Posted by Todd Somers on Saturday, November 15, 2003 at 5:38PM :
In Reply to: Well, sort of posted by Paul(in NY) on Saturday, November 15, 2003 at 8:20AM :
about the smaller diesel gensets. (20kw & below) I thought you were talking 60kw. Before Cummins bought out Onan, all of the small diesel engines were made by Onan in their Huntsville, Alabama plant. These engines were called the "L" series engines, They were designed by Onan. (I know several of the fellows who were on the design team.) This was an exceptionally good engine and it was rugged and trouble free. They were made in several sizes. There was a 3, 4, and a 6 cylinder model. The bore was 3.50" and stroke was 3.62". There was natural aspirated models and turbo charged versions as well. They were designed for generator set use and industrial applications, being available in 1800 rpm and 3600 rpm versions. In addition to gensets they were used to operate pumps and wood chipper units. They were also available in a transportation version, being used in light delivery vehicles. After Cummins bought out Onan and the "L" series engines would no longer meet the clean air standards, along came the Kubota engines. (Kubota owns a large amount of Cummins stock and is therefore a close business partner.) After the Cummins buy out, the Onan engines became the Cummins "A" series engines. These "A" series are smaller than the Cummins "B" series that we are familiar with today. It was just not economical to update / redesign the "A" series to meet the ever increasing air quality standards.
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