towing with 345 IH

[bdavis441]

Anybody done much towing with an IH with a 345 gas and automatic? I don't know my gear ratio, but I can run 60+ pretty easy. Just wondering If it will pull a trailer okay (car hauler, or enclosed 20 or 22 ft.)

 

[Jarlaxle]

You want a tranny cooler as big as the radiator, and a trans temp gauge. Do not even think of doing this without at least the gauge.[/i]

 

[Steve-SKO]

The previous owner of my bus used it to tow horse trailers down to Missouri several times a year for about 15 years without any problem. Thats without an oil cooler or any other extra equip.

My bus has a 345 (2bbl) with 4 speed and 2 speed axle

 

[bdavis441]

Thanks for the info guys. That's kinda what I figured, not really worried about the motor, but get a big trans cooler and watch the temp. especially without a lockup convertor. I used a suzuki motorcycle oil cooler with two small motorcycle cooling fans (I ran a mc salvage) on a pickup I had, The trans would easily get over 200 degrees during a strong burnout and a 1/4 mile run at the strip, this setup would pull it down to engine temp (160) in just a few minutes, maybe I'll try that again.

 

[Griff-SKO]

I used a suzuki motorcycle oil cooler with two small motorcycle cooling fans (I ran a mc salvage) on a pickup I had. . .

I wish I could find someone near me that knew his way around a 1972 Suzuki GT-750 water-cooled 2-stroke triple. Mine needs the engine rebuilt and I have neither the time, tools nor place to do it. Anybody out there know anyone?

 

[bdavis441]

a Water Buffalo!
Cool! rare too.

 

[Griff-SKO]

a Water Buffalo!
Cool! rare too.

Thanks! I'm the original owner, and she was a daily driver until the oil port clogged while cruising and. . . well. . . I guess you know the rest of the story. She's been garage kept and is all original except for the handle bars, an added fairing, highway bars & the neutral switch that I had to replace (came out of a '74 I have for parts & had to modify)

 

[Slowpoke-SKO]

Bdavis,
Check the salvage yards in your area for a air conditioning condensor from a pickup or full sized van. (The part that goes in front of the radiator)
These make great transmission coolers.
Just have it flushed out good before you use it to get any gunk out of it.
Your radiator should have a small transmission cooler installed in the bottom, so plumb it so the transmission fluid leaves the radiator cooler, then goes into the top of the condensor cooler, then out the bottom and back to the transmission.
I'd put the guage sensor so it reads before the coolers. I had a truck years ago where teh transmission temp guage had been hoked up after the cooler, and I burned up two transmissions in 5 years without the needle moving past normal.

 

[hoser-SKO]

I was always told you need to put the after market or add on cooler before the factory cooler in the radiator so you dont cool the trans fluid too much, I guess too cool of fluid is as bad as over heated fluid, this would probably only be a issue in colder areas, if you cooled the trans fluid too much it would be warmed to the proper temp when it went back through the radiator heat exchanger.

 

[bdavis441]

I figured out I have a 392 instead of a 345, should make towing easier.

 

[Steve-SKO]

Lucky dog!

 

[Roasting8]

I second that.

 

[trentet]

If you need a reciever I know where you can get a good one

I also have an International Harvester frame with a Ward body and I wanted a class 5 reciever for it. It turns out that the 34 inch spacing on my frame is the same as the 2000 and later Ford F-350's and F-450's. after looking around I purchased a Putnam class 5 reciever with a 15000 lb capacity and a 1500 lb tongue weight limit from hitch-web.com for $280 which was $150 cheaper than the Reese hitch that had a lower weight limit, and the Putnam came with a 2" reciever not a hard to find 2-1/4" reciever. hope that helps