InfraStructures - September 2013 - JCB Adds a Six Cylinder Engine to the Dieselmax Range

JCB Adds a Six Cylinder Engine to the Dieselmax Range

JCB recently announced plans to begin production of six cylinder engines with the addition of the JCB Dieselmax 672 to its world beating engine line-up.

In just over eight years JCB has gone from a new entrant to engine manufacturing to a major global producer with a reputation for fuel efficiency and innovation. The first engine rolled off the production line in the UK in November 2004 and since then, production has also extended to JCB India’s HQ at Ballabgarh, where the first engine was manufactured in 2011. To date more than 250,000 engines have been produced globally.

The introduction of the new six cylinder engine represents an investment of around $75 million and by the time it goes into full production, its launch will have created more than 50 new jobs.

The JCB Dieselmax 672 is based on the company’s successful four-cylinder 4.8 l Dieselmax engine, with a high degree of parts commonality across the two engine platforms. In production for more than eight years, with many engines running reliably after more than 20,000 hours of service around the world, the Dieselmax engine features electronic control, Delphi common rail fuel injection and fixed geometry turbocharging.

Initially the Dieselmax 672 will be produced to meet Stage II emissions standards, for growth markets including Russia, Brazil and China. The engine will be seen first in JCB’s JS360 crawler excavator for those territories, but will be used in additional machines as time progresses.

The six cylinder engine will be offered with ratings of 188 hp, 221 hp, 255 hp and with a maximum output of 302 hp. Maximum torque is an impressive 885 ft lb. More impressive still, JCB has managed to produce an incredibly efficient engine in the Dieselmax 672, promising up to an 8% increase in fuel efficiency compared to previous engines in the JS excavator line.

The six-cylinder engines will be built on a dedicated line at JCB Power Systems’ modern purpose-built facility in Foston, Derbyshire, UK. In development for more than two years, the engines have already completed more than 50,000 hours of testing, 30,000 of which have been in machines working in the field.

In 2006, two four-cylinder Dieselmax engines successfully powered JCB’s record-breaking Dieselmax car to a world land speed record of 350mph on the Salt Flats of Bonneville, Utah. The engineering expertise involved in that successful record attempt has been invested in the development of this latest highly efficient addition to the JCB engine family.

Source: JCB