Medium Duty Truck

[4570Man]

That's what I wish I could tell the insurance companies directly......."you should be giving me a discount because I'm driving a safer truck with better brakes and more stability."

?

It probably wouldn’t make any difference but if I was hassled over the medium duty I would tell them that. And RVs being exempt is stupid too.

 

[Hay Dude]

The medium duty痴 with a non locker diff and hard highway tires off-road like a ship. But a 3500 pulling a 10 ton load isn稚 much for off-roading either. I致e never liked off off road with a heavy load on a ton truck either. It痴 beyond hard on them.

Yeah but one of the nice things about my 550 is the 4WD- so commonplace on the 450/550 4500/5500 trucks. There's a scant few class 7 & 8 trucks with 4WD and they are extremely expensive to fix. I had a IH4800 4WD and it was more upkeep than I liked paying for. I frequently use my 550 off road pulling a trailer. In fact, all my loads of hay are loaded in the field and trucked off the field to the pavement and sometimes the field has snow, mud. A medium or heavy duty would be stuck-even with a rear locker. Been there done that. We end up pushing the trailer from behind with the farm tractor all the way to the pavement.
Now the OP may not have a need for off road capability. But my 550 with 4WD has saved my *** over and over again. Especially loading hay out of snow covered or muddy fields.

I do think an IH4XXX with a simple diesel manual trans set up and a flat bed with a ball, especially with air brakes would make a nice hauler IF you pretty much live on pavement, don't go off road, AND drive mostly flat ground. Put a trailer behind a 200-250 horse 4900 with a heavy trailer and climb a long steep hill...... You'll be doing 30mph at the top with the pedal to the metal and a 65MPH running start at the bottom. BUT they are relatively cheap, easy to fix and run a long time, tires last forever and they're pretty cheap ti insure.
Gotta remember the CDL if you're going over 26K and youll have to get used to cops looking at you very closely in some areas.

 

[Charlie175]

Thanks all
This would be a tractor puller toter. I do antique pulls around VA. This are all on roads with some fields where the pull is. I would have to think about the lack of 4wd but I can't remember any other trucks having issues.

 

[LouNY]

They don't look the prettiest but a few of the smaller class pullers around here are running the modified school buses.
Cut out the middle of the bus move the rear up to meet, make a flatbed on the rear with a beaver tail.
I've them with farm tags, RV tags and commercial plates.
some looked good and had been nicely equipped in the bus section as an RV.

 

[Hay Dude]

Thanks all
This would be a tractor puller toter. I do antique pulls around VA. This are all on roads with some fields where the pull is. I would have to think about the lack of 4wd but I can't remember any other trucks having issues.

You would be fine with what you originally proposed if that’s what you’re application is.
I would suggest you try for 250HP or more and make sure you check the rear axle ratio. 4.88 is about the highest you’d want to go if you want to do 65-70 without screaming against the governor. Mine has higher gears and top speed is like 67 even with tall rubber

 

[Charlie175]

I sometimes see IH 8100 series come up for sale, these have the bigger motors. I am just not hot on the looks.
Kicked my butt for not looking at a Kodiak locally that had a L10 in it. That would have been a horse.

OK, thanks for the info. Will remember about the ratio's. How do I tell if the rear has lockers? Do they normally list/note this? Is it common to have this option?

I love the 70's IH cab overs (without the sleeper). Hard finding those.
Our Ford C700 is a neat design that used to be very common, now I rarely see these.

 

[ededic]

It is Socialist Canada!!!!
Very easy to understand!
A requirement/rule/law/limitation/inspection/duty/tax, for ...EVERYTHING!!!

He said the insurance company called not the government.

 

[3Ts]

It probably wouldn’t make any difference but if I was hassled over the medium duty I would tell them that. And RVs being exempt is stupid too.

I agree, but it's all about lobbying and money.

 

[Hay Dude]

I sometimes see IH 8100 series come up for sale, these have the bigger motors. I am just not hot on the looks.
Kicked my butt for not looking at a Kodiak locally that had a L10 in it. That would have been a horse.

OK, thanks for the info. Will remember about the ratio's. How do I tell if the rear has lockers? Do they normally list/note this? Is it common to have this option?

I love the 70's IH cab overs (without the sleeper). Hard finding those.
Our Ford C700 is a neat design that used to be very common, now I rarely see these.

There’s a number of ways to tell.
1. If the truck has a line setting ticket (build sheet) it will say so.
A. If the truck line set ticket is unavailable, sometimes you can call a local dealer and they will email you a build sheet.
2. If the truck has a switch for “rear locker”, you can lock the rear from the cab
3. If you have none of the above, you can jack up the rear of the truck and turn the back wheels, or
4. you can test the truck of mud, simulating a slip. If you feel a “thuk” sound and the truck walks out it has a limited slip of locker. The trucks rear will probably “slide” to one side when both wheels are locked together if it’s really on slippery ground. Mine will lock and the rear end will begin to swing out if you’re not careful.

By your description, I’d look for something with an 8.3L Cummin(g)s or a IH DT-466/530/570.

 

[4570Man]

Hardly any of the single axels have lockers on the rear. It would definitely be a benefit if it did. I disagree with the higher gears especially with a limited motor. My Topkick is wound out to cruise 60 but it would be junk if it was lacking the low end grunt. Also keep in mind a 4.88 gear ratio is pretty high combined with the big tires. A lot higher than a pickup would be with the same gear. A trans with more gears would be a lot better.

 

[4570Man]

A Ford L8000 is not a medium duty truck.
I wonder how some of the older GMC/Chevy Low-Pros would serve you.

33,001 pounds and higher is the technical cutoff for medium duty and they become heavy duty/class8 then. The Ford 8000 single axels are right along that line but as far as I’m concerned all single axels are medium duty.

 

[Hay Dude]

Hardly any of the single axels have lockers on the rear. It would definitely be a benefit if it did. I disagree with the higher gears especially with a limited motor. My Topkick is wound out to cruise 60 but it would be junk if it was lacking the low end grunt. Also keep in mind a 4.88 gear ratio is pretty high combined with the big tires. A lot higher than a pickup would be with the same gear. A trans with more gears would be a lot better.

Depends on engine torque and transmission. A low hole 1st gear and/or 800ftlbs will overcome numerically low gears.
I had 5.38 in my 4800. It would walk out of anything in 1st (7 speed), but when I was running loads up/down the bypass topped out at 60, I wished I had 4.88. My tri axle had even lower gears numerically, but with an N-14, it would do anything loaded and off road.
Sounds like the OP is hauling show equipment to equipment shows & dealers which would probably mean highway travel. He will not need low grunt for lighter trailers on non-vocational work.

I see lots of single axles with limited slips. Not a true “locker”, but certainly better than an open rear.
My single axle is tagged at 35,000lbs. That puts me in class 8 territory along with all the taxes, fees and BS.
I do agree a lot of single axles are in the 26-33k range which is the upper end of MD.

 

[4570Man]

Depends on engine torque and transmission. A low hole 1st gear and 300HP will overcome numerically low gears.

Having a 300 horse diesel in a medium duty is exceedingly rare. Having a transmission with enough gears is also rare. But if you had a trans with enough gears that were properly matched the rear end gears wouldn’t matter.

 

[Hay Dude]

Having a 300 horse diesel in a medium duty is exceedingly rare. Having a transmission with enough gears is also rare. But if you had a trans with enough gears that were properly matched the rear end gears wouldn’t matter.

Depends on how good you are with a fuel screw and a few other things.:laughing:
I did want to mention I meant 800 ft lbs instead of 300HP, so I changed it.
Point is, torque and lo hole transmission can make up for highway gears, especially for the OPs truck duties.
A tri can pull out of a quarry with 20 ton and highway gears because it has a lo 1st gear and 1200 ft lbs. A much lighter single axle with 800tq or a guy with a screwdriver and a little knowledge can make a mechanical diesel pump considerably more powerful.
He doesn’t need to worry about it because he’s not vocational. Go 250+ and no higher than 5.13s and you’ll have a nice highway puller. He won’t like a 210 HP, 6.14 donkey dump chassis for what he’s doing.

 

[Charlie175]

I figure a 14k trailer would be easy for a MD truck.
I have a hard time finding the EW of trucks. I assume most of these weigh around 10k?

 

[4570Man]

I figure a 14k trailer would be easy for a MD truck.
I have a hard time finding the EW of trucks. I assume most of these weigh around 10k?

My gas Topkick weighs 12k. If you don’t have a dump bed you might get the weight down to 10 but I doubt it. A medium duty wasn’t built for speed but they’ll handle 15k of trailer like it wasn’t even there.

 

[waycoolmarine]

i like my medium duty 2004 ford f 650 has 24,000 miles on it 300 hp 800foot pounds torque cat / allison air ride air brakes . insured by state farm as personal truck - cheaper than my 2011 chevy / duramax 3/4 ton and i store it 6 months a year so its cheap to own and yes i do tow tractors behind it.

 

[Hay Dude]

View attachment 640024 i like my medium duty 2004 ford f 650 has 24,000 miles on it 300 hp 800foot pounds torque cat / allison air ride air brakes . insured by state farm as personal truck - cheaper than my 2011 chevy / duramax 3/4 ton and i store it 6 months a year so its cheap to own and yes i do tow tractors behind it.

300/800 is a pleasure to drive. Not a lot of downshifting pulling uphill and not a lot of sweating going down the other side. Air brakes are worth their weight in gold. I remember times when I was a little overloaded and air brakes will really stop you

 

[Paystar]

Nice truck waycoolmarine. Got the right motor too.

 

[Hay Dude]

I like an 8.3L Cummins in the bigger class 7 and smaller class 8 trucks. They really snort.
You get more displacement than the 7.2L CAT and the DT466.
The 8.3L Cummins is a very proven Agricultural diesel in Case IH magnum tractors.

All of them are good, just my preference.