IH 4700 lo pro V. Ford F550 question

[QRTRHRS]

I have been looking at the 10 year old IH 4700s with aprox. 140,000 miles online for several years. Never have had a chance to drive one, but would like to get an idea of how they perform. Was wanting to build a tow rig for my gooseneck trailer. The ones I see are as some of you have indicated retired fertilizer rigs. I would install a 11' or 12' flat bed with stake pockets and removable sides. I wonder if you could safely install a flat bed, with hydralic dump feature and gooseneck hitch. Perhaps have goose hitch mounted to frame below a trap door in the flat bed. I would not want to have hitch mounted to the bed unless it was directly bolted to frame. Total trailer weight empty is aprox. 7500lbs with around a 19,000 lb load to be hauled on the trailer. I will be following this topic closely to see how it might work out for those that go the Lo Pro route. I have a 97 F350 with 60,000 miles and also a 97 E-350 225,000 miles. Both 7.3s. They do run for ever, as long as you keep up with fixing them, forever. Actually the only really costly repair was 2 bent valves, 2 bad lifters on the van. New computer on the pick-up. Robert F

I have a trap door on my non dumping flatbed to access the gooseneck ball. I wish mine was a dump and thought about converting it but the bed has the wrong frame rails (too shallow).

The most common dump hydraulics have the ram in the wrong place. I have seen applications with dual rams, one on either side of the bed that may work. You can also go with a front mounted vertical ram that is covered with a box.

My trap door is only about 12"x12". I would go bigger if specing a new bed to allow room for an air bag assisted gooseneck drop tube.

One thing not mentioned so far about medium duty trucks, ie; under CDL. As mentioned, these trucks often as not have low HP rated engines and last a long time. True! But, being non CDL, any yahoo can and often does drive them. Many have had the crap run out of them.

Buying used is always a crapshoot but some signs are an interior that has broken switches and/or excess wear such as a sloppy shifter, worn clutch, bent bumper, etc.

 

[Builder]

I have a trap door on my non dumping flatbed to access the gooseneck ball. I wish mine was a dump and thought about converting it but the bed has the wrong frame rails (too shallow).

The most common dump hydraulics have the ram in the wrong place. I have seen applications with dual rams, one on either side of the bed that may work. You can also go with a front mounted vertical ram that is covered with a box.

My trap door is only about 12"x12". I would go bigger if specing a new bed to allow room for an air bag assisted gooseneck drop tube.

One thing not mentioned so far about medium duty trucks, ie; under CDL. As mentioned, these trucks often as not have low HP rated engines and last a long time. True! But, being non CDL, any yahoo can and often does drive them. Many have had the crap run out of them.

Buying used is always a crapshoot but some signs are an interior that has broken switches and/or excess wear such as a sloppy shifter, worn clutch, bent bumper, etc.

You should be able to get a dumpbed subframe which would raise the deck height of your flat bed. Both subframes should be able to work with a single front cylinder with a doghouse mounted to the head board or a set of twin cylinders that mount outside the frame rails.

Best thing to do is take it to a truck body installer and tell 'em what you want to do. Any experienced fabricator should be able to do it.

Now's the time, because all those shops are slow on work.

 

[QRTRHRS]

You should be able to get a dumpbed subframe which would raise the deck height of your flat bed. Both subframes should be able to work with a single front cylinder with a doghouse mounted to the head board or a set of twin cylinders that mount outside the frame rails.

Best thing to do is take it to a truck body installer and tell 'em what you want to do. Any experienced fabricator should be able to do it.

Now's the time, because all those shops are slow on work.

Buider, I have an Eby body. Eby uses a piece of flat stock about a 1/4 inch thick or so with cross members welded to it for the flatbeds. They step up to a six inch or so deep I beam for the dumps.

I used to live near Tamaqua Frame. I always contemplated having them set me up with a subframe but there always seemed to be more pressing economic issues.

More than likely, my Eby be is gong to end up on top of the neck of my gooseneck dump one of these days for some extra hay hauling capacity.

I saw something unique the other day. The cleanup continues here in Kentucky from the February ice storm. While driving, I saw a stake body pulling a gooseneck dump trailer. The ball was at the back of the stake body rather than over the axle. It was too dark for a closer look. Necessity is the mother of invention I guess.

 

[ScottAR]

My mind is a dangerous place. I keep ending up with two very different paths...

550 size rig with gooseneck trailer and dump trailer...

4700 33,500 etc... and a pintle equipment trailer...

One is more money up front and the other is more money for tags/insurance etc...

My mind is a dangerous place...

 

[chh]

Cannonball beds make a flatbed dump and also make a flatbed dump with the arms for a round bale bed(how I found out about them) that is for 1 ton(450 and 550's also). From what I have seen of it it looks like a neat setup.

Before I bought my current F350 I really looked at the 4700 IH's your talking about. Quite a few of the larger cattlemen and custom haulers in my area use them pulling 40' (and some well over) gooseneck cattle trailers. Standard flatbeds for them are made by J&I manufacturing out of Madill, Ok and available thru them and their dealers. They seem like great trucks, very reliable, and though not blazing fast they have a reputation for getting there at least.

In the long run, I decided I didn't do enough towing to need another truck to maintain(the last week has been a real exception) and ended up the the F350 to replace my old truck. BTW: if you want a new F550 I can give you the name of a dealer with a bunch of them. He does a lot of commercial sales and recently got a batch in, any color as long as you want white.

Good luck on the decision.

 

[ScottAR]

There's a dealer in Memphis that has a couple. Same dealer has some
small bucket trucks that Dad wants to check out so I'll investigate 'em then.

Cheap just might be a quality overcoming several faults.

 

[Builder]

My mind is a dangerous place. I keep ending up with two very different paths...

550 size rig with gooseneck trailer and dump trailer...

4700 33,500 etc... and a pintle equipment trailer...

One is more money up front and the other is more money for tags/insurance etc...

My mind is a dangerous place...

Are you saying a 4700 costs more for tags & insurance?

My 4800 costs hundreds less for insurance than my F-450 did or my GMC3500 does right now. Registration of course, depends on weight. In my state, a 26,000 GCWR 550 would be about $500. My 4800 registered at 60,000 GCWR, is $850. So in my state, it would be about a wash.

 

[ScottAR]

I need to do some more investigating... I haven't checked the insurance angle out yet as
I'm too far from deal making at this time... This year is going to see some changes in my
needs but I'm not sure how it's gonna work out. I'm in somewhat of a holding pattern till
my economic vision improves.

 

[Builder]

I need to do some more investigating... I haven't checked the insurance angle out yet as
I'm too far from deal making at this time... This year is going to see some changes in my
needs but I'm not sure how it's gonna work out. I'm in somewhat of a holding pattern till
my economic vision improves.

That's the way everyone seems to be right now due to the word "CRISIS" being thrown around so much by certain individuals in power.

My work has slowed somewhat.

Good thing I save my money.

 

[chh]

My work has slowed somewhat.

Good thing I save my money.

Good thing you have, I know of some smaller(and some not so small) contractors who are really hurting right now. Financed thru the wazoo, didn't keep the bills current, didn't ease back as work started to slow, ect ect. But it is all somebodies elses fault they are in such a mess.