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Towing capacity of 1952 international harvester L 120
Ok I know this is a ford forum and I proudly own 2 other ford pickups but I'm looking for something cool and old. I found an old 52 international 3/4 ton that seems great(also looking at a 74 f250 and 68 f100 but not as much style).
Anyone know what the towing would be like on this? It's a straight 6, 4 speed with I believe a Dana 44 rear.
I need something cool and pin stripe able but can tow a 5000lb trailer on occasion.
I am not an international guy, however, the L120 engine was about 100 hp and 3.6 liters. I tow 5000 # with my 4.0 Ranger which is about twice the HP. I could not find the torque on the L120 which is the most important consideration for towing. It is a really nice looking truck but I think that if you are towing other than locally and on fairly flat country, 100 hp is a bit light. I am building my 49 F-1 to tow 5000# with a 383 GM performance high torque clone.
Torque would is between 210-225 hp depending on which version of motor the truck has. I'd only be hauling locally but would need to cruise the local highway to get around without a trailer at 60 mph
That's a nice looking truck! 3500 lbs is a safe number to use. I'd bet the brakes are the same ones as on a Ford F-1, and that's about all I'd feel comfortable towing. I think you are way high on that torque (HP?) rating, tho.
I'd guess that old binder has pretty low gears and has a comfortable top speed of about 50 mph. 5000 lbs would be overloading it IMO. Even if it could move that much, stopping it with 60 year old drum brakes would be, um, interesting.........
Nice looking old truck though.
If you have trailer brakes and spare underwear it should not be a problem.But I bet you only do it once.
That's too funny. But that IH is a cool looking truck. I'm happy for you guys willing to scrounge for parts but I decided on a mid-fifty Ford F100 with a chebby small block for cheap easy to find parts.
In 1952 these Trucks were designed as work trucks - The roads they would use were mainly dirt 1-2 lane and paved if you could find them were two lane asphalt or cement with a high crown - 45 MPH was about the max speed for anyone, except for idiot young punks in there hotrods (The 60's for me) - Since there was very little traffic out yonder the brakes were of little concern, unless you were in the Mountains, and were mainly used to slow down enough so that you could coast to a stop.
The above information doesn't work very well with todays road system and the increased traffic - Before towing work on stopping
I pulled an 8N tractor behind my F-2 to a power show about 20 miles away driving country roads. It was a challenge. I don't know how the guys back then were able to load these old trucks over the cab with junk and haul it across the state. My engine is a little low on compression so that plays a big part it in. I also had to anticipate the stops a lot sooner.
I remember my grandpa loading up his '49-50 GMC, not sure it if was a 1/2 or 3/4 ton, with junk for his cottage 175 miles away. He would put full pieces of plywood on the sides to hold all the junk. He'd head out on the major highway almost all the way. He diffenately overloaded the truck and he wasn't afraid to put the pedal to the metal. He did this on a regular basis until he got too sick to drive.
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