I am helping a friend spec a new single axle flatbed 33-36k GVW 4x4 flat bed for snow plowing 14 miles of subdivision here in Colorado. I have received specs on a International 7400 and have found that Sterling (Acterra) and Mack (Granite) are offering FACTORY supported 4x4.... I don't think it is wise to send the truck after manufacture to Fabco/Marmon/or any of the others.. He is looking for at least a 16k front driving axle, 21k rear, Spring suspension. Gearing to get the truck to 65mph, two speed transfer case. 250-300hp What are 08 emmissions doing? Any failures? Anything to watch out for? Autos... Allison 3500 is offered in the IH and Sterling. Mack is offering there own... Any history? I have personally only owned up to a class 5 (GMC 5500) and have only driven trucks up to 52kGVW (Fire trucks ) But have never been involved in this stuff... It is being bought by a Metro/taxing district. Any other thoughts?
for a decent truck and decent price intl needs a hard look but the petes are nice
I have been noticing the int. 7600's. They are getting a lot of flack from guys locally, but I think given a chance to work the bug out of the new series they are going to be just fine. We have 2 internationals in the local FD and all in all they have been good trucks. A neighboring dept has a rescue truck that sounds about like what you want, they bought the truck from pierc and they had the front drive conversion done at www.monroetruck.com . It turned out nice. As far as autos go, I am a big fan of mack trucks, but I am not sure how long they have been building autos, I would stick with whats been proven, and allisons have been out there a long time! Good luck, and be sure to post pics when they get it!!!:thumbsup
We have all internationals in our Municapality. We have pretty good luck with them. No major problems at all. We don't have any auto's though. We went that route about 10 years ago and didn't like them at all. Had lot of trouble with them. They were allison's too.