1991 Ward 5.9 ?

[JimboWard]

Photo of what I was told is a 5.9 and Cadillac suggested its a 7.6 so here is a photo I just took

[cadillackid]

Originally Posted by JimboWard

Photo of what I was told is a 5.9 and Cadillac suggested its a 7.6 so here is a photo I just took

that sure looks like a 5.9 Cummins indeed! good ole 6BT workhorse!

[JimboWard]

That’s what I was hoping . Just crawled under to see if a tag could be found on the transmission and so much grease ! Man I have some cleaning to do ( so my OCD whispered in my ear )

[Booyah45828]

That's a 6bt.

Ward senators were on an IH chassis, which would normally have had a dt466. Apparently yours bucked the norm, or someone installed a 6bt in place of a dt466.

[JimboWard]

Originally Posted by Booyah45828

That's a 6bt.

Ward senators were on an IH chassis, which would normally have had a dt466. Apparently yours bucked the norm, or someone installed a 6bt in place of a dt466.

My research / understanding that was back around 91 Ward had chassis delivery problems and for better than 6 months they used the Crane Crawler . That being said , I found a site where I entered my VIN # and it showed the bus had a Crane Crawler platform.
If I sound confused . There is a reason for it ….. ha

[Booyah45828]

Most likely crane carrier, not crane crawler.

Crane carrier was a chassis builder south of cleveland. They primarily made cement mixers and garbage trucks, but they did make bus chassis for carpenter and wayne. I don't think any wards had them, as ward was owned partly or in whole by navistar itself. So I'm not aware of any Wards that are not on an IH chassis, but it's a possibility.

[cadillackid]

interesting I never knew ward to use crane.. i remember there were some Waynbe Lifestars and maybe carpenter FE's.. I also have seen quite a few carpenter FE's with detroit 8.2 fuel pinchers indicating some type of GMC chassis


then again like I mentioned before about the time I think iove figured out all the body / chassis combos something else unique comes along!

[Booyah45828]

Right?!

I thought ward was owned partly or wholy by navistar in the 90's, so it'd make no sense for them to purchase a competitor's chassis. But if there were supply problems, keep the production line going is the name of the game, so they might have used whoever was available.

I'm not sure if a navistar product ever had a cummins engine. It's hard to remember who was with who concerning Case, Cummins, IH, and Navistar in the 80's and 90's. Let alone all of the subsidiaries of those corporations, like ward/amtran.

[cadillackid]

At some point Navistar must’ve used Cummins. In my service manual (1990) it has dip switch settings for the flywheel (tachometer) mentioning Cummins. Doesn’t say what engine just mentions a Cummins switch setting.

[JimboWard]

Originally Posted by Booyah45828

Most likely crane carrier, not crane crawler.

Crane carrier was a chassis builder south of cleveland. They primarily made cement mixers and garbage trucks, but they did make bus chassis for carpenter and wayne. I don't think any wards had them, as ward was owned partly or in whole by navistar itself. So I'm not aware of any Wards that are not on an IH chassis, but it's a possibility.

Here’s what I’m going with .
A person I liked on facebook named Gregory piped in immediately when I posted my Ward photos and said it was on a Crane Crawler chassis as he had worked on many of them back in the day . Wikipedia says the 1991 was on the Navistar International and if you know anything about Wikipedia , any Joe Blow can write whatever they want to I take that with a grain of salt.
Now , here’s the kicker ….. when I did a VIN build check it came up “ Crane Crawler “ with that being the only info they would give me without paying for a lifetime of vehicle checks.
Can you see my confusion ?

[Booyah45828]

Right on about wikipedia.

But my info came from my head.

It wasn't crane that was based south of cleveland, but kimble. Kimble made cement mixers too. They were competitors that merged 10 or so years ago. And then crane was relocated to ohio. The company was definitely crane carrier. IDK where the crawler name is coming from. You'd have to ask your facebook friend.

Ward went bankrupt, and rebranded itself as amtran, which was then bought by Navistar, making amtran/ward a subsidiary of navistar. So it's odd that a subsidiary of navistar would purchase chassis built by a competitor of navistar.

[EastCoastCB]

Yeah some Genesis/Ward are 5.9's.
I was blown away when I first learned of that. Guy was selling a 90 or 91 and I totally thought he didn't know what engine he had. Then he sent me a pic and told me about how they didn't always have IHC chassis.

[Booyah45828]

Well, do a little search, and you'll be amazed by what you find.

https://www.skoolie.net/forums/f6/su...bus-17233.html

Anybody know where Cowlitz has been?

[EastCoastCB]

That's the thread!
Haven't seen Cowlitz on here in a little while. But he knows buses for sure!

[LargeMargeInBaja]

Those rocker-boxes are identical to our fleet of mid-year -- 1996-98 -- Dodge pick-up trucks.

[PhilipE]

Thats a 5.9 cummins. It has a VE injection pump with an after cooler on it.

That injection pump makes better power in the lower RPM band than a piss pump does.

Edit:

Engine HP I bet is set for 180. There is a metal tag in front of the injection pump on the side of the timing cover. That tag lists all info on the engine. Governor is most likely set for 2800 RPM. Engine starts to defuel at 2450 RPM. Your trans will be a 545 Allison. So turning up the fueling will only shorten its life span. If you do want to turn it up. Go threw some of the Dodge based websites for 1st gen cummins powered trucks. Year range 89 to 93.

Also look up KDP (killer dowel pin). It is an issue with the early 5.9's. Loose bolts in the timing cover and loose camshaft retainer bolts is also a problem. Those can lead into a very expensive repair bill if you are not capable of doing it.