What's the Best Farm Truck to Haul my Tractor and Cattle with?

[Tractorable]

I did a search on Autotrader and got 35 results of 2011-2012 Ford Super Duty’s with the 6.2L motor in the $5-10K range. They’d be much newer and plenty capable of doing what you want to do. The 6.2L is a very good long lasting motor.

 

[farm boy00]

I would check on the axle ratio and see what you have now. That might give you the biggest single improvement toward upping your GCWR.
Without check the specs to verify things, I'm not sure the GM 8.1 came with an Allison.




K&N. Not a lot to be gained, especially dealing with Ford computers and hardware.

Was not talking about k&n. There is an actual mod to help open up the air flow in the breather tubes. O dont remember what it was fully, so Google is the best bet

 

[gary49]

Looking to buy a truck, I'm thinking 3/4 ton or 1 ton.

Truck needs to be dependable, easy to work on and maintain (by myself) and cheap to work on.

Basically a good old farm truck, I need it to haul 7500-10k safely.

I had my eye on a 92 4x4 flatbed F250 with 7.3 IDI with 118k miles

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My current truck is a 81 F150 with 4.9 strait 6 with 128k miles, it's been a super dependable truck, starts right up and most I pulled was 5200lbs on the bumper a few times hauling round bales on a tandem 18ft 10k trailer which it handled like a champ accelerating lol i wasn't stopping in a hurry. I don't plan to go more with it but my tractor and trailer combo is around 7900lbs plus gear and attachments.

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I also will like to note I own an 85 F350 4x4 dully dump truck which I have been going back and forth about setting up to pull with, it's got a 460 v8 and is manual but the cab has been changed to a 93 XLT and the previous owner didn't hook the emergency break up, half the lights don't work and gas tank leaks. Also no hitch.

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I bought it as a project/ to make money on and so far got it running good, new calipers, shoes and rubber break lines on the front and will be tackling a rear steel break line leak and gas tank next (when the weather breaks). It has unknown miles prob close to 275-300k (which is a concern) and was used to push snow so it's had a hard life (another big concern for safely pulling). I was gonna haul gravel for my driveway with it and send it down the road being I don't need a dump truck often. I have part concrete drive and wanted to use a 1 ton so I wouldn't bust up my driveway or I would have a big truck haul gravel for me, instead of a bunch of small trips.

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I also thought about upgrading my 81 F150 with a class 4 (7500lb) or 5 (10k) hitch, break controller and trailer hook ups since currently it has non of that, no trailer light hook ups at all, but I can do all that for less than $300 but at the end of the day I can't haul my tractor, I can haul more on the trailer though being it had breaks on both axles, the 4.9 had no probs pulling 5200lbs, stopping was the main concern. My next concern will be burning up the automatic tranny in the truck.

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Note: pulling on mainly flat ground 1-50 miles one way mostly.

So if you guys or gals have a old truck you beat up everyday and it keeps asking for more, let me know. I'm trying to expand my cattle endeavor and am quickly out growing my current equipment.

Luckily I bought as big of a tractor I did, trucks are much cheaper to upgrade lol.

And doesn't have to be Ford, I have just owned a lot of them and had good luck with them. When a good deal comes along, usually it's a Ford for me anyway lol

You could look for an old medium duty truck. My brother has a 1986 International S 1600 which has a steel gooseneck equipped body, 6.9 IDI diesel, 5 speed with a 2 speed rear end and air brakes and that would haul your trailer just fine, maybe not real fast, but it would stop it a lot better than a pickup. I think he paid $4000 for it.

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

You could look for an old medium duty truck. My brother has a 1986 International S 1600 which has a steel gooseneck equipped body, 6.9 IDI diesel, 5 speed with a 2 speed rear end and air brakes and that would haul your trailer just fine, maybe not real fast, but it would stop it a lot better than a pickup. I think he paid $4000 for it.

I have thought about going that route. My issue is that 14k load will only be a few times a year. Prob with going medium duty is, for regular chores, not as convenient.

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

I did a search on Autotrader and got 35 results of 2011-2012 Ford Super Duty’s with the 6.2L motor in the $5-10K range. They’d be much newer and plenty capable of doing what you want to do. The 6.2L is a very good long lasting motor.

It looks like now the consensus is to build up my F350. I have $1800 in the truck, I can throw a grand in the engine, grand in trans and $500 for gooseneck and have a mean pulling truck for under $5000. Prob will be under $4000 but who knows.

Biggest thing is upgrading the E4OD, bigger cooler, deep pan, temp gauge, possibly punisher valve body (what SVT lightning guys use) for better shifts. Etc.

Engine maybe headers and exhaust, better intake, cooler plugs, bigger wires etc. MAYBE towing cam, but prob won’t take it that far.

 

[sd455dan]

It looks like now the consensus is to build up my F350. I have $1800 in the truck, I can throw a grand in the engine, grand in trans and $500 for gooseneck and have a mean pulling truck for under $5000. Prob will be under $4000 but who knows.

Biggest thing is upgrading the E4OD, bigger cooler, deep pan, temp gauge, possibly punisher valve body (what SVT lightning guys use) for better shifts. Etc.

Engine maybe headers and exhaust, better intake, cooler plugs, bigger wires etc. MAYBE towing cam, but prob won稚 take it that far.

I like your plan to build the 460...

A caveat for some about the Ford 6.2 gas engine is when hauling heavy on long hills.

The engines are not stump pullers with much low end torque like your 460 Ford.

Not uncommon to have to have 6.2 pinned at ~4500 RPM the whole way up a hill to keep the engine near torque peak. Very different (feeling) than pulling a hill with a 454,455,460 or a diesel making peak torque at a much lower RPM.

A stock 460 made its HP peak at about the 6.2's torque peak.

A few mods and that 460 will make a great trailer puller No replacement for displacement:thumbsup:

 

[crashz]

Ditto. I think you can make the 95 work. If I were you I'd invest the most money in the trans and leave the rest pretty much stock. That generation is a strong truck except for that EOD. Also a lot will depend on your trailer choice. A nice new gooseneck trailer with new brakes will tow great.