Medium Duty Rollback???
10-21-2006, 11:11 PM
#16
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Sorry for the hijack
10-22-2006, 12:52 PM
#17
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The company I worked for has 3 International's 4700 with the DT466. 1997, 1999, & 2001. The 99 & 01 have Vulcan 21' steel decks with removeable rails. The 97 is a wrecker. With each truck we have learned a little more each time. They all have manual tans, 6+1. A new Sterling with a JerrDan deck was purchased last year, and in less then a year was "lemon lawed". It did have an Allison 5sp auto, which after driving, I would never go back to stick unless I had too. Been very happy with the Vulcan decks and the IH's. A previous 1994 IH had an aluminum JerrDan, aluminum decks are great, was not too excited about the JerrDan. The Sterling had a JerrDan, and thought that would be better since Oshkosh Truck bought them out. It was a little better, but was not upset when the truck went back. The new replacement, almost ready, 2007 Pete 335 with a Chevron aluminum 21' X102"w/removeable rails. It my opinion the Chevron is one of the best made decks. Vulcan & Century would also be excellent choices, and I would not consider any others. I'm glad the boss is returning to aluminum decks. With hauling so many crashed vehicles, the painted decks look like crap and have to be constanly touched up. With aluminum, if you scratch it, it is still aluminum... One of the best up-grades is to switch to air brakes, and "large" rubber with the "low pro" trucks. The air brakes stop so much better, and when you park, the truck stays "parked". The air-ride suspension is been another major up-grade. The load rides so much better, and so does the driver. With the air suspension, you can dump the air, and the bed height is lowered about 6 inches for loading & un-loading. Also, if the truck is under 26,000 no CDL is required, even if air braked equiped. As for the LED lightbar, yes very nice, and very costly. Size does not matter on a truck compared to the roof of a cruiser. You can buy a quality strobe bar, Tomar or Whelen for a whole lot less, and it will do an excellent job. Yes, the new Pete has a Cummins.
A Ford or Chev will cost less, but in a medium duty, they have very low re-sale. As they say, you get what you pay for. If you plan on keeping the truck for a long time, I would spend the little extra and go with Pete or KW, and then IH, Freightliner M2. These medium trucks also have a shorter turning radius then our Ford F550... This is a very big investment, don't let one salesperson sell you on "something" because they are "close". Find a
company that handles several types of decks, and will put any truck under it. Usually they can sell a truck cheaper then what you can by the cab/chassis
for anyway. I guess we are fortunate that we have an excellent "tow truck" dealer within a 45 minute drive. These are my opinions, and I do not work for a dealer, just a "tow guy" who takes pride in the equipment. Good luck with your new truck.
Jim
A Ford or Chev will cost less, but in a medium duty, they have very low re-sale. As they say, you get what you pay for. If you plan on keeping the truck for a long time, I would spend the little extra and go with Pete or KW, and then IH, Freightliner M2. These medium trucks also have a shorter turning radius then our Ford F550... This is a very big investment, don't let one salesperson sell you on "something" because they are "close". Find a
company that handles several types of decks, and will put any truck under it. Usually they can sell a truck cheaper then what you can by the cab/chassis
for anyway. I guess we are fortunate that we have an excellent "tow truck" dealer within a 45 minute drive. These are my opinions, and I do not work for a dealer, just a "tow guy" who takes pride in the equipment. Good luck with your new truck.
Jim
Thanks
We're still looking right now, not really sure what we're gonna price. Chris
10-22-2006, 01:33 PM
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dont know what youd really need a light bar for but i would stongly advise against tomar. i wont allow anything to be spec'd with one anymore. whelen makes a good product. this is just my opinion due to all the trouble we have had with them as far as expensive to replace burnt out lights and lack of service or sales locations along with other things
brett
brett
10-22-2006, 01:34 PM
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dont know what youd really need a light bar for but i would stongly advise against tomar. i wont allow anything to be spec'd with one anymore. whelen makes a good product. this is just my opinion due to all the trouble we have had with them as far as expensive to replace burnt out lights and lack of service or sales locations along with other things. oh yeah...led are awesome but unless you use it alot or need something low profile, they are alot of money outta the old butt pocket
brett
brett
10-23-2006, 08:31 AM
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Just out of curiosity, what were the issues w/ the 3500HD and what year? The reason that I'm asking is that I'm planning to use a '97 GMC 3500HD chassis under a classic Chevy truck body w/ a 12v Cummins. Just curious what I need to watch out for.
Sorry for the hijack
Sorry for the hijack
What I don't know is what they did to it in the first 31K that we didn't own it! But I'll bet they beat the living snot out of it!Now, that's one bad Chevy in the 15 we have, but man was it a bad one! Dodge's have a worse record than the Chevy's around here...my two are good, but my Uncle's 2000 was the lemon!
Chris
10-23-2006, 08:34 AM
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Sorry, no Fords allowed on our place! I've had waaayyy too many people tell me they won't turn as well as everything else. Not too mention I'm not looking at Cummins in a truck that size. Basically, I'll have a CAT if it's available...but IH uses the DT466, and most of the Chevy's are the 7.8L Duramax/Izuzu.
Gonna call and price 3 trucks at the Chevy dealer today...C6500, C3500, and an 07 Suburban. See if we can get a better package deal
Chris
Gonna call and price 3 trucks at the Chevy dealer today...C6500, C3500, and an 07 Suburban. See if we can get a better package deal
Chris
10-23-2006, 08:36 AM
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dont know what youd really need a light bar for but i would stongly advise against tomar. i wont allow anything to be spec'd with one anymore. whelen makes a good product. this is just my opinion due to all the trouble we have had with them as far as expensive to replace burnt out lights and lack of service or sales locations along with other things
brett
brett
Thanks for the advice though
Chris
10-24-2006, 12:42 AM
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Are you hauling wrecks or just transporting the steel would be better for wrecks stay away from jerr dan or S@#t dan we have a 3 4300 love them just got rid of to both had over 200k on them we have a fl60 wrecker on the way we have two 5500 and i hate them i think they get around 8mpg on the highway
10-24-2006, 07:16 AM
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Transporting Farm machinery...so yes, some of them are "wrecks" 
We've pretty much decided on Aluminum, just because it's not much more money, and it has fared us well! The last bed was a 1984 model, was on 4 trucks, and had about 450K miles of use on it! It had seen it's better days, but we still never had much trouble with it!
Chris
We've pretty much decided on Aluminum, just because it's not much more money, and it has fared us well! The last bed was a 1984 model, was on 4 trucks, and had about 450K miles of use on it! It had seen it's better days, but we still never had much trouble with it!
Chris
10-24-2006, 08:30 AM
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if you guys like leds( like i do) then Sho-Me is where its at. I love the Code3 light bars
here is my truck I use at work everyday
http://www.showandperformance.com/Movies/Lights.wmv
here is my truck I use at work everyday
http://www.showandperformance.com/Movies/Lights.wmv
10-24-2006, 11:47 AM
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10-24-2006, 01:14 PM
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Anyone have any experience with the Freightliner M2 with the Mercedes engine?? Found a few of those that are almost perfect.
Alos found a couple 4300 LP IH's that would work great! Found the Chevy C6500 that'll do too. Prices are all comparable for 2007 models, but at 41-43K for any of them, we're not leaning towards the Chevy anymore. Can't see why we'd pay the same for a Chevy as as Freightliner or IH!
Chris
Alos found a couple 4300 LP IH's that would work great! Found the Chevy C6500 that'll do too. Prices are all comparable for 2007 models, but at 41-43K for any of them, we're not leaning towards the Chevy anymore. Can't see why we'd pay the same for a Chevy as as Freightliner or IH!
Chris
10-24-2006, 01:32 PM
#30
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Anyone have any experience with the Freightliner M2 with the Mercedes engine?? Found a few of those that are almost perfect.
Alos found a couple 4300 LP IH's that would work great! Found the Chevy C6500 that'll do too. Prices are all comparable for 2007 models, but at 41-43K for any of them, we're not leaning towards the Chevy anymore. Can't see why we'd pay the same for a Chevy as as Freightliner or IH!
Chris
Alos found a couple 4300 LP IH's that would work great! Found the Chevy C6500 that'll do too. Prices are all comparable for 2007 models, but at 41-43K for any of them, we're not leaning towards the Chevy anymore. Can't see why we'd pay the same for a Chevy as as Freightliner or IH!
Chris
Nice Sport Chassis. From a Freightliner mechanics point of view and just my opinion, If I were in the market and had decided on a Freightliner, I would definately skip the M2's and lean more towards the older pre 2004 FL models. The complexity of the electronics would put a cadillac to shame. Quite difficult to troubleshoot from a dealers point of view and almost impossible for an owner. It takes an internet connection to even pull codes off of the truck itself, minus drivetrain. However, the plus side to this is the factory can come into your computer via internet connection, link up and troubleshoot the truck, start it, do all functions pretty much. The cigarette lighter is even set up to throw a fault code. The biggest problem we see with the M2's are body builder wiring were someone has purchased a stock truck and decided to put a bed on it or box van and wires the lights up like any regular truck. Water intrusion into the connectors is another problem.
The M2 has a Bulkhead module and a chassis module that is a control module like is found on automobiles. They are amperage sensing and if you overload the circuit with too many lights, it shuts all the lights off. In this case, you have to go in and wire relays to "fool" the control module, or replace all lights with LED's.
Dont even think about splicing into a power or ground wire or adding a toggle switch by splicing (ground switched circuits) as it will throw a code and possibly shut you down.
The M2's do ride and handle better than any other medium duty sized truck I have driven, however, the electronics that are on the truck IMO are to sensitive for a truck that will be driven off road.
However, if you still plan on purchasing this truck, I can tell you that the Mercedes engine which is the standard engine, has a much better track record, and IMO, the one to get in this truck.
The M2 has a Bulkhead module and a chassis module that is a control module like is found on automobiles. They are amperage sensing and if you overload the circuit with too many lights, it shuts all the lights off. In this case, you have to go in and wire relays to "fool" the control module, or replace all lights with LED's.
Dont even think about splicing into a power or ground wire or adding a toggle switch by splicing (ground switched circuits) as it will throw a code and possibly shut you down.
The M2's do ride and handle better than any other medium duty sized truck I have driven, however, the electronics that are on the truck IMO are to sensitive for a truck that will be driven off road.
However, if you still plan on purchasing this truck, I can tell you that the Mercedes engine which is the standard engine, has a much better track record, and IMO, the one to get in this truck.