Any experience with Ford LCF cab over diesel truck ?

2008 year range used ones with similar features and mileage seem to sell a little less than Isuzu NPR's....but way less of them available for sale. Did Ford make them or just private label a truck made overseas ? The International CF500 looks pretty much the same...what is the connection ?

I don't know about that particular truck series but, International bought the medium duty line from Ford somewhere around that time frame. Although this truck looks more like an Asian "badge engineered"truck?

Steve

Don: I'm sure not US made ,a few years back that size/style truck was Brazilian made with less than a stellar rep.
John

Via more Google searches I see now that the Ford and International are indeed the same truck. International has two different versions however, the CF500 and the CF600....wonder what the difference is ? (look the same in pix) Re the less than stellar rep... looking thru ads I do get hints of that... one with "hole in block", another "salvage"....but also see a few with 250K miles in supposedly great shape....could be a dice roll.... Isuzu NPR's sometimes have major troubles too. Prefer another Hino but they are rare as hen's teeth in the smaller sizes. Nissan UD and M. Fuso's almost rare as hen's teeth as well.

The particular "powerstroke" engine in that series of truck has a horrible reputation. I read of some lawsuit related to the closing of the plant...I think in Mexico.

Tannewitz said:

The particular "powerstroke" engine in that series of truck has a horrible reputation. I read of some lawsuit related to the closing of the plant...I think in Mexico.

Click to expand...

Any idea when that was ? I've Googled four pages deep looking at Ford LCF reviews and complaints and all the engine failures I can find were in the 2006 and 2007 models..one of which was near me in Savannah, GA at 102K miles... (I'd love to talk to the guy but his last name is a letter only) But even that was a grand total of 5 failures for both years....however it may not mean much as 95+ percent of the effected owners probably don't bother to post their tale of woe on the internet.

Interesting I find absolutely nothing complaint wise on LCF's after 2007.....the one I'm interested in is 2008 with 107K miles.

(on edit)

Hmmm....now I see why....from another forum, below are LCF sales figures..
=============================
Can you blame Ford for dropping the LCF:
2007 - 2,914
2008 - 942
Jan 2009 - 19

I think the market has deserted the product and Ford knows it.
============================

As an aside, I got the idea for buying an LCF from a trip to Hilton Head yesterday looking for furniture where it seemed like every store had one of these. Probably because the Ford dealer is pretty big around here. Guess I should call them to see how they like it. Curious I can't find a single one of them for sale around here however...nearest ones for sale are 250+ miles away.

The LCF's I have seen use a V6 version of the Navistar/Ford 6.0 Powerstroke with a twin turbocharger setup. They are more reliable than the Ford version engines because they put out far less power, but they are still a piece of Navistar shit.

The V6 Navistar diesels are horrendous to buy parts for.

Garwood said:

The V6 Navistar diesels are horrendous to buy parts for

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Does that mean the parts are unusually expensive, hard to come by or served up by Count Dracula ?

The V6 parts can be out of stock and/or very expensive.

thermite said:

Five short years? Must be gettin' old FAST to rekindle 'lost love' for a Hino cabover box.....

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/v...cabover-pickup-197366/index3.html#post1286332

Maybe a box and neat-o liftgate atop a Dodge dually chassis ain't such a bad idea.

'Specially if there's a close-enough ready-made out there.

Bill

Click to expand...

Cazb over's drive differently, very much so.

With my NPR 12' dump bed, I could do a u-turn on a 2 lane dirt road.

That topic you linked to..... man that brought back memories, and I see
I provided a linky to a custom built model Cab made of wood no less.
(the Lowbuck tools catalog)

Seeing Milacrons ablilitys with woodworking, the Lowbuck wood cab truck might
just be the "ticket", based on the aforementioned, common Dodge dually.


BTW thanks to everyone that posted, I too was looking at a couple
of these (both the Ford, and the International versions) last summer.

thermite said:

Five short years? Must be gettin' old FAST to rekindle 'lost love' for a Hino cabover box.....

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/v...cabover-pickup-197366/index3.html#post1286332

Maybe a box and neat-o liftgate atop a Dodge dually chassis ain't such a bad idea.

'Specially if there's a close-enough ready-made out there.

Bill

Click to expand...

Looking at Hino 145 (below pix), which is not a cabover. Interest in the LCF is mostly because they are cheap for what you get. Cabovers have many disadvantages, but have many advantages...sometimes a toss up which way to go. I like the 14 foot box cabovers as you can park them in a regular parking space and the MPG is halfway decent considering.

Just now called one of the furniture stores with Ford LCF. Owner says no problems other than problems they caused themselves by not changing the oil for 15,000 miles (needed injectors cleaned) Now has 140,000 miles runs great, no problems "purrs like kitten"... Got another call into the service center in Savannah that works on them to see what they think. Top speed 80 mph according to the furniture guy !

For your possible humor- Talked with a truck dealer today about the Isuzu NPR he had for sale but then asked what he thought about the Ford LCF trucks. He then proceeds to go into this long tale of how he bought one four years ago for their personal truck. It was pristine and perfectly outfitted for their purposes, only 120,000 miles.

At 122,000 miles it threw a rod thru the block !!! Then he went into a tirade about how a new engine would be $17,000 !!! And there are no used engines of this same model out there. Four years later, he still has the truck...waiting on a fantasy used engine to show up.