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| IH-4300 Farm truck |
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After a decade of having the 1996 model, we decided to upgrade, and purchased another lease return with a van body on it. This turned out to be a 2006 IH 4300 series with a 26 foot van. As with we did with the 1996 model we removed the van, and had a dump bed and hoist installed.
This time we had we went for a maximum length dump bed, and ended up with a 23 foot bed that would still dump at a reasonable angle without the back hitting the ground. This is probably longer than would normally be ordered, but we needed the length to haul the 'fish sticks' for reclamation projects.
While the hoist is an off the shelf Harsh Hoist, the other new wrinkle is that it is equipped with an electric hydrualic pump instead of a PTO system. The Electric system takes advantage of the much more robust electric system now standard in all vehicles. The electric pumps are much slower but for occasional dumping more than adequate. Were I using the truck routinely as a gravel truck where the hoist was lifted many times a day, I would stick with the PTO system, but for occasional dumping the extra minute for the bed to go up is no big deal. The electric systems are also much less expensive. PTO's are becoming a major issue particularly with the trend toward auto transmissions which may or may not have a suitable place to even mount a PTO, and which will likely in any event require a power shifted PTO which is quite expensive.
One that that is an increasing issue with these vehicles are the electronics. They are heavily dependent on them and have plenty of parasites. We've found a battery disconnect switch to be a necessity, if you are going to leave the vehicle sit around for an extended period of time. The electric clock will forget what it's doing every time you disconnect the battery, but it saves a lot of boosters getting the truck started when you need it.
The other irritant that I identified right away is the water level sensor. It gets real excited and shuts you down if you are low on water. The sensor is in the overflow tank just even with the add water window. Consequently, it can look like it has enough water, but get off level, or hit a bump and it will shut you down. I carry a quart jar of water under the seat to top it off for these occasions because they can be real annoying.