Andyinchville

Hi All,
I am looking to buy a 1981 International 1854 Med duty truck And am looking for helpful input before I make a decision on this truck (will be my first "big" truck so all will be kinda new to me here).

The truck has a DT 466 Engine and 5 sp trans (single speed rear), the tires are like new, and has a 16 foot flatbed dump....The owner claims the engine was rebuilt a year and a half ago and the truck had not been used for the last year or so (it was last inspected 5 years ago and has been a farm use vehicle ever since with occasional road trips)....The truck looks to be in good condition but unfortunately I cannot hear it run or drive it since the owner says the waterpump needs to be replaced and he has the fan and belts off of it (also needs a battery)....Owner also claims the trans was rebuilt and the clutch /brakes are ok).....Mileage is unknown since speedo doesn't work....25,600 GVW, Hyd brakes.

My questions are:
Any Idea on what I should offer for this being that I can't hear it run? Any idea where I can buy a tilt hood for this (the hood is missing one fender and the area where the headlight is (was) is busted....fiberglass got damaged when his helper hit something with it)....I have heard that the dt 466 are good engines but is there anything bad that I should know about them? I plan on using the truck for logging and may even pull a trailer to take more wood per trip (Don't want to carry it all on the truck because of the relatively low GVW....Any Idea what weight this thing can tow?) ....

Thanks for any and all advice / answers.

Andrew

wannadiesel

Parts are going to be tough to find unless you have a truck salvage yard near you. Not running it's not worth much, certainly no more than $1k. You will be able to tow whatever will fit on your pintle hook trailer, but you won't be towing anywhere fast. Getting out of 3rd on hills will be the hard part. The gear spacing between 3rd and 4th on those transmissions is really wide, if that truck was spec'ed a little heavier it would have had a 2 speed rear.

thumper 549

Well my bro inlaw has been running a 1972 self loader seince new . Every day!!!!!He still gets parts,still takes it in for the big stuff....so I would say -no problem parts wise