Ultimate Tow Rig Ideas

[mikey_d05]

Alright, here's the deal.

I have either an International DT/HT466 or DT/HT570 (not sure which of the four, it's a long story) at my disposal for the cost of crating and shipping.

I want my rig to look like an 80's 1-ton crew cab.

I'd like it to be 4wd but I guess it's not an absolute neccessity.

Ideally, I'd find a crew cab, sans drivetrain, and run a 466/570, 9 speed fuller, divorced 205, and a 14/60 combo. I don't know if the 1-ton axles would hold up in terms of weight and power. However, going medium to medium duty axle(s) would be a lot of work and expense.

People swap 6bt's into chevy's fairly often, and the axles in them hold up to the weight and power. A Navistar motor is 300-400 pounds heavier and has the potential for quite a bit of power (1150 ft lbs in the HT570).

Another potential problem is the frame. I'm not sure if a 1-ton frame would hold up to the weight and power of the combo.

I can't go to a medium duty for a variety of reasons, I can't get it registered as an RV without a TON of work and expense and without that insurance and registration is sky high.

Soooo...do you think a 1-ton crew cab frame and axles will hold up to the weight of a 1400-1500 pound diesel, giant iron transmission, 205, and 1150 ft-lbs of torque...or should I just abandon the whole deal and find a better way to do it?

 

[Hogback Fabrication]

Look at a heavier duty rear end at the very least. Newer light duty diesels run dana 80s and AAM 14 bolts with the 11.5" ring gear. Bigger ring and pinion along with bigger bearings mean it will hold up better.

I'm not sure about the 60 in the front. It seems to me that dana 70's use the same wheel bearings, shafts, u-joints, etc. The only advantage in my eyes is the bigger r&p and possibly bigger tubes.

 

[thedrip]

Well, you could play fast and loose with vehicle titling law. start with a medium duty truck. use a crew cab body on it, original front end, whatever bed you want (flatbed, or dually bed), medium duty running gear. Register it as the 1ton cab thats on it. Might even almost be legal, depending on the state.

 

[atho]

Sounds like way too much expense for not enough gain. It would be a conversation piece, yes, but at what point do you sit back and realize (and accept) that you have more work and money into your tow rig than your actual wheelin rig? Not to mention if you ever had to rebuild that engine you are getting for a song.

I'd say get an older C/30 gasser if you are strapped for cash, or a newer dodge ctd if you're rich

 

[mostwanted]

Well, you could play fast and loose with vehicle titling law. start with a medium duty truck. use a crew cab body on it, original front end, whatever bed you want (flatbed, or dually bed), medium duty running gear. Register it as the 1ton cab thats on it. Might even almost be legal, depending on the state.

This sounds like your best option so far. Although, I also believe that a 1 ton would hold up to that DT. I am not sure how you would get it in there tho. The 6bt is hard enough and costly with the bellhousing adapter and expensive starter.

 

[mikey_d05]

Drey and I discussed putting a crew cab cab on a medium duty frame last night and sorta figured it'd be the way to go...but where the hell am I gonna get a medium duty frame sans body and drivetrain?

 

[mikey_d05]

Honestly, I don't really care if a lot of work goes into it. If I bought a rig that was comparable to what I'd like to build, I'd have way more money into the tow rig anyways.

Hooking the tranny to the motor shouldn't be that expensive. The housing a common medium duty piece. It's when you get into automatic medium duty trannies that the housing gets rare. The Eaton Fuller 9 speeds are fairly cheap and pretty readily available. 12:1 low and .73:1 high.

38377k5 - Good point on the 11.5" AAM and D80. I totally forgot about those when I was thinking of viable axles.

 

[mikey_d05]

IDEA!!!

Buy an 80's GMC medium duty, like this one: http://www.trucktraderonline.com/caddetail.html?/ad-cache/4/3/3/87075333.htm

And just put a crew cab on it and a light duty front clip...use a homemade bumper to cover up the gap and I should be good to go as long as I can keep the total thing weighing under 10,000 pounds I should be good to go.

Not precisely legal, but it gets me the best of both worlds. Lower insurance and taxes, medium duty platform. Older GMC trucks like that used the same cabs as light duty stuff so it should be a straightforward swap.

The track width is way wider than a light duty so I'd have to make some fenders or use fender flares on the front or something and just construct the bed to cover the tires in the rear.

Thoughts?

 

[yellowK20]

use the medium duty front clip all there gonna do is go of the VIN # on the cab they don't care what the hell the front clip is as long as you have a clear title on the CAB your using you'll be okay . we use to swap cabs all the time just title it as the cab your using and you'll be fine

 

[yellowK20]

here's my latest pile for some inspiration

I have a DTT466 and a 13spd ready to go in this truck and hopefully some 5-ton 6x6 axles to go under it

 

[mikey_d05]

Definitely cool...I REALLY want a crew cab though.

WHERE ARE ALL THE TREES AND WHY ISN'T THE DIRT BLACK!?!?!

 

[yellowK20]

were trying to make a deal on a no rust crewcab for this truck but the guy is being anal on the price he wants 400 for the cab and so far I've only got 250 into the truck I traded a running 454/th400 for the DT466/13spd combo . let me know if you want me to find you a no rust crewcab chevy body there all over down here and I'm coming up to Minnesota in June

 

[mikey_d05]

I've been making a ton of calls to MNDOT this morning. Seeing what I can do about the medium duty thing. So far I haven't gotten a single live person on the phone.

 

[yellowK20]

it use to be pretty easy to register the medium dutys as RV's the guys that use to race with my dad would do it all the time . of course now they all have one ton late model diesels pickups . but as mentioned above you could just swap cabs and register it as a one ton pickup.............at your own risk of course

 

[mikey_d05]

Finally found someone who knew what the **** they were talking about. Said that I could register it as a personal truck just fine as long as I paid the 6.5% tax and $238 in fees. After that it would would be $213 per year to keep the tags.

It's looking like an option again. Hopefully I can work a little magic with the insurance company.

Although, I'm not sure if I should trust her info...she also said (randomly) that collector plates are only for parades.

Apparently taxes are based on max GVW...and get knocked down quite a bit when the "commercial" status is knocked off of them. Of course they don't cover personal use of class 4-6 vehicles on their website...that would be too easy.

 

[yellowK20]

Thats not to bad ! tell your insurance its an RV and they should cut you a break as well

 

[mikey_d05]

But it's not an RV.

I'll get my dad to swing something, he gets malpractice, homeowners, auto, etc. insurance through the same agency. He hasn't been very happy with them in recent years and has thought about going elsewhere. Every time he mentions it to them, both of our insurance rates drop.

 

[mikey_d05]

Using an online quote I came up with $1100/yr for me with no other vehicles, good liability, $500 collision deductible, and $20,000 in trailer coverage.

Hmmm...this just got a lot more interesting.

 

[yellowK20]

looking better all the time let me know I'll start cab hunting

 

[Stomper]

Drey and I discussed putting a crew cab cab on a medium duty frame last night and sorta figured it'd be the way to go...but where the hell am I gonna get a medium duty frame sans body and drivetrain?

in my grove