Ok.. I guess we're hijacking this thread then. I think the discussion about the 7.3 was about over anyways when I first posted on the topic, so here goes...
Yes, the F350 was loaded for bear with welding equipment. I don't carry acetylene on the truck. I carry propane instead. Propane is safer, cheaper and more readily available to refill. I only use the torch for cutting and heating, no welding (propane has no shielding gas properties is not able to be welded with). I was also carrying a gasoline can and 2 each oxygen and argon (inert shielding gas) cylinders.
Fortunately, the fire department got to the truck before the gasoline, propane and high pressure cylinders could go kaboom. The truck cab and everything forward of that was a total loss, but everything inside the utility body boxes was saved and I had only minor smoke inhalation and minor burns on my hands. God had my back that day.
I think the lessons to me were, always be prepared, count my blessings, God has a plan, and it's only a truck it's replaceable. :)
Since it took me so many months searching to find a good condition, low mileage, diesel, 4wd, dually, extra long wheelbase (had an 11' bed on it) old body style F350 when I bought that one up in Idaho, I knew finding another one would be much harder, some 4 years later. I was also tired of driving overloaded F350's, with small brakes and rear drums that are always going out of adjustment. I definitely wanted something bigger than an F350, with very good brakes.
I looked seriously at '99-'02 F550's with the 7.3 diesel, 4wd and long wheelbase. I found a few, some even crew cabs, but none that really made me want to buy. The F450/550 cab/chassis trucks are still small trucks, extra heavy duty pickups, if you will. I really wanted something that was truly a TRUCK.
So I considered the old Ford L-Series and more current F650/750, GM Kodiak/Topkick, Freightliner M2 and International 4000-series. Finding any of those trucks with 4wd and crew cab was almost impossible, except for the Internationals. I found alot of 4800/4900 4wd's that were power company boom trucks and oilfield drilling rig trucks. Then I found this 4800 ex-fire truck, with 4wd and crew cab, very low miles/hours and just the right wheelbase length, with a nice flatbed already on it. I knew that was the one.
Yes, everything about the 4800 is BIG...
The cab roof is 9 feet high, the cab floor is about 4 feet high and the hood is about 6 feet high. The cab rear bench seat is at least a foot longer than my crew cab F350's rear seat. There is tons of room inside the cab, with nice flat floor all over and lots of rear seat leg room. The Dodge Mega Cab is tiny by comparison.
The flatbed deck is over 4 feet high. I put a set of steps on the rear to get up and down from the bed. Tires are 42" diameter (11R-22.5, same size as class 8 tractors and busses). It's a climb to get up into the cab, but there are nice 2-level steps built onto the 50 gallon fuel tanks and plenty of grab handles to hang onto.
The DT466 engine, although only 22 cubic inches more displacement than the 7.3 Powerstroke, is physically a much bigger and heavier engine, longer and taller. The Allison 3000-series transmission is class 8 semi tractor sized, much bigger than the Allison 1000 used in the GM pickups. The Fabco transfer case is giant, heavy, cast iron. The 12K Fabco front and 21K Dana-Spicer rear axles are giant hunks of iron too. The huge Spicer rear makes a Dana 80 look tiny.
The brakes are huge air operated drums. They work awesome. The transmission also has a hydraulic fan retarder on the back of it, with a separate foot pedal in the cab next to the brake pedal. The retarder works great, almost as good as the brakes. This truck stops much better loaded and pulling the trailer with the trailer brakes disconnected, than F350 ever stopped, even when it was empty. I'm very happy. :)
The truck's frame channels are 8 inches tall, very thick and about 3" wide. The frame is straight, front to back, no bends in any direction. I don't see any weak points in this frame, it's solid. I have welded on cracked 3/4-ton, 1-ton and 450/550 truck frames. The pickup-based frames are tiny, compared to the big class 6/7/8 size truck frames.
The spring packs are huge on both axles. The rear overload packs are about as stout as the main rear spring packs on the old F350. The truck probably rode much softer when it was a fire truck, loaded to it's full 33,000 GVWR, carrying 500 gallons of water and all the other equipment and crew of 5 fire fighters. Now it's 13,000 lbs under the GVWR and about 10,000 lbs under the rear axle weight rating. But that's what I wanted, a truck that wouldn't be overloaded, or loaded anywhere near its max capacity.
The truck is heavy. I weighed it when I first got it, before I started building it into a welding truck. With just the cab and 12x8 flatbed, it scaled 16,000 lbs. My old F350 scaled about 8000 lbs with just the cab and 11x8 flatbed. All loaded up, the F350 weighed 13,000. I'm not yet done adding stuff to the International, needs a bigger crane, a couple more boxes and upgrade the gas welder to a bigger diesel. It weighs 20,000 so far, carrying all the same equipment I had on the other truck, minus the utility body. I went with gang boxes and side boxes this time. Saved about 1000 lbs and am better organized and easier to access everything.
The truck rides hard, empty or loaded, harder than either of my F350's rode empty, with their extra heavy duty rear springs. It would be nice if the truck had an air ride cab. I may upgrade to that in the future, as it was a factory available option. It has nice air ride front seats, which do help alot. An air ride rear suspension would be nice, but I prefer the durability and simplicity of leaf springs.
The heavy suspension handles like it's on rails. No body roll or sway, no matter how twisty the road is. The F350 dually handled corners good too, very little roll and better than my single rear wheel F350, but not as good as this one. It's rock solid.
Steering was scary when I first got the truck. The Forest Service had rear drive-only tires on the front axle, with huge chunky knob treads. They squirm alot and like to follow every rut in the road and change directions with every bump. I guess they got away with because they are a government agency and it was an emergency vehicle. DOT regulations don't allow drive-only tires on the steer axle.
I put highway rib steer tires on and steering improved greatly. It's still a bit squirrelly and has some bump-steer, but it's much safer now on the bad highway roads we have around here. I'm going to look into a better stabilizer shock and have the toe-in alignment checked, to see if I can get it a little better. It might just be the nature of these 4wd heavy trucks.
Because of the 4wd front axle and the long wheelbase length (about 190" with the crew cab and 87" cab to axle length), it doesn't turn very sharp. I expected it would turn sharper, because of the full-width front axle, but it doesn't. Both my 4wd F350's, with 161" and 168" wheel base lengths, turned slightly sharper than the International.
Parking the truck is about the same as either of my F350's. It's longer, about 25' long, and 8' wide, same width as my old dually F350. The F350's are about 20' long. The truck doesn't fit in any parking spaces at the grocery store LOL. I take up 2 or 3, or sometimes even 4 spaces, way out in the boondocks, and walk. That's what I did with the old truck too, so no big change with this one.
I wouldn't want to drive the International as my only vehicle. I wouldn't want to only have the F350 either. I drive my little Ranger most of the time for personal use. It has good gas mileage and gets around town easily, can park it anywhere and is comfortable, quiet and easy to drive.
As far as fuel mileage goes, the International gets about the same as the old F350 diesel, 10 mpg loaded. It gets that same mileage though, while also weighing 7000 lbs more than the F350, and has TONS more towing power on the hills than the 7.3 could ever hope to give. That big DT466 engine is barely breaking a sweat most of the time, whereas the 7.3 was huffing it often.
I like the Allison transmission. I wasn't too keen on the idea of another automatic juice box at first. I really wanted a manual trans, with granny low first and reverse gearing. It's tough to find these trucks with the manual though. Most have the Allison. The 4900's and some of the higher GVWR 4800's have 9spd and 13spd Eaton-Fuller high/low air shift manuals, which are truly heavy truck transmissions. I didn't quite want that much tranny. There is a 7-speed manual shift, no air, not high/low, that I found on some 4600, 4700 and 4800 trucks. However, that trans was not rated to handle the 850 torque rating of the DT466E-HT. I'm not sure it is rated for the regular DT466E with 660 output either.
I preferred to have the 7 speed manual instead of the auto, if it were available with this engine. I've grown to like the Allison though and I'm happy with it now. It has a low first and reverse ratio that I like and shifts predictably and I love the retarder. That retarder is reason enough to have the Allison.
On the legality side, because of it's 33,000 GVWR and the fact I use it for business, it can require a class B or A commercial license, if I register it for it's full GVWR, or a higher GCW. I have it registered for 24,000 GVW/GCW and will upgrade that to 26,000 on my next renewal. Keeping it registered under 26,001 lbs means no CDL required.
The truck weighs 20,000, so that means my trailer can't weigh over 6,000, or I cross that magic 26,000 GVW/GCW number. Then I would need to get the class B CDL and if the trailer is over 10,000, I would need the class A CDL. So I have to watch how I load the trailer if I don't want a CDL.
Because I use the truck for business, and Arizona is one of the 22 states that requires DOT number registration for any business-use truck over 18,000 registered GVW/GCW, even though the Federal DOT doesn't require it for trucks under 26,001 registered GVW/GCW, I had to get the DOT number. It was a hassle, but didn't cost anything to register the number.
The DOT number is not specific to the truck. It is specific to my company. I can use the number on any quantity of company trucks (although I only have one official company commercial truck now). If I sell this truck, the DOT number goes on my next truck and will be removed from this truck, so the next owner isn't running around with my company's number on his truck.
Having the DOT number also required me to get a DOT physical exam and medical card, which renews every 2 years. It was no big deal.
Because of the DOT number, I'm also required to keep a driver qualification file in my records for every driver of commercial trucks in my company (which is just me). I got a DMV copy of my driving record and that fulfills the qualification requirement, as far as I know.
The DOT registration also requires me to display my company name and location, in addition to the DOT number on the truck. I had planned to put a company logo, etc on the truck anyways, so no big deal. I had 'not for hire' magnetic signs made, to cover the DOT number, for those times when I use the truck for personal, non-business purposes.
Overall, I really like the truck. I'm very happy with it. I'm not thrilled about all the red tape that came with using a truck this size, but that's life I guess. You got to pay to play (or work, in my case). :)
