4500 roll back

[Joey D]

A friend of mine is looking at a 4500 for a rollback for his body shop. He is not getting a wheel lift as he needs it mainly for picking up and dropping off cars. GM has a 17.5k gvw option for the 4500. I was thinking that the truck and deck will be close to 10,000lbs or so. Is that low or high? Will this be enough truck?
GM has a zero finance rate for 3 years and 2 g's cash back thats why he wanted to get the 4500. I said get the 5500 but it only offers a 2 k better gvw and not zero percent and cash back.
Any idea on what a small IH truck under 26k gvw will run? The truck he is looking at is around 35k with out the body

 

[Duke]

"A friend of mine is looking at a 4500 for a rollback for his body shop. He is not getting a wheel lift as he needs it mainly for picking up and dropping off cars. GM has a 17.5k gvw option for the 4500. I was thinking that the truck and deck will be close to 10,000lbs or so. Is that low or high? Will this be enough truck?"

Joey D,

Yes, it will weigh ~10,000lbs. I would think a long aluminum rollback body + hoist has got to weigh as much as a aluminum contractors dump.
As far as being "enough truck", I guess it depends on what he's comfortable with. Sounds like he'll have ~8,000 lbs payload. That's enough to legally haul a 1 ton dually 4x4 pick-up, himself and a tank of fuel.

"GM has a zero finance rate for 3 years and 2 g's cash back thats why he wanted to get the 4500. I said get the 5500 but it only offers a 2 k better gvw and not zero percent and cash back.
Any idea on what a small IH truck under 26k gvw will run? The truck he is looking at is around 35k with out the body"

I think a lo-pro IH would cost a little more, but offer a far greater payload and durability. A Lo-Pro with 26K GVW would weigh ~12,000 with body, leaving a 14K payload. Equipped with a DT466 and a seven speed or allison 2000 series, the drivetrain is real medium duty, not light-medium duty like in the 4500.
The DT466 is a wet-sleeve 1/2 million mile diesel. Another thing to remember is that the IH lo-pro is about the same size as the 4500 in terms of height, length, width and manueverability, but gives almost double the payload. He could carry 2 full size trucks on it instead of one for not much more cost.

The only reason to go with a 4500/5500 over a Lo-Pro IH is for 4x4, and even though you'd get 4x4, you'd lose 40% of your payload or more.

 

[PackRat]

I'm bowtie, all(most) the way, so if I had the $$, I probably buy the Chev, just because. A buddy of mine tows, in the Denver area, and courtesy tow, in the mountains. He's got a Binder, and loves it, completely. It's a DT466, 7-speed. He says he can double load, and run 65-75 easy, all day long.

Personally, I'd love to have a 1-ton rollback, just for the little hobby towing that I do. My old ramp truck is better than a trailer, but is pretty maxed out, if I double load. Guess it was probably maxed out, the day I had an old big-block Dodge dually up on it's back.

 

[Joey D]

Duke, I am going to look at the IH dealer, one in the next town over, just to see what they cost to give him a comparision. I hate to say but he was going to buy a Nissan cab over, rebadged as some other name I can't think of, as they have a dealer next door to his shop. I questioned him about buying a foreign truck and mentioned the GM. He agrees with me and called the GM dealer and came up with the 4500.

 

[PackRat]

If I recall correctly the GM P-series platform is actually a Isuzu. Seems like that makes sense, as the D-max is a Shoo-shoo inbreed.

I could be wrong. I haven't eaten since noon, and my blood sugar is way low.

 

[Duke]

The major difference you'll notice is the way you can build an Ih from the frame up. You can build damn near anything IH engineering will approve.

The IH is a real M/D truck on Lo-Pro tires. The GM is a light-medium duty.

If your buddy is real hung-up on GM loyalty, he should look at a 6500 Lo-Pro. He can get far greater payload, CAT (Or bigger Isuzu) power and a heavier trans.

IMO, the beauty of the 4500/5500's are 4x4 availability, otherwise go with a real MD Lo-Pro 6500, F-650, or IH 4000 series and get the payload and real M/D specs.

 

[Pacific]

If your friend wants some info from guys with lots of tow experience gotta visit tow411.net yes there are tow guys on this site ie Calvin and Ibuytoys but that site has nothing but tow truck guys.

I kind of agree a 4500 is abit light for a rollback even a F-450 and F-550 are too light nowwadays for rollback trucks if you want to pack 2 decent size cars. I talked to one tow truck guy that runs Interntional (bug) and loves the truck its no a full low pro that runs 19.5 it has 22.5 low pro.

 

[Duke]

If I recall correctly the GM P-series platform is actually a Isuzu. Seems like that makes sense, as the D-max is a Shoo-shoo inbreed.

I could be wrong. I haven't eaten since noon, and my blood sugar is way low.

GM's been rebadging Isuzu trucks since the early 80's. Here's what I mean:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...=4543901554&rd=1&sspagename=STRK:MEWA:IT&rd=1

 

[towcat]

A friend of mine is looking at a 4500 for a rollback for his body shop. He is not getting a wheel lift as he needs it mainly for picking up and dropping off cars. GM has a 17.5k gvw option for the 4500. I was thinking that the truck and deck will be close to 10,000lbs or so. Is that low or high? Will this be enough truck?
GM has a zero finance rate for 3 years and 2 g's cash back thats why he wanted to get the 4500. I said get the 5500 but it only offers a 2 k better gvw and not zero percent and cash back.
Any idea on what a small IH truck under 26k gvw will run? The truck he is looking at is around 35k with out the body

Your friend is better off buying a higher GVW truck. I have a few suggestions from over 10 years of buying/building/selling trucks. Firstly, the 4500 looks, smells and will cost like a big truck. Here's the concerns.....the assembled empty weight will be closer to 14k maybe 12-13k on avg. definitely not 10k due to the weight of the motor, trans, suspension and rear axle. If you live in an area where the cops don't like "big trucks" going down residential streets, you are gauranteed to get hassled by a city cop. Resale. If it looks and smells like a big truck, you won't be able to get a better dollar later on if you are light on your GVW. Spec for the max legal GVW for whatever area you live in without crossing into class "B" territory. Whatever class "C" requirements are, there is bound to be more qualified employees that can drive the truck.
Here's my suggestion....either go with a F550 with a 19k gross and a alu. bed or go to the max legal GVW on any other "large truck" choice. Why the F550? To most city cops, homeowners assoc. and general busybodies, the F550 looks like an overgrown pickup. They won't bother you as much. Resale on these mini-brutes is good too since most potential buyers aren't as intimidated by the big truck looks. If you do go for larger, I think the general max GVW is 25.9k, go to the local legal max. Get the wheellift on the back. Its a good option for moving cars that are parked too closely to the hind end of your truck. The insurance is going to be brutal for a 17k or a 25.9k truck, so why sell yourself short in the long run? If your friend has any other questions he wants to ask, post here and I will try to help as much as I can.

 

[Joey D]

I did what I could boys, he bought the 4500 with the 17.5gvw. The zero finace and the rebate and out the door he went. I think it was around 37,000 with out the body. The upfitter says the total truck weight will be at 10,500 with the aluminum body, 19' no wheel lift. He has no need for the wheel lift as it will be mostly a pick up and drop off of customers cars. He is going with a Chevron body and I think he said it will be around 15k for the body installed. Thanks for info though

 

[Duke]

Hope he likes it.
Can't believe someone would buy a truck with 8,500 less GVW and less robust components with a similar price.

I gotta think IH has a better dealer service network, too.

Oh well.

 

[Joey D]

The price on the IH was almost 8 grand more. I thought it would be worth it but I am not paying the note.

 

[Duke]

8 Grand?

I'm looking at a 7400 series severe service 37K GVW with a loaded cab, AC, air seats, 300/860 DT466 and a Fuller 10 speed for $50,000. Can't believe a Lo-Pro was $45,000.

Doesn't sound right.

Oh well, doesn't matter now.

 

[Pacific]

Towcat brought up a very good point about looks you can get away with murder when you have a F-450 and F-550 because people do only think it is a regular P/U. In B.C. Canada a F-450 and F-550 is at that gvw class where it legally has to stop at highway scales and brake checks. You can blend into the traffic and its a hard time for the DOT to spot you or sneaking through residential areas that frown on bigger trucks.