[A/S] Arnie/Custom Trucks

["Richard McFarland" <estatewagons@xxxxxxx>]

Hunter - it's not unusual to see customized pick-ups/trucks like Arnie
refers to.

In rural Eastern Washington - you'll see a lot of older Toyota 4x4 "bobtail"
pick ups that have been customized to maximize there off road-ability
(by removing the rear overhang of their bed/boxes etc) I doubt they do this
for towing - it's mostly about serious mud slinging four-by-fouring.

The short overhang concept applies to serious over the road
tow rigs - Semi's etc.

We all know of Semi tractors as being "all wheelbase" and little if no
overhang.
The important thing to remember about semi tractors is that they are
designed to
drive "with" a tow hooked up.  When a short wheelbase semi tractor is driven
without a trailer...I'm sure they are a potential nightmare...white
knuckler.

I had the opportunity to purchase a mid-60's mid sized tilt cab Chevy mobile
home hauler that was a "bobtail" rig - the mobile home selectible height
hitch
was located directly aft of the axle - there was no overhang.  I finally
passed
on it.  It would have been a great toy to have had for the flexibility of
moving large trailers around...and it had a great engine in it...but it
would
have been a nightmare to drive without a load hitched up...and ultimately I
determined that the insurance factor was just too out of sight for me as I
was not able to cover it under a commercial policy.

In the meantime - Arnie is describing a logical tow rig set-up if one
chooses
to upgrade to a customized unit.  I've looked at a number of Ford "flatbed"
(i.e. Cab and Chassis rigs) in the F-350/450 SuperDuty catagory
and if I got one - it would be one with a long wheel base and a short bed
or in other words a minimal amount of overhang so that the hitch was as
close to the rear axle/suspension as possible.

In fact - Ford offered an unusual (at the time) model designed no doubt for
towing - back in the late 1970's (the model that was last built in 1979).
It
was a F-350 two wheel drive pick-up with a long box on it - but
the unusual part was that the wheel base was longer than the normal F-350
pick up (with a long box) and consequently it had to have a special pick-up
box
on it to allow for the wheel openings to be further back due to the longer
wheelbase (and it had a shorter rear over hang as well I seem to
remember)  It was easy to spot these unusual F-350s as they looked
sort of like an optical illusion...they looked longer due to the extra
distance between the front and rear tires and yet I think that overall
bumper to bumper they were probably the same length.  You could
also spot them as they had a spare tire compartment on one
side of the box (on the outside) as there was no room for the spare
under the rear of the box due to the short distance between the
axle and the bumper.

Just my thoughts - to suggest that what Arnie descibes is not unusual - just
maybe a little more custom and a little less recognized.  There's far more
than
"one" person out there applying that kind of thinking.

RL