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General controls / Caterpillar C32 Torque limiting
« Last post by Mike AA on June 11, 2026, 03:32:39 PM »I am trying to find a solution to a problem we have been fighting for a while. We have 4 Caterpillar C32 engines connected to a 4 input 1 output gearbox. While running the engines all load up randomly. Some times if we are trenching in hard ground or just hard materials we can get all the engines to load up to 100%. If we are in solfter easier to trench ground we get the random loading. I have a program running that has 1 primary throttle knob and 4 individual throttle/tuning knobs. The main throttle will go idle to full throttle and the individual throttles start at 100%. While runing the operator will turn down the throttle on any engine that is showing loaded more than others or a higher EGT. This somewhat works but we want to automate the tuning, I tried a few different programs and had another guy we hired who had some Guide experience and we struggled and didn't get that to work, I think it was most likely related to not being able to tune the PID well engough. We went back to the individual knobs.
I am now messing with limiting the torque of the engines to prevent them from using max torque and damaging the gearbox. Here is where I really am looking for the help, using TSC1 on the canbus for controlling the engine speed, I am sending 700-2000 rpm via SPN898 and can throttle up the engines no issue. I then started messing with the Torque limit, SPN518 recently to see if I could limit the torque that way. I installed the program on 4 engines and loaded up then dialed the torque down to 50% and saw loads still higher than 50% but I don't really know if the LOAD, EEC2_x1, SPN 92, is original engine percent load or the reduced torque engine load. I changed EngOvrRdCtrlMode - SPN 695, I normally run set as 1 but changed to 2 to see if I could change the torque but lost all throttle control.
Has anyone done any engine torque limiting on caterpillar engines? I know there will be questions please ask away as I need to figure this out.
I am now messing with limiting the torque of the engines to prevent them from using max torque and damaging the gearbox. Here is where I really am looking for the help, using TSC1 on the canbus for controlling the engine speed, I am sending 700-2000 rpm via SPN898 and can throttle up the engines no issue. I then started messing with the Torque limit, SPN518 recently to see if I could limit the torque that way. I installed the program on 4 engines and loaded up then dialed the torque down to 50% and saw loads still higher than 50% but I don't really know if the LOAD, EEC2_x1, SPN 92, is original engine percent load or the reduced torque engine load. I changed EngOvrRdCtrlMode - SPN 695, I normally run set as 1 but changed to 2 to see if I could change the torque but lost all throttle control.
Has anyone done any engine torque limiting on caterpillar engines? I know there will be questions please ask away as I need to figure this out.
