Cummins Mid America

Cummins Mid America ENERGY Miscellaneous 14-5-15 "We've seen a lot of interest in repowering certain Versatile tractors as well as pickups used for heavy hauling over long distances," says Jerry Smith of Cummins Mid-America, a Cummins distributor headquartered in Wichita, Kan. In addition to farm machinery the big Mid-America engined istributor has repowered huge fleets of bread trucks and other daily use vehicles that require heavy-duty reliable power. Smith says one employee does nothing but repower conversions. "It can get very complicated. I don't know of any tractor that can't be converted but it's time-consuming and expensive because there's always a lot to figure out in matching engines to different transmissions and engine mounts. Most of the interest is for good tractors that have bad or worn-out engines and for pickups that get an extraodinary amount of use." Versatile 145 and 700 models, with their V-8 504 and 555 engines have been popular conversions. Smith says the owners don't want to give up the tractors but the engines need replacing. Mid-America equips the tractors with B and C-series 6-cyl. engines ranging from 5.9L to 8.3L and at a cost of $10,000 to $11,000 per conversion. "That's not cheap but once it's converted it's almost like a new tractor," notes Smith. The company is willing to look at any conversion but they say people should realize nearly every repower job is complicated, and therefore expensive. Most jobs require new engine mounts, shrouds, vacuum pumps, and other parts as well as special machined parts to match up to existing transmissions and other components. "Everybody wants the engine but few people want to pay the price, or can justify it," says Smith. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Cummins Mid-America, Inc., 5101 North Broadway, P.O. Box 2681, Wichita, Kan. 67201 (oh 316 838-0875).

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