch flat belt and that isn't enough belt for the power . Vee belts is the way to go at least 4 belts .

[HPPDRoss]

The way mine is set up right now is a driveshaft coming from the semi-truck to another shaft which is anchored in the ground. I've got 5V pulleys and belts. It doesn't slip a bit.

[Dave Shepard]

Detroit for fuel economy, power, and parts availability. 

[Peter Drouin]

Do you have pix of the shingle mill? jason.weir.

[jason.weir]

Do you have pix of the shingle mill? jason.weir.

I can do one better - how about a video..

Lane Shingle Mill - YouTube

Please don't give me too much grief about walking over the pto shaft.. I do know better.

Jason

[bandmiller2]

Jason, is John doing much with my old Chase shingle mill.?? I found cutting shingles gets boring fast. Frank C.

[thecfarm]

I only put shingles on once. Kinda the same way as cutting them. You work 3 hours and the work pile is not all that much.

[moodnacreek]

The 3-71 is a well loved sawmill unit just like the 4-71.

[jason.weir]

Jason, is John doing much with my old Chase shingle mill.?? I found cutting shingles gets boring fast. Frank C.

No idea Frank - haven't talked to him in a while.

I do enjoy running the mill - its all the prep, cleanup, bundling & install that I could do without.

I need to cut about 100 bundles for what I need here & at my folks house.  Got some pine & hemlock that's way too big for the mill that I'm gonna cut into 6, 8, & 10" slabs first..

Kinda got off topic here - I'll start another post when I get going..

[bandmiller2]

Rossy, Honea Path doesn't sound like a big town but if you have a fire dept. mechanic ask him about Detroit's as they were very common in the fire service. The two cycle diesels are going the way of the   Do-Do bird, on the highways, due to emissions. Its very common for towns to have fire apparatus refurbished and repowered. Businesses that do this work are a good source for used parts, engines and information. Ask your fire chief, who in you area, does this work. Older fire trucks with Detroit's just used a throttle cable to a limiting speed governor but some of the newer ones have a governor to hold engine speed and pump pressure. Frank C. 

[HPPDRoss]

Can the governor just be changed to a variable speed style like the power units have? Unbolt one and install the other or is there more involved? Looks like there are several different styles of governors for these engines. I just know as it sits right now, It aint gone work.

[moodnacreek]

Worst case scenario would be a belt driven Pierce or hoof governor.

[bandmiller2]

I have never swapped governors on a Detroit but I know it can be done. Depending which engine the variable speed governor comes from it may require different weight springs and probably a complete governor adjustment per manual. Many times you can see a real improvement with a tune up, running the rack and injector timing especially in older engines. Frank C.

[HPPDRoss]

On my way home from work, I stopped by the old fellas house that has the Case LAE engine and flashed a little money at him and ended up buying it. It hadn't been run in a while and the engine was actually stuck. He took the plugs out and sprayed some oil down in the cylinders and with a little budge of the hand crank it broke loose. He threw in a few other parts with it so I guess I came out ok.

[Bert]

A limiting speed truck governor on a detroit can be made to work on a mill. Back down the rpm to  where you want it and run the throttle against the governor. The governor will hold it back from overspeed and throttle will pull it back up under load. Just something to consider.