21 replies to this topic

[JD Humm]

The company that stocks the water cooler bottles at work delivers with a pre DuraStar International truck, think it is the last of the S series. DT466 equipped. The truck was sitting there idling and all of a sudden made one heck of a racket. The driver ran out the door and shut it down and lifted the hood. The air conditioner compressor bracket had broken off, letting the AC compressor get into the fan. I went on did what I had to do, when I got back the truck was still sitting there and a mechanic was working on it. He said those trucks were notorious for losing the AC compressor brackets and he was not very impressed with the International trucks or the DT466 engine. I was sad to hear that. I have not heard very good comments about any of the newer International trucks. I have leased a few late model DuraStar Pennske trucks and have taken a couple of them on some 3 hour one way trips. Kind of seems like Navistar still has some of the same cab quality shortcomings I remember from the old Loadstars we had on the farm. Looks to me like with a little more attention paid to cab details they could have a great truck. Makes me wonder what they are thinking sometimes....or what they are not thinking.

[oleman]

My Dodge pickup broke down in Las Cruces NM. Local tow service ran 2 ea DT466 automatic haul away wreckers, couple of youg drivers loved them.
The were 4400's and were driven like hotrods.
Since I was from out of town and it was a weekend my truck had to be stored so they hailed me around and located a motel for me.
[Kids] said they got new ones every few years and had never had a problem with any of them.
Based on the numbers I see around Dallas they have to be the best selling medium out there.
It probably not how good it is but how good is it as compared the the competition.
My brother worked for years at an International dealership in Pueblo; his quote is "International never seems to get it right."

[JD Humm]

The part about International never seeming to get it quite right hits the nail on the head and I am a diehard red man at heart who grew up loving IH trucks and equipment. Dad had a couple of Loadstars he bought new back in the 60's. Their shortcomings were the cab doors and latch mechanisms, the chincy door and window interior cab handles, the poor cab heaters and the poor heater controls. I had an NT 270 10 speed equipped old DCOF 405 Emeryville cab over that I pulled a grain trailer with. That outfit would wear me slick making an 80 mile round trip to the elevator and back, would hate to think of having to herd one across country back in the sixties.

The Dura Stars I have driven seemed to have a lot of wind noise but were otherwise fairly comfortable to drive and had good visibility and their dash layout and controls I liked. The DT466 Pennske uses is sure a detuned engine, they run okay empty but put 5 or 6 thousand pounds in the box and they are real doggy. I have also notice I never see any of the "Lone Star" trucks on the road, maybe have seen half a dozen of them since they first came out.

[M Diesel]

Have to agree on the cab parts. Love my IH gear but those trucks are filled with things not done right. Door hinges, window handles, heater controls are all just barely there really. And it is hard to believe the places that rust pops out.

For all their work on engines, they still weren't impressive. Those old gas motors were just barely in the competition with many other manufacturers. Short stroke motors that clapped out at 4000? Say what? Even a little crappy Briggs and Stratton runs at 3600 all day and those things are made from some of the lowest grade materials available. With IH trucks it's like they typically started with the right ingredients, but never seemed to put them together all that well.

[660 driver]

Ya...a lot of tow companies love the IH tow rigs but when it comes to big trucks they can't compete with a peterbilt or a kenworth. Not that they are bad rigs its just that I feel the same driving a freightliner as I do driving a newer IH.....like its a job and not to be enjoyed. Now when we start getting into the older IH's its a little different for me,I'm talking like 70's and older.

[Dr. EVIL]

JD - Great to see you post here again.

The last company I worked at leased an FL-70 Freight-shaker just before I started there, after 4 yrs & about 170,000 miles, several bad break-downs, numerous trips back to the shop for maintenance & repair it was time to lease a newer truck. Even after only four years that POS Freightliner looked ten+ years old, always leaked oil from the Detroit 4-cyl 4-stroke engine, vibrated BAD, driver had to open the window to hold the mirror stead backing into our dock, even in winter.

The Boss listened to me and leased a 4300 IH, about a 2003 or '04 vintage, DT-466E, Allison 5-spd, air ride seat & rear suspension, Alcoa alum wheels all around, chrome pkg, and a fancier interior with CD player. After 4 yrs and over 200,000 miles all the Binder ever needed was routine maintenance, always started, rode nice, both trucks had 24 ft enclosed boxes. The interior was so nice the driver took his breaks sitting in the cab listening to the CD player and running the heater in winter, and A/C in summer. The IH got better MPG than the Detroit, never leaked, idled smooth, and the truck turned WAY shorter than the Freight-shaker. Just exactly what you want & need for city pickup & delivery.

I suggested to the Boss that he opt for lower numerical gears than Penske quoted, I didn't figure out what governed top speed would have been, but they were 7-something to-1 ratio, I figured it would be a 47 or 52 MPH special. I wanted them to gear it for about 65-67 at least. I never did hear how fast it ran, and never heard anyone complain.

Sure sounds like the NEW International trucks have lost some of the durability that made them the most popular brand of medium & heavy duty truck back in the 50's, 60's & 70's. Sad too. I rode Shot-gun with Dad in CO-190's, then Emeryvilles hauling livestock from about the time I was 3-4 yrs old till I was old enough to drive myself. I can't say they NEVER broke down, but they always seemed to eventually get you home. Even in the little town of 100 people I grew up by, there were two feed mills that had trucks and three trucking companies, and both feed mills and the biggest trucking co used IH trucks, the other two trking co's were 1-2 truck companies and normally they ran wore-out Chevies.

[M Diesel]

Many years ago (late 70s) I was in a group of guys driving from a pool of trucks, all cab overs, mostly sleepers. Mostly Freightliner, one very nice 350 horse Kenworth, and one IH simple cab over (with a 225). Everybody wanted the Kenworth while the IH pretty much got dumped on the last guy standing. It kinda hurt to see it happen. Brand new and a pretty nice ride, but being an under powered 10 speed in west coast mountains was an albatross. And as I recall it broke down 2 or 3 times over the course of a year or so. You didn't hate the truck, but nobody went out of their way for it.

[trkrmtt]

started out my driving career in "pinch topbinders"

next truck was cab over mack,same exact design as the binders

except a lot quieter,as far as the heater went i would agree,

my friends dad showed me a trick on them,,,

as they were mounted under the passenger seat and had three

air flaps in front

duct tape the top 2 flaps shut less air coming in would heat the air up quicker

and still put out the same air flow

warm cab at -20degrees only promblem then was keeping the fuel from gelling

as for the newer ones,,, i test drove one in 2005,blower motor still under passenger seat

but the bunk cabinets were noisey from the vibration going down the road

drove the wife and me crazy just on the test run

[Loadstar]

Have to agree on the cab parts. Love my IH gear but those trucks are filled with things not done right. Door hinges, window handles, heater controls are all just barely there really. And it is hard to believe the places that rust pops out.

For all their work on engines, they still weren't impressive. Those old gas motors were just barely in the competition with many other manufacturers. Short stroke motors that clapped out at 4000? Say what? Even a little crappy Briggs and Stratton runs at 3600 all day and those things are made from some of the lowest grade materials available. With IH trucks it's like they typically started with the right ingredients, but never seemed to put them together all that well.

Surely you don't mean the old SV engines? The 304 to 392s? From my own experience and others I'd say they were some of the best truck engines ever built and  out lasted  the competition.

No real cab problems on my 71 Loadstar except the driver's door needs occasional adjustment on the catch so it shuts easily. The heater is a little low on output but not out of line with the other makes of that same year.  

[M Diesel]

Yes I do. If not worked all that hard they are okay, but to me they don't work in the upper HP arena very well. Neither did anybody else for that matter, at least not in the commodity (Chevy/Ford/Dodge) range. Others made better engines but they cost more. Higher usable RPM, better power, better economy. Either the extra cost didn't pay off, or people can't help but commit short term thinking.

My 1700 cab has rusted through where the hood meets the cab near the windshield. Yeah it has some age, but this truck has seen less than 150 inches of rain in its life time. (We get 4" per year.) After seeing many rusted trucks here apparently rain drain off was not a big concern. Not blaming them, just observations. And the doors don't close due to bad hinges. The 1600 hinges are in somewhat better shape. Neither truck has all that many miles though. Certainly a lubrication problem and not limited to IH, but theirs seem to suffer more than I would expect from IH.