I am looking at a bucket truck with a 03 international 4300 chassis with 3060md push button auto trans. it has 86k miles on it. Does anyone have any experience with this trans? http://www.utilitytrucktrader.com/detail.asp?UnitID=696
In late 2002 I ordered an '03 4300 and had a contractor dump put on it. DT466, 6 plus 1 trans, 26K GVW with air brakes. It was a good truck except for the A/C, constantly had issues on the electrical side, other than that it was a good truck. Sold it in 2005 for a tandem dump. Owned a couple of Allison auto's and never had a problem with them. A 3060 and a couple of 4060's, wouldn't buy a truck - single, tandem or tri without one.
the dt 466 is a good engine. usually last about 300k before they need to be rebuilt but i'm sure theres some that have gone a lot longer. Allison makes an awesome transmission. like cm said, the chassis' are known for electrical gremlins. the cabs seem to shake a lot after they get some age on them.
what type of electrical problems? are they things that left you stranded? does this engine/trans combo have enough power to move a 26,000lb truck?
The problem I had was keeping the A/C running and the occasional idiot lights on the dash that would come and go, very annoying. It never left me stranded on the side of the road but it left me without a dump truck many times as it sat in the dealers lot waiting for service before the warranty ran out.. Had a 7 speed in the 4300 466 and it moved it along fine, not a speed demon by any means but it's not supposed to be. 1st or low, hardly ever used it but with the locking rear end almost made the truck a 4x4 off road. I special ordered the locking rear end which bumped the actual trucks GVW up to 29K but it was factory de-rated to 26K, which was good because I overloaded it regularly hauling dirt on site. Also had a Hino 268A with a 3060 that was a hook lift truck, that combo went together well, I don't remember the HP.
I've seen the a/c problems, headlights not working, wipers not working, etc. also they had a problem with the throttle position sensor harness. that problem is common enough that international makes an updated harness that is a major PITA to change.
I have a MD3060 in my LP 4700 crew cab behind a DT 530E and it works fine. The heavier I load it down the smoother it shifts but the slower we are getting up to speed. The tranny is almost annoying running empty though. The 4-5 shift can be funny, either a very abrupt shift or almost like pushing in the clutch and free wheeling shift with the motor reving. The issue goes away loaded though so who knows. I can speak to the electrical gremlins. My dash works intermittently. The fuel gauge usually works and the backlights rarely work. The A/C did give up on me last summer, just haven't gotten around to fixing it yet. Pretty sure the compressor locked up and the wife never realized what was going on. Still claims that switching on the A/C switch that she gets cool air.