I am in the middle of a repower on a 50 ton GE and am looking for some input from anybody who has a 25, 45 or 50 ton GE with a 855 Cummins upgrade. For the most part it has been pretty straight forward but I have two concerns.

1 the fan on the original HBI 6 engines bolts to an extended water pump. The new nt335 engines do not have provisions for this. However it looks like I may be able to use the old pumps. I will know more on this Monnday. What have others seen? NH250 military pump?

2 the HBI 6 does not have a crank snout or balancer. The NT335 dooes and it interferes with the fan. The small ballancer almost clears but would need notches cut from the fan blades. Any ideas?

There is more to come on this project. I have already re wired the locomotive and plan to do a write up with pictures.

Our 70 ton centercab was repowered with NTC335s years ago. The fan is driven from the crankshaft pulley via a separate bracket and bearing mounted ahead of the engine. I have a full album of photos of this loco but I don't seem to have any closeups of that arrangement. I will see if I can take some.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/33523379@N03/albums/72157645744111458

I appreciate the offer Rick, but that is what our new engines came from so I have all the parts for that setup. However there is not nearly enough room for that setup. I have about 6.5" from the water pump gasket surface to the fan hub, and maybe another 4" to the radiator. It is tight. The radiators in the 65/70 ton are huge compared to the 45/50 ton. I will be taking pictures along the way to show how this goes.

We have a 23 ton GE with an NHC-250 Cummins engine. The problem we ran into was the engine was not supported at the back except by a cast iron bell housing which cracked under the stress..

That 23 ton should be very close to our setup. Would you be able to get me some pictures of the front of the engine. Specifically the fan, water pump, ballancer and their relationship to the radiator?

I would be curious to see where yours cracked. If it has the same generator/bellhousing that this 50 ton has, then I am surprized because it is a very heavy duty, well built part. I do know that back in the day there was a few SAE bellhousings on the 855 that were known to loosen from the engine block and/or crack. Most of those were aluminum castings and in Ford L series trucks.

Attached are photos of out repair of the cracks on the right side.

Nice pictures Rick. Looks like a pretty gloomy day for being outside! Ned

I verified that I can use the original HBI 6 water pump/fan assemblies on the replacement NT855 engines. I have been having major problems getting parts looked up for the 855s. By s/n only certain parts come up. A lot of engine parts must be GE specific on these engines.