The Next Generation Detroit Diesel DD13

Daimler’s truck division has taken the wraps off the Detroit Diesel DD13, the second of what will become a four-displacement family of the Heavy Duty Engine Platform (HDEP).

The HDEP family will include 10.6-, 12.8-, 14.8- and 15.6-liter displacements eventually. The latter three are to have tentative availability in NAFTA countries, the two smaller ones are earmarked for Europe and Japan, while making all four available in North America is under discussion. The 12-8 liter version will launch in North America — first in Sterling, then in Freightliner, and finally Western Star before 2010. The DD13 will replace the MBE4000, obsolete in January 2010 due to emissions concerns.

Last fall’s launch of the DD13 12.8-liter complement to the DD15 is shorter, lighter, and provides 350-450 horsepower and 1,350-1,650 foot pounds of torque. With its new block, head rods, and rotating parts, it is 400 pounds lighter than the DD15 and is meant for the vocational and bulk-operator segments of the trucking jobs market. Its single-stage asymmetric turbocharger saves weight and boosts power, but the DD13 will lack this refinement during the first production runs. The back of the rig has a rear-mounted power take off (REPTO), often required for training truck drivers in the use of specialized equipment on ready-mix and vacuum trucks. A front end PTO (FEPTO) offers similar training opportunities.

The 12.8-liter DD13 is smaller overall than the DD15, with a lighter weight of 2,220 pounds, but it is robust enough to offer a B50 life of 1,000,000 miles. Otherwise, it has about 65 percent of its parts in common with the DD15 and closely resembles it in appearance. For example, the DD13 has built-up hollow camshafts that are rear-mounted to power REPTOs.

Company officials say the DD13 also uses the Amplified Common Rail Fuel System (ACRS), which helps a truck make it up and down hills with fewer shifts and more power, while saving fuel at the same time. In the same spirit of conservation, the ACRS eliminates costly fuel leaks.

By design, the engine needs oil and filter changes only every 50,000 miles. Because of its close similarities with the DD15, most DD13 service parts are already at the dealers; technician training requires only an Internet-based update during the five-day DD15 course.

The DD13’s main components have a global pedigree — the CGI (computer-generated image) heads are made at the Mercedes-Benz foundry in Mannheim, Germany, and the cast-iron block castings are fabricated at a South African foundry. The connecting rods, engine dress, and machining of heads and blocks will be done on DDC’s assembly line in Redford MI.