[Terry England]

A 3208N Cat makes like 450 Ft. Lbs of torque at High Idle (2800 rpm) 600 Ft lbs is unbelievable. Anybody who ever rode a two stroke "Observed Trials" dirt bike (Ossa, Penton, JCB, Gas-Gas, Montessa) will tell you with the right port timing you can get a two stroke to pull like a John Deere tractor. The Chinese Husqvarna Chain Saws use a bunch of RPMs to make their HP, Stihl chain saws turn much slower and make Hp/torque at a much lower RPM because of different port timing. That's why you see them on the lawn service guy's trucks so much. Any reciprocating engine only has so many "Frams" in it, there is no sense in using them up at the rate of 6,000 a minute, if they got one that make buckets of torque at 3500 RPMs! Torque is what I think turns propellers well, not necessarily Horse Power if it is made at 6000 RPMs and then run through a reduction gear to get the shaft speed down to a manageable band width to turn a propeller efficiently. Gillie will tell you that there is a tugboat in the San Francisco Maritime Museum that is 100' long and pulled log rafts down the coast for Oregon to build California. These log rafts were 100' wide and 600' long and the Hercules dragged them down the Pacific coast for decades with a triple expansion Steam Engine that made 400 Hp. But it made it a 400 rpm's. That son, is what is known as TORQUE!