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Always Kinda Liked This Style Truck

B

Bill VA

Well-known Member
IH Loadstar.

Anyone ever run one of these? Use to see them configured for all kinds of duty around here, lots of school busses built on these chassis too.

What was the good,mad and ugly compared to their competition back in the day?

If there were more time and money, might make a neat hay hauling truck.
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We had one, darn good truck. Had the 345? V8 in it. Can't say one bad thing about it other than top speed was about 55, loaded, and the pedal on the floor. All in all a good truck though. If like to have another one, and I don't even need it!

Mac
 
A lot of them used for milk trucks around here too. Canned milk boxes on them,2200-2800 gallon bulk tanks.
 
Style certainly wasn't it's long suit! But then when you look at others of that vintage... Remember a bunch of them around do they must have had some reedimg features.
 
Beginning in 1978 when I hired on with the State of Mi. as a firefighter, we used a bunch of them. They were the majority of the fleet statewide. Hauled a dozer on the back of them. Usually a John Deere 350. More recently, I worked for a cherry farmer hauling cherries. He had a 1970 and a 1972. The "new" one, the 72, hauled 6 tanks on the back and we used a tri axle trailer with 6 more. Quite a load for the old girl, but I did enjoy driving it. Now power steering, hydraulic brakes, (electric trailer brakes), with a 345 and a 5 speed with a 2 speed rear end. Lots of shifting, but they all shifted great and very seldom did you miss a gear.
 
I can think of 14 that I have owned and may have left out one or two. Got mad as H... Bought and new B160 took it home and two days latter saw these wide front loadstars sitting on the dealers lot. I actually had the first one in the country with air-conditioning. We took the compressor and parts from a travalall ih and fitted it to the 1700 with v345. Hated the typ wheels that one has.
 
Yep, Dad bought a low mileage one. Sound truck! Haul about 300 bu. of corn.....don't think he ever spent a nickel on it except oil and filter. 345 was a good engine.
 
We had one just like it growing up. Was a 66' with a 304 and 5 speed & ruxell. If you hit a bump too hard it would spring board your head against the roof lol. The engine was way under powered but like others have said it shifted beautifully. At the same time we had a 66 Ford with a 330. The 330 wasn't much better and the transmission ground like an ice machine but after we put a 390 in it was a really nice truck to run compared to the international.
 
I had 2 for grain trucks, a 1600 and 1800 I believe, or maybe it was 1400 ad 1600. Both had the 345 engines and 2 spd axles, the smaller had a 4spd and the larger a 5spd trany. Excellent trucks both of them. The larger was a county truck that had a tar tanker on it and about 12,000 original miles, the smaller was sold new as a farm truck and had 30,000 miles on it. Both hauled 400 bu, but the smaller one was a bit over loaded at that. I used to pull a 400bu gravity box behind them too.
 

The butterfly hood is fun when the wind catches it and drops it on your head....also pretty cool while speeding down the road and one side or the other comes unlatched and flops around....
 
I bought a 1700 new in 1976. This was the same cab it with one piece tilt up hood. Also after they upgraded the engines from 345 and 392 to 404 and 446. Mine was a 404 with the progressive 5 speed/ 2 speed axle, 14.5 Midwest bed with a tip top added. They were good ole trucks, when I quit farm g in 1978 the truck sold at my auction for $2500 more than I paid for it new,, such was inflation ar the time.
 
I just got a 1400 (1963 model) to restore. It has the 6 cyl engine--tag says 140 hp. Bet I'm gonna have a real powerful and fast truck. LOL. Of course, I'll part with it for small change if somebody really, really wants it. kelly
 
Brother has a 1600 with the Perkins 6.354 diesel, that truck hauled lots of grain, and used to make trips to Iowa from Indiana to haul Long grain bins home to be set up.
 
If you didn't have to drive it ALL day, it'd be fine. Just like the latest offerings from Navistar, if you have to drive 8 hrs or so, they aren't too cool. I drove a new 9900I for 1 trip and threatened to quit if I didn't get the 13yr old Louisville back.....I got the Louisville back, and the new guy got the shitspreader.
 
I have an 1850 with the 550 diesel in it 1974 model. It has sure been a good truck built heavy so you can't tear it up.
 
My brother used to have a truck like that. The best thing about it is that IH was designed to be a truck instead of starting out as a car and using car parts in a truck chassis.
True story: Decades ago, when I was going to automotive vo-tech school for auto mechanics, an old IH bus came in that had alternator problems. This bus had a genuine IH-built alternator instead of an alternator outsourced from another manufacturer. Our automotive instructors made us rebuild the IH alternator instead of swapping on a more common, reliable Delco. IIRC, it was much larger than the common Delco alternator and had about half the output. Replacement parts were hard to get way back then. But we did learn how to fix the thing instead of giving up and swapping in other parts.
 
When I drove bus I drove a '74 with a 345, a four speed, two speed rear, and a 65 passenger Blue Bird body. It was anemic with a load but the visibility was outstanding and if you used all of the gears and rear ended like you should it wasn't bad. The old ladies that ran them loaded and went straight through the gears and didn't split third complained. We ran those bias ply deep cleat tires from the Co-op on the rears. They would really get to rumbling.

The thing I liked best about stepping up to an '86 Ford (bus 31) was the body improvements but I hated that high back sears were mandated. With the low backs on the '74 I could see everything going on. I don't recall the 370 in the Ford being any more gutsy but it sure didn't cook you out like the IH. When I started the bus company I ran only Fords, but would have run those Loadstars if they were still that style.

Those '74's were the only buses the district owned that weren't Fords. If I remember right there was some kind of strike and the chassis couldn't be had by Blue Bird, and we SURE couldn't have anything other than BB. Buses 46, 47, 48, and 49 were Loadstars. Kind of odd to see them setting with about 75 fords. I kind of thought they were always neat looking and running old buses. That 345 never failed anyone. It seemed most of the Fords got a reman engine at about 90,000 miles. None of the loadstars ever needed a rebuild. The district was all rural and only ran about 150,000 miles before they aged out.
 
I had 2000 series twin screw dump truck. It had the 549 gas engine with a aliason automatic. It would leave the trucks with the 671 diesel in the dust. Course the engine wasn't completely stock! I still have a tilt hood for a 1600.
 
I'm partial to the paystar 5000 as I spent a few winters plowing as a wingman in one for our town. If I remember right ours had maybe a 290 cummins in it, but that was 21 years ago! Lol, but it was a very good truck, 2 wings, Viking front plow and sander, plus 4x4!
 
(quoted from post at 17:53:44 11/23/16) IH Loadstar.

Anyone ever run one of these?

What was the good,mad and ugly compared to their competition back in the day?
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Used to see them everywhere. Very popular truck. I've run mine since 1984 and love it. Used to regularly haul 350 bushels wheat to town when we still had an elevator. 304 with 4 and 2 could have used more power but it always gets the job done. Rolled it onto it's roof with a part load in the spring of 89 when I hit a soft shoulder but was able to drive it home after we got the oil out of the cylinders.
You have seen it in the Roosty6 videos.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNs5rQXlmqk

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My father bought a used IH, I don't remember any details about it, but it was probably an early to mid sixties model two ton. Winter in N.H. gets cold and every morning he would slide the bottom of a steel barrel he had cut off at about 6 inches high under that V-8 engine and start a fire in it. Then calmly walk off to do the morning chores, after 20 minutes or so he would come back to it and start the engine, couldn't start it otherwise. I also saw him use a propane torch to heat the gas line on top of the engine a time or two. He finally saved enough money to buy a new 1973 Ford F-600 with the 330 engine, life was better after that.
 
I had a 76 with the 345 and 4 and 2. Flatbed dump that we built on an old dump frame. Was a good truck, got the job done until I moved up in size. Still have the dump body.
 
IH also built this truck at the Doncaster works here in the UK using Perkins 6.354 diesel engines.
The haulage company who was contracted to deliver parts to the dealers ran a fleet of them and some
IH dealers used them as semis and low loading trailers. A friend of mine who is a keen IH collector
runs one to take his tractors of the same age to the tractor shows, very impressive unit. MJ
 
In the early 70's I had the dubious honor of driving one to pull mobile homes for a few months. It leaked around the top of the driver's door something fierce. No sun visor on the right side. The heater was pitiful and there was no driver arm rest. Other than that it was a pleasure. TDF
 

My father's 'Loadstar' was/is a 1600 he bought well used and worn-out. Had belonged to a construction company and had like 3 zillion miles on it when he got it.

The 345ci engine was so worn that it could barely get itself down the road to the farm...a compression check yielded not much compression. Pistons had so much taper they looked like ice cream cones! :shock: Cam lobes were rounded off... :( The carburetor throttle shafts were worn and floppy(like the pistons and cam) Sears supplied us a reman carb

That said I overhauled the engine after a re-bore and new pistons cam and lifters and it was a good powerful truck then. My best guess is father bought it because it had brand new tires all around

Had a weird transmission a five speed with an odd shift pattern...1 and 2 were up...3 and 4 were down with 5th up away from the driver. The Loadstar was equipped with a Rockwell 2 speed axel...and once it had a fresh engine was an amazingly powerful truck...about the fastest wheat truck I ever drove and unloaded could run with about anything else on the highway. Only grain truck I have driven that could touch 100mph!

There...I waxed poetic about a IH Loadstar(not my favorite brand of truck)
 
I had a 1970 model 1600 with a 453 4 cylinder Detroit diesel and 5 speed 2 speed rear I hauled show horses all over the US. Great truck ran cheap even when fuel was as low as 18 cents a gallon. Only problem I had one time was when blower shaft broke up in north Ga. still started and made it back home to Tampa Fl.Put a lot of miles on here. Wish I still had it but don't show or haul horses anymore.
 
Good trucks,the 304,345,392,were one of the few modern V-8's that I've seen where you could pull the lifters out and change a camshaft,without having to remove the intake manifold.
 
We had an old international stake-side truck for hauling my tractor and equipment around when I was a Wildlife Biologist. To offload I would back up to a bank and use a couple oak planks. Then they bought me a trailer to pull behind the old beast. Used air brakes which were patched way too many times, using plumbing fittings and who know what. Some times brakes failed all together. One time I came to a 90 degree turn in road, to go straight would take me into a factory entrance. Brakes failed and I cruised right passed the gate guard, into the parking lot before stopping. When Virginia started requiring CDL licenses, I brought the old beast with trailer attached. During exam brakes failed, examiner told me to go get a roll of electric tape to patch up leak!! Those were the days!!
 
I have worked on more than my fair share. They were easier to work on than a chebby are Ford. The hood, grill and radiator were no problem to remove :wink:
 
The Loadstar was equipped with a Rockwell 2 speed axel...and once it had a fresh engine was an amazingly powerful truck...about the fastest wheat truck I ever drove and unloaded could run with about anything else on the highway. Only grain truck I have driven that could touch 100mph!

There...I waxed poetic about a IH Loadstar(not my favorite brand of truck)
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The only way I could imagine 100 mph in a Loadstar 1600 is if it was being towed by something with 500 hp or fell off a cliff. I find 50 mph sounds like a comfortable rpm on my 304.
The only complaint I have on the truck is like many, brakes. I've spent a lot on replacing all the wheel cylinders (some twice), booster etc. Worst part is I can't buy a new brake drum for it anywhere.
 
Heres my 1969 Loadstar 1600 with 350 bushels of beans and with my 1456 IH heading
for a tractor pull..I also had a 1968 Loadstar 1800..
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Our 4700 is a lot newer than that. (1995) Has the 7.3 diesel. Don't put a lot of miles on it per day, but it gets run every day hauling TMR. It's been pretty reliable so far. A good winter starter. The one we have is a bare bones no frills truck. My biggest complaint is that the heater leaves something to be desired. Second biggest complaint is that there are soooooooooooo many variations, that getting the right parts from generic auto supplies can be interesting. I find myself just going to the Navistar dealer more often and saving myself the hassle.
 
(quoted from post at 16:09:55 11/24/16) Our 4700 is a lot newer than that. (1995) Has the 7.3 diesel. Don't put a lot of miles on it per day, but it gets run every day hauling TMR. It's been pretty reliable so far. A good winter starter. The one we have is a bare bones no frills truck. My biggest complaint is that the heater leaves something to be desired. Second biggest complaint is that there are soooooooooooo many variations, that getting the right parts from generic auto supplies can be interesting. I find myself just going to the Navistar dealer more often and saving myself the hassle.
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Ask for the build sheet. I have a 1978 2100A. Without the build sheet don't now what you have. I also bought the parts and service manual which help out.
 
I ran a 1979 as I recall, IH Cabover 18 wheel rock bucket for awhile after retiring, fulfilling a childhood fantasy. Back then we didn't have video games. We had sand piles and little trucks that we made things (exercised our imagination) like roads and buildings and all, hauled dirt around and went burrrrrrrrm burrrrrrrm as we pushed them along.

Friend had an IH Scout with the V8 and I was amazed at how heavy duty the engine compartment objects were. Apparently a drop in from a 1600 or such. Too bad they didn't keep the cosmetics up to appeal to the yuppie and yippie and those of us before, buyers. I think IH had one of the first 4 door full double cab pickups, didn't they? Neighbor has one down the street. Been parked for 20 years that I know. Has a Lincoln gas welder in the bed which has never been run since he parked it......whatta waste, but none of my business!
 
Friend had an IH Scout with the V8 and I was amazed at how heavy duty the engine compartment objects were. Apparently a drop in from a 1600 or such. !
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Its true and IH mentioned the fact in some of their Scout ads that their V8 was actually a medium duty truck engine. I had a 72 Scout II two wheel drive with 304 and automatic. It would get 18 mpg highway no problem. Rust was their downfall.
 
(quoted from post at 08:02:20 11/24/16) Heres my 1969 Loadstar 1600 with 350 bushels of beans and with my 1456 IH heading
for a tractor pull..
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I bet those front springs are curved down with that load judging by the near zero clearance between tire and fender. Or maybe you are running oversize tires? That is how my 1600 was when we got it in 1984. When it was at the frame shop for straightening I had the front springs re-arced and an extra leaf added. Amazing how it made the old truck sit up in the front after that.
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Used to be a pile of those around here. I first drove a 1600 with a 345 and a 5x2 transmission for my brother in law for bean and corn harvest. He also had an IH 1910 with a 549 and a 5x4 transmission.....that thing was a horse.
Later I drove a 1600 with a 304 and 5x2 for the farm equipment dealer I worked for. It had a tilt and load deck on it. One day I picked up four V boxes(2 stacks of 2), chained them down and headed home into a strong headwind. I never reached normal top speed of 55mph that day. I swear that when I clutched to grab another gear we backed up.
 
When I was 18 I worked for a summer in a local metropark system and got to drive a couple of 1600 dumps with 5x2. They used on the haul the Cat 933 and did that with a full load in the bed. FIL was on the local school board and the mechanics liked servicing the IH busses better that the others. I drove Scouts for a long time. One with a 4-196 (half of the 392) and one with a 345, 4-bbl. That thing could scoot but very thirsty. The 4-cyl was better in the snow.
 
When I enlisted in the Air Force, my job was a truck driver. There were a lot of the Loadstars in the fleet, either as buses, or stake/platform trucks. Those trucks had a lot of get up and go, but boy, did they like the gas. They were a lot of fun.
 
If I was going to buy an IH truck,it would one of the later S series with the tilt hood,instead of the butterfly hood.You would not have to stand on your head to work on the engine.The S series were good trucks,and IH/Navistar built them for a long time.Find one with a DT-466 engine.Mark
 
I have a 1966 IH 1600 Loadstar with IH 304 small block engine, two speed rear end, grain bed with twin hoist cylinders with only 74k miles. I used it in Georgia on my grain farm to shuttle soybeans, wheat, corn to elevator. Great truck for small operator, especially when it has a hoist. The only problem I ever had in over 20yrs of use was the brake system which was common on these old IH Binders. I've completed replaced everything in the brake system at least once except for the brake-ovator booster. Now it appears it has gone bad so that is on my list of repairs needed. I personally think the 304 is a bullet proof engine and has about the same horse power as the 345 but the power and torque band requires you to keep it revved up and shift gears with a full load going up hills. I used to run it empty at 65-70 mph until I put a tachometer in and saw the rpm's required to run over 60 mph. When I sold my grain farms and moved to a ranch in Texas, the grandkids insisted on bringing the old Loadstar and IH 3588 with us as that was their favorite vehicles to drive around, plus all my antique John Deere tractors, etc. Still have the Loadstar and use it on the ranch as a dump and trash truck or a backup hay hauler.
 
I rented a Ryder bobtail once with the 466. Drove mama's household furnishings from Lubbock to Dallas. At one of the rest stops midway, she said that I was running off and leaving her. I just grinned.....mom, I have to get up a head (of steam) to make it up the hills......white lie....really the 466 just wanted to run.
 
(quoted from post at 13:16:37 11/24/16) If I was going to buy an IH truck,it would one of the later S series with the tilt hood,instead of the butterfly hood.You would not have to stand on your head to work on the engine.The S series were good trucks,and IH/Navistar built them for a long time.Find one with a DT-466 engine.Mark
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I'm pretty sure the tilt hood and fenders became available on Loadstars starting in 1972. That would certainly make it easier to get at the engine.
 
Back in the '60's and '70's were million of them around me used as trailer and mobile home toters to deliver them around the country. That's back when we dominated the RV industry. Those things were a dime a dozen and worth every single penny. Very durable and rugged. None of the ones I drove or saw had power steering, and certainly no automatic transmissions. I have a friend that had one 4x4. Now there was a truck.

Mark
 
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