Wagondisaster

[Chris & Ranae Procyk <procyk19@domain.elided>]

(or Wagondisaster, based upon its suitability for 5th wheel towing use)

Oh, I am SO f*cking sick of that.  It's hauling our goosneck like a dream, BTW (at
a higher GVW than IH recommends for the Travellette, in fact).

Look, sorry about the language, but I'm mad because some IH employee
 jerk almost ruined my wife's visit at the Nat's dissing the WM and talking
up that lame super-cab.  And super cabs are LAME, why do you think they
keep making them bigger and adding doors??  Fortunately I showed up
before she decked him.

I'm not saying that you can tow a 3-car hotshot with a short wheelbase and the
hitch back behind the axle.  BUT, consider this:

I don't know how IH got mixed up as to how they positioned the WM in the first
place.  We have a 6-page color brochure with big 5th wheel towing picture and
full of text about the 5th wheel towing.

HOWEVER, if you read the spec's  fine print you find out that there were three basic models:
1010, 1210 4x2, 1210 4x4---AND ONLY THE 1210 4x2 was supposed to be used for
5th wheel towing!!!!!

So only ONE out of the three models?? The other two are a nice IFS truck and a 
killer looking 4x4 (referring to that mis-labeled Crismon picture)... but because
somehow somebody got mixed up and pushed the 5th wheel angle the truck has been
saddled with what (to some people) seems like an albatross.

And don't include me in that group.  Everytime I get out on the highway I see one
or two Suburbans or FS Vans hauling a really big, too big actually, tag-along.  Why
don't they get a pickup?  BECAUSE THEY NEED THE OTHER TYPE OF VEHICLE
MORE OFTEN... so they're stuck.

So, I make the following challenge:  Compare apples to apples, for once.
Get the biggest tag-along you can safely tow
(equalizer hitch included) with a TRAVELLALL (not a pickup!!).  Now hook the
equivalent sized goosneck to my truck.  Drive both, I'll bet the WM just out-pulls the
hell out of the Travellall/tag-along combination.  Simple math, my hitch might be
24" behind the axle, but the ball on a tagalong is another 36" behind that.  Do the
leverage calculations.

And, if you look at the standards for installing 5th wheel hitches,  technically you
CAN'T use a short box!!!  Setback is 42", to accomadate the 7' wide fronts.  So
to do it "right," even that stupid Super cab would have to have the hitch behind the
axle.

Not as far behind, but you can't define the playing field to your own advantage!!
So the WM would be OK to maybe 5 tons GV trailer  (although I wouldn't go over 4)
and the Super cab would be OK to 6 tons, so what??  If my trailer is 7500 lbs, why
should I settle for jump seats-- or a monster wheelbase??? Their are a lot of damn
nice gn trailers in that weight range.

Theirs always a savior vehicle that wasn't built.  ALL IH's trucks were failures by
the standard that they were out of business by the end of 1975, and I KNOW a
Super cab wouldn't have made a whit of difference.. in fact, it probably would
have had almost the exact sales and life of the WM.  The General looked at
Ford and Dodge's Supercab sales % and didn't even bother to build one until
when, the mid 80s??

So get off the WM's case, already.

**In Use**
'70 1200D 4x4 Travelette 392 4spd
'73 1210 Wagonmaster, 392 auto
**Prepping for Repaint**
'67 1000B step-side p/up  BG241 + 4spd
**Parts (future projects?)**
'72 1010 T'all  392 at, '67 1000B T'all 266 3sp, '68 1100C 4X4 T'all 345 a