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Take a 02 izuzu npr pull box off and put a roll back on with added bumper hitch for 2 car trailer and take the 5.7 out cuz it has 248k miles on it and drop in a 2012 6.0 with Allison 6spd trans which has 60k miles on it. Or just rock the 5.7 till she goes
the npr series trucks work nice as a rollback, kinda slow compared to some commercial chassis vehicles; however there maneuverability is untouchable. Mine with a 18ft bed can be turned around in the with of a parking lane at the local shopping center, makes in town work super easy compared to a conventional chassis truck.
would not recommend a rollback and two car trailer together though, as the original configuration is a bit underpowered. and a gas burner with alot of power will not get any kind of gas mileage pushing the brick down the road. the diesels are better than the gas engines on fuel mileage and have acceptable power and speed if you learn to use it correctly, they are small displacement and you have to keep them on boost to get the good out of them. as stated gas burners have more power but terrible gas mileage.
for comparison sake my diesel npr unloaded gets 14mpg, loaded typically can pull 10-12 depending on how heavy/un aerodynamic the load is.
my friends gas burner gets 11mpg empty and can eek out 7-MAYBE 8mpg loaded if he's careful.
https://scontent-b-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/...7d&oe=54F474ED
and before someone goes crazy about the load on my truck, this building was moved with all the appropriate over sized load permits, flag cars, lights, signage, and approved routes. also the drive and steer axle weights were checked to ensure the truck was properly balanced to haul the load safely.
well you are about to spend alot of money on stupid truck.
These trucks arent built to haul cars really or go over the road what so ever.
I would just buy a regular rollback and a 2 car trailer
I'd think that you're spending way too much money with those plans.
How is this any better than a rollback on an F350? I'd get a regular rollback, personally. The maneuverability of the NPR comes at a steep price. An F-350 or similar would probably be plenty. I had an E-350 box van with the 5.4. You'll want more engine for going down the highway.
Ideally, I'd think that an F-Super Duty (Basically an F-450) or a Chevrolet 3500HD (Same thing) would be overkill.
For the type of money, I'd take this truck: http://images.yuku.com.s3.amazonaws....00b8bca4_r.jpg
Out here, an NPR will cost you about $10,000- even with high miles. I passed on a 1999 GMC 3500HD Cab and Chassis for $1500. In hindsight, I wish that I didn't. But, point being- I think that the NPR project would be more costly than you'd want, and would involve a lot more effort than needed.
Just my $0.02
Quote:
Originally Posted by matador
here i had the exact opposite problem, i hunted for almost a year for a f-superduty or 3500HD chassis to put my rollback bed on and couldn't find one that wasn't completely ragged out for less than $9K, then i found a ready to go npr cab and chassis w/ 110,000 miles for less than $4k so i went that route.
yes, alot of highway time is a bit to ask out of the truck, but most of what i pick up is either in town or tight off road areas around farms were the maneuverability outweighs the speed disadvantage, i can haul at 60MPH loaded all day, and really carrying a car or equipment on the back i don't see any need to be able to go faster than that.
also i think an npr chassis is way better than a rollback bed on a f-350, the npr gvwr is 14,600lb (3500HD is 15-16k) vs. 10-11,000 of a standard dually and the brakes and axles are a world apart from whats under a regular one ton truck, i had a chevy 3500 with a ramp body and loaded it always felt like the brakes were working overtime to safely stop, where the npr feels perfectly capable even with a 6300lb lincoln navigator on the back.
I'm am not trying to start issues with anyone, i just thought i would reply with my experiences with these trucks, i was a bit leery of these trucks before i bought mine, but now i wouldn't go back to a conventional cab truck for anything, i love the maneuverability and fuel mileage of this one too much, and if you need more capacity there is the NRR series by isuzu, as well as some of the larger Hino and Bering cab-overs that go all the way up to 25,000lb gvw and even use the more common cummins 5.9l diesel and an aisin transmission.
The Chevrolet 3500HD is a 15k GVWR truck- way different than the regular 3500. The one I test drove felt like a tank!
Out here, good luck on finding any NPR. I drove one a couple of times. I borrowed one from a friend, and it was a nice truck! I love them. For $4000, if that NPR was in good shape, I would have jumped all over it!
also one thing i would like to point out that has been i think inadvertently brought up as a result of this thread is if your going to build a rollback/ramp truck/wrecker please if at all possible buy the heaviest class of truck you can to build it on; as i stated above i had a ramp truck on a regular 3500 chevy chassis, and i know people do it all the time but i never really felt the rear axle and the brakes were up to the task.
if you ever look up under an old f-super duty or 3500HD or npr or any of the other true "medium duty" cab and chassis options out there you will see what i mean, they have HUGE axles, brakes, and steering components compared to your average 1 ton dually, they are intentionally designed to CARRY weight directly on the chassis; all true medium duty chassis trucks have a solid front axle as well for this reason.
most 1 ton duallies can be upgraded with heavier springs and maybe even heavier rear axles and brakes, but you still have the limitations of the frame and independent front suspension, which with a heavy load carried directly on the chassis can make abrupt stops very interesting since the front end was never really designed to handle the extra weight that will shift onto the front axle in a quick stop situation.
may not make total sense to some reading all this, but trust me drive a loaded rollback on a 350 or 3500 chassis and drive the same load on a medium duty truck chassis and you feel exactly what i am talking about.