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Your Favorite Ranch Workhorse Pickup?

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Mountain Cowgirl

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Mine was my 1965 International 4X4. I wish I had kept this old mule.
I hauled cattle, Tamarack fence post piled high, hay bales stacked high, etc.
What was/is yours?

Int PU.jpg
 
Well there are trucks and then there are Dodge's!!! My two Dodge trucks have been wonderful ranch tools. My old 01 was a great truck. Put almost 400 thousands miles on it. Sold it this year and about broke my heart. My 2011 is amazing. So let's end this thread and all agree the Dodge is king?
(And that's how the fight started)😁😂
 
Well now, Dodge may be the king these days, but until 1975, they sucked hind teat compared to International. I had a Dodge before the International and yes it made those urban diva sissy pickups like Ford and Chevy look pitful, but not until International quit making pickups did Dodge become king. 1907 to 1975 IH was the king, hahaha!
 
Right now I like my Dodge 2006 long box regular cab Power Wagon for driving through the pasture. Rides pretty darn good, has good clearance and a winch.
I have a 2003 3500 with a deck that is used for the Feed box for pellets, hauls a tote of water behind the feed box, is a 4 door so has more cab room and a 5.9 Cummins so gets pretty good mileage.
For pulling I have a 2012 3500 with the bigger Cummins and it's deleted and no DEF. Pulls like crazy, and rides nice down the highway.
Each has a job and they do it well.
 
My grandma had an International Scout. It was the coolest old critter. Almost like a Ford Bronco. We had a lot of fun in that Scout. My dad had an IH dusky with a stock rack. We hauled a zillion cedar posts and lots of stock in that truck.
We had 2 Scouts. The first one we bought in 1989, it was a 1973 with 40,000 original miles. It belonged to a priest in Anaconda, Mt. We used it for YEARS. Mr. FH said it could climb a tree! Semi ran over it 😥 bringing a load of mineral into the yard. We then got a 1982 buckskin colored Scout with automatic transmission and air conditioning. YAY! So we had one for parts and one to drive. We finally gave them to our grandson, who took the top off the '82 and had a lot of fun with it. He worked on them, repaired them and loved them. I think he learned a lot from those old Scouts. He wound up selling them to a guy in Louisiana for a good amount of money. After that, we got an Xterra and it was good too, but we only had it for a short time....and someone borrowed it and wrecked it. We didn't need an outfit like that any longer, so we bought a side x side....
 

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Well now, Dodge may be the king these days, but until 1975, they sucked hind teat compared to International. I had a Dodge before the International and yes it made those urban diva sissy pickups like Ford and Chevy look pitful, but not until International quit making pickups did Dodge become king. 1907 to 1975 IH was the king, hahaha!
My dad was always a FORD man. Mr. FH uncle and cousins were IHC people. First time my folks went there for a holiday dinner, my dad said, "I'm sure glad my Ford made it out here to this International Country!" It was a good joke for years.
 
We have two Fords. A 1987 F-350 flatbed which is the feed truck. It has seen better days but it starts every morning and gets the job done. The other is a 2002 F-250 with the 7.3 power stroke. It has over 290,000 miles. It is my everyday driver, trailer hauler, and a dependable running vehicle. I don't care what make it is, they all beat a horse and wagon or walking.
 
Here is a picture from about an hour ago. Its 400 small block,np435 four speed,205 with dana 60s front and rear.
The top gold truck in the first post has a 460. Its only 2 wheel drive but it has air and rides great.
 

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I grew up using a '53 International one ton 2wd. No extra power but tough, hauled a ton of feed and rode better. Folks bought a '73 Travelall to use for a rural bus route,that 345 v-8 was a beast. Since IHC quit the pickup business we have gone the same way as Evans and I got lucky enough to marry into a like minded family. We had a '78 just like your feeding rig, should have never sold it. I have an '07 gasser with the newest Hydra-bed on it, a '94 350 crew cab with a 94 Hydra-bed, and a 98 F-150 that rides nice and keeps miles off a feeding rig. I guess they are what I know how to fix. If I ever own another Superduty it will have to have a 7.3 diesel to compensate for their other shortcomings.
 
Here is my favorite. Its a 72 and a strong runner. I've also got a 81 Chevy one ton 4x4 with a Cummins and my newest and least favorite is a 1990 dodge Cummins 4x4. I would like to swap the drive train out of the dodge and put it into something cool someday.
 

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Haha I'm curious, what are you trucking on the pallets?
You and Mr Faster Horses must be like Goliath in the Bible if you loaded all those small squares by hand! You must have some kind of way to load them with a machine?
 
2016 Dodge 3500 4x4 with Hydra-Bed bale hauler/caker. This outfit can haul and roll out two 1600 pound bales of hay, plus 1,000 pounds of cake. The basket on the front grille guard is hold net-wrap that is cut and collected. One person can cake a bunch of cattle, then feed the bales of hay while the cows are enjoying their cake "dessert" before their main meal of hay. The driver can then check the cows and baby calves on the feed ground. This feeding system allows an old geezer such as myself the ability to still accomplish a lot of ranching, without undue physical work or mental effort.View attachment IMG_1192.JPG
 
2016 Dodge 3500 4x4 with Hydra-Bed bale hauler/caker. This outfit can haul and roll out two 1600 pound bales of hay, plus 1,000 pounds of cake. The basket on the front grille guard is hold net-wrap that is cut and collected. One person can cake a bunch of cattle, then feed the bales of hay while the cows are enjoying their cake "dessert" before their main meal of hay. The driver can then check the cows and baby calves on the feed ground. This feeding system allows an old geezer such as myself the ability to still accomplish a lot of ranching, without undue physical work or mental effort.View attachment 767
Soapweed agrees with me!!!!!!!! On a side note- Soap ya May wanna go make sure ya didn't lose your marbles because agreeing with me is a sure sign your gears may be slipping 😁
 
Haha I'm curious, what are you trucking on the pallets?
You and Mr Faster Horses must be like Goliath in the Bible if you loaded all those small squares by hand! You must have some kind of way to load them with a machine?
We do have a 10-pack bale handler to load the bales with. Works really well and the horse people we sell hay to love it because they don't have to load those little square bales by hand.
The pallet load is Vigortone mineral that we were delivering to customers.
Gee, I'm glad you asked. 🤣 (Saying that because those with a history on this forum
pretty much knows that, but I never mind mentioning it.)😊
 
We do have a 10-pack bale handler to load the bales with. Works really well and the horse people we sell hay to love it because they don't have to load those little square bales by hand.
The pallet load is Vigortone mineral that we were delivering to customers.
Gee, I'm glad you asked. 🤣 (Saying that because those with a history on this forum
pretty much knows that, but I never mind mentioning it.)😊
I had no idea you used to sell mineral 😂😂😂
 

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