Walked into an old fleet shop in Ohio last week and felt like I time traveled

I was picking up a used air compressor from a retiring mechanic near Dayton. He still had a 1970s era Cummins NTC 350 on a stand covered in grime, the block was cracked but he knew every inch of it. Made me realize how much of this trade is gone now, nobody schools you on those mechanical injectors anymore. Any of you guys still work on old NTCs or are they all just museum pieces now?

3 comments

3 Comments

wyatt5215d ago

Tell that old timer to start a YouTube channel. Be ten times more useful than half the "diesel influencers" out there flexing their fancy tools. I'd watch a guy teaching how to rebuild an NTC 350 over some kid showing off his Snap-On box any day. Those mechanical injectors are a lost art, but they're simpler than people think.

margareth4815d ago

Yeah that hurts to hear. Those old timers are walking history books.

ben66215d ago

Watch how fast things change when those guys are gone too. My neighbor was a machinist for 40 years and he could fix anything with a file and a steady hand. Wyatts right about the NTC 350 rebuilds, those trucks are still on the road because guys like that kept them going with nothing but feel and experience. Its the same pattern everywhere you look, mechanics, farmers, old school plumbers. Once that knowledge walks out the door it aint coming back.