realized the other day I am going to kill my one ton with the blue ox behind it
went to chevy and my truck they give me 1600 new one 48500 no bed
go see my neighbor about some pine for his barn........4500 in his driveway
he says I need to sell my truck I say wow I want it
next day he calls and says my dad wants your one ton
I am like who died and left me boss
bottem line he takes my one ton at 22000 I get his 4500 at 45000 both 2005 but his 4500 also has plow and switch and go with 4 beds and has 9000 miles
I go to bank for loan deal is happeneing I drove it today I am hooked
Cool! Now you can haul even more bigger loads. :D 8) 8)
Dave
already too order one more roll off frame to weld up a log body.
I always thought those swapper bodie woule be great for landscapers. Dump bed for hauling, flat bed for mowing, sander in the winter. Never see anybody doing it though. We'll need pics of course. ;) :)
Dave
well I am thiking leaving a body at a cut site so all the shorts or junk can be pre loaded and rady to just pick up with no log loader time. 2 of my 3 tree service companies use ground machines so the could load the bodies.
I'm in the same situation James. I pick up my new-used Freightliner in a couple of weeks and get busy changing it from a box truck into a flatbed.
I'll be by to chec out your wheels soon, congrats.
Captain
Hey James.
Congratulations on your good fortune!
Which Ox do you have?
I went the other day looking at a new 3500 chassis crew cab that they agreed to make me a pretty good offer on (no bed).
How do you like the Ox? I've been looking a bit at them (and a few other things).
A friend just put a "HOOK" system on his F-450. He has a dump, flat and a few other boxes to put on/ off. The one disadvantage seems to be height, darn thing really ends up putting the bodies too high for my taste, I love versatility but not with the bed 12" higher.
Ironwood
There are a few different designs, and a couple of different ways to mount truck bodies. Sometimes you have to think a little outside the box. I've seen a few one tons dumps that had the bodies mounted at least a foot too high. >:( There is no nead for it.
Dave
this is a unit from switch and go it looks like it adds about 5 inches and less than 500 pounds.
I have a little ox and have towed it behind my 3500 for 2 years now. It does it but as I have gotten busier I realize I am going to kill it in a relatively short time. The motor is and will be fine its the brakes, the springs and the transmission I think about.
I LOVE MY BLUE OX it has taken me to a level I never imagined. :D :D :D
I had an older 1996 F-350 for a while. The machine shop that had owned it put the flatbed 10" higher than needed so it would back up to the dock @ Latrobe Steel once a week for their delivery, guess they never thought about a set of wooden ramps left at the dock ??? , Good news was that was all they ever did with it (it was all down hill from their machine shop into town loaded, empty coming back up the ridge), bought it 9 years old w/ 18,000 original miles, drove it for 2 years and kept the bed and sold the cab / chassis for $1300 more than I had paid for it originally. Goota love that, still only had 44,000 miles.
Ironwood (https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/11262/OF350a.jpg)
had an 86 chevy one ton, bought it with 13000 miles in 1988 and put 68000 total plowing, harvesting firewood in the woods, and hauling firewood and lumber. Three transmissions, a cab, new dump bed, radiator, 2 starters, heater core, 3 sets of exhaust doughnuts, one pair of exhaust manifolds, three times back brakes and 2 times front..............but the choke on the quadrajet still worked when I got rid of it.
here ya go, it is mine.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10064/nice_truck.jpg)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10064/grin.jpg)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10064/wow.jpg)
Nice truck, and the right name on it too. ;D :D
So when the insurance man ask what kind of truck? You tell him flatdumplogsanderbox haul anything ya can stack in it on it . Let me see ya fit that on the registration.
Nice work truck.
Dale
Nice. What engine?
Ironwood
yes I like my +LUMBER plate, I was surprized no one had it already
Believe it or not, the title says pickup :D
It has the durimax 6.6 and allison automatic
Nice truck, I am envious! You will love that duramax with the allison, all the power you need and with the tow option the transmission really saves the brakes. Time to go have some fun with it! :D :D
Yes, a nice lookin' truck.
Put it to work 8)
Nice ride... The swap a body seems like the best thing going for a
multi-tasker type business. If I could find an IH in my price range,
I'd abandon my F550 search...
I put my stuff in the tool boxes yesterday. Saws on one side and tools, tarp and extra clothes on the other. Will have to get a short handled blue peavy just for the truck now.
scott how does the price of a 550 ford compare to a 4500 or 5500 chevy.
I'd say it's lower in my situation, Mostly as I'm looking at older '99-02
trucks. I really like the 7.3L in my current f350 and I want to stick with
it. I don't have the jack for the '08s with 6.4L and several of my
customers have had problems out of the 6.0L engine.
If I was to get out of the F550 search, I'd get an IH 4700 or 4900 and
go big. Dt466, 7 or 9spd. I'd be able to have a flat dump or a
swap a body and still pull the backhoe.
As it is, the F550 will pull a backhoe with reasonable control I think
and I could sell my F350 if I had to and the F550 could do both truck
duties.
ScottAR,
You are right on w/ the 7.3, avoid the 6.0 AND possibly the 6.4 as well (jury is still out, and I have heard a few gripes, head gasket AND terrible fuel economy). Keep your eye out for a 2000-2003 F-550, the six speed had a overdrive bearing improvement in late 2000. FYI
Ironwood (https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/11262/oIMG_2141.jpg) (https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/11262/OF-550.jpg)
ScottAR, unless you need 4x4, I'd look harder for an IH. We have a 1991 4900 DT466 250hp 7 speed. Great combination. We have less than $5k into ours, and that includes the in chassis overhaul, two new batteries, and new air tanks. Way more truck, which is nice for pulling full size backhoes. ;) We did our entire corn season on 120 gallons of diesel. The old truck used 20+ gallons of gas per day. :o
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/14240/dumptruck.jpg)
Dave
Quote from: Dave Shepard on May 15, 2008, 02:50:29 PM
ScottAR, unless you need 4x4, I'd look harder for an IH. We have a 1991 4900 DT466 250hp 7 speed. Great combination. We have less than $5k into ours, and that includes the in chassis overhaul, two new batteries, and new air tanks. Way more truck, which is nice for pulling full size backhoes. ;) We did our entire corn season on 120 gallons of diesel. The old truck used 20+ gallons of gas per day. :o
Dave
How do You do that for less than 5K. That's amazing. Joe
Former lumberyard truck with hole in sleeve from cavitation erosion. Paid $2k. Another $2500 or so for engine kit, labor, air tanks and batteries. Has excellent rubber, brakes, paint. Frame is a little rusty, but should get another ten years from it. ;) Oak bed sides were grown on the farm. ;)
Dave
I think the dt466 is a great choice for most of us, but I need a 4x4 or I get out of business many times.
The new brake controller is in and the truck is now at the welders for pintal upgrade.
this truck causes people to congregate around it 8) :D :D
I may have to rethink my choices...
I'm not in a hurry so I can wait for a deal. Diesels are showing up on
the used market more than usual. Probably not in the medium duty
market though.
Probably be next year before I make a move.
I'm booked up this year! :D
You know for my use, hauling fairly heavy on a constant basis, the occasional trip to daycare witht the kids (grocery store too) the pickup truck size of the 550 really suits me. I also cruise by the Penn DOT scales frequently, and there is less likelyhood of getting pulled over for this (although this is changing). I know if it where only truely a "work truck", chipping trees only hauling logs I would feel differently, but I would be real disappointed if Ford stopped building this medium duty option in a pickup body (although I plan to run this one WAY into the forseeable future). It suits me well. I now get into my F-150 and forget you just cant load and load and load it until full. ;D. One other thing worth mentioning as a plus for a pickup sized truck is the BED hieght. I love the fact that it is not too high. I REALLY tried to keep it low when I installed the army bed.
Dave Shep,
One @#$% of a truck you have there for that kind of money!
Ironwood
That's a very nice truck, sir. I hope you get many years of solid work with it. :)
I went out last night and loaded up my F250 with a large load of firewood. It has a 460 big block (gasoline engine) and literally guzzles fuel. But... I'm really happy with the $600 worth of load rated "E" all terrain tires I just had put on her. 80 PSI tires and they barely bowed with that load. She road real nice, too.
Now if I could just afford to get that 460 rebuilt and figure out why the C-6 transmission is leaking. :-\
had my business name put on today no turning back now. First of my trucks with letters and I have had DOT number for years.
pictures soon :D
warbird--pm me about your c-6 trans---
Picking up my Freightliner TOMORROW. You guys are gonna faint when you hear my deal if you think Dave's was good....
Captain
Cap'n... be sure and post some pics and let us in on the deal you got. :)