International Harvester Pickuo Trucks

[AXE]

Anyone grow up with International Harvester pickup trucks? Seen this article and thought I'd jar some memories from some of you.

Not RAM, Not Silverado: The Truck That Built America Quietly

This unsung pickup brand didn’t chase trends—it built a legacy of durability and honest work that still earns respect today.

tork.buzz

My Grandpa owned an IH dealership, so we had serval in the family, including some Scouts too. They were work horses around the farm and dealership. We still have a few of them sitting around at the farm; including the only truck I had to drive in high school. This grey and white stallion was had a four speed stick and 4x4. My brother and I hunted and fished all the time with it too. We put glass pack mufflers on it and it sounded awesome!

The Scout Traveler was my gramps, I drove that a lot when we were moving farm equipment.

 

[KLA]

My uncle had the iconic baby blue and white Scout. Don't know what year it was but he had it for as long as I can remember. I remember back to at least when I was 8 or 10 years old that he had that Scout. That would be around 1980-1982. He kept that thing in immaculate condition and to this day my cousin still has it sitting in his garage long after my uncle had passed.

 

[AXE]

My uncle had the iconic baby blue and white Scout. Don't know what year it was but he had it for as long as I can remember. I remember back to at least when I was 8 or 10 years old that he had that Scout. That would be around 1980-1982. He kept that thing in immaculate condition and to this day my cousin still has it sitting in his garage long after my uncle had passed.

Yep, our neighbor had the baby blue one and ny uncle had the yellow Scout II. They got them free with a promotion that IH was running when you bought a 4x4 Tractor. We had bought brand new 4786 tractors, which was a huge workhorse for that time. We pulled 50 feet off tandem axle disc and 42 for chisel plow.

I put that Scout in the ditch when I was about 12 years old. My ol man sent me back to the farm for tools. Said 25 mph is fast enough. I had her wrapped up to about 50 mph as soon as it got out of sight. Got into some loose gravel and served side to side. I was up on the wheel like Richard Petty. Fortunately, the ditch wasn't steep and it was smooth. A lot of places it would have been upside down. I respected that gravel road from them on. Also, I wasn't out if sight, I got a good ass chewing when I got back.

 

[KLA]

Yep, that's the same good ol Scout, except my uncle's was blue and white. One thing he did, that I never understood when I was a kid, was to pop the hood but barely lift it up every time he parked it. He would only lift the hood a couple inches and leave it sitting like that, as if he was letting the .motor cool off a bit.

 

[scubatech]

I used to be in a very competitive Scout Club, called "The Binder Bunch". We had everything just about in those Scout's. I had three different drivelines, three motors in mine. I had a custom cam ground for my 345Ci, heads ported, headers, dual Flow master 40 series. This vehicle came with a diesel. I pulled it out and sold it. I wasn't impressed with the 345 IH. I was expecting more than it was designed to do. The valvetrain looks like it was cobbled out on a bench at a home shop.
I ended up with a 408 Ci, SBC, headers , Brodix heads, Blueprint Accel HEI, stud kit, Edelbrock manifold with a Q- Jet carb. No carb that I have seen works better off road. I also installed a stud kit. Detroit lockers in both ends. The transmission was a T-19 granny box, Dana 300 T- case. Back then a 33" tire was big, and 35" tires were cutting edge, huge. I would say that back in the leaf spring days we could perform with any Jeep. I had 10 years of fun with that Scout. We wheeled about every hard trail in those days from Colorado to the Sierra's. You could do most any trail on a 33" tire back then. Later I had a Wrangler, that I installed a 392Ci, Hemi in, 2014 model. With coils and modern 470 HP, it made my Scout look kind of bad, LOL. Before I got to be an "old codger", I thought nothing about pulling an engine or setting up a set of gears, LOL. Not invasive emission controls as they were in the 6200 pound exempt from catalyst range. A CJ with a 401 CI, would have been more of a kick- Ass rig, but Cats were required.

Some of the rigs in our club had 392 IH, 440 MOPAR's (3), 500 Caddy, 510 CI, Hemi. Anyway that's enough, you performance guys get it!

I sold my Scout to buy a serious ski boat. I was a pretty avid slalom skier back then.

 

[AXE]

I used to be in a very competitive Scout Club, called "The Binder Bunch". We had everything just about in those Scout's. I had three different drivelines, three motors in mine. I had a custom cam ground for my 345Ci, heads ported, headers, dual Flow master 40 series. This vehicle came with a diesel. I pulled it out and sold it. I wasn't impressed with the 345 IH. I was expecting more than it was designed to do. The valvetrain looks like it was cobbled out on a bench at a home shop.
I ended up with a 408 Ci, SBC, headers , Brodix heads, Blueprint Accel HEI, stud kit, Edelbrock manifold with a Q- Jet carb. No carb that I have seen works better off road. I also installed a stud kit. Detroit lockers in both ends. The transmission was a T-19 granny box, Dana 300 T- case. Back then a 33" tire was big, and 35" tires were cutting edge, huge. I would say that back in the leaf spring days we could perform with any Jeep. I had 10 years of fun with that Scout. We wheeled about every hard trail in those days from Colorado to the Sierra's. You could do most any trail on a 33" tire back then. Later I had a Wrangler, that I installed a 392Ci, Hemi in, 2014 model. With coils and modern 470 HP, it made my Scout look kind of bad, LOL. Before I got to be an "old codger", I thought nothing about pulling an engine or setting up a set of gears, LOL. Not invasive emission controls as they were in the 6200 pound exempt from catalyst range. A CJ with a 401 CI, would have been more of a kick- Ass rig, but Cats were required.

Some of the rigs in our club had 392 IH, 440 MOPAR's (3), 500 Caddy, 510 CI, Hemi. Anyway that's enough, you performance guys get it!

I sold my Scout to buy a serious ski boat. I was a pretty avid slalom skier back then.

Sounds like quite rig! I feel like i need to have one again!

 

[scubatech]

Sounds like quite rig! I feel like i need to have one again!

We definitely had a lot of fun. We also got to take the 4 Wheeler magazine people and Petersons 4 Wheel & Off road out for a day. They did some filming and a couple of my friends got full features in the magazines. My friend and I got to lead the fellow and his wife that owned a magazine and a machine shop in Colorado. Unfortunately they both died in a plane crash.
They used to have a Scout Nationals, in little Bailey, Colorado. I sold my Scout there. I'm not sure if it still exists today. I sold my truck in 1995.

 

[scubatech]

As you know they rust like crazy in the rockers and tub areas, even in the dry states out West here.
The 1980 is totally galvanized and is the one to get. The 1979 & 1980's had cat's. There so old now they may disappear, LOL.

 

[NullNomad]

There’s an old lady near me, probably in her 90s, that still drives hers every day. I’ll try do grab a pic of it next time I see it. She’s at Home Depot all the time lol.

 

[DNZR2]

I remember as a kid growing up my Uncle had a brown and white Scoot that he eventually gave to my dad. I remember him letting me drive it when I got my driver license. It was a great off roader when we went hunting.

 

[scubatech]

I remember as a kid growing up my Uncle had a brown and white Scoot that he eventually gave to my dad. I remember him letting me drive it when I got my driver license. It was a great off roader when we went hunting.

Scout's were really good in the snow! The engine sets way forward over the axle, and weighs somewhere around 800 pounds. It is a fully rebuildable industrial engine and very strong at low RPM's. Too many revs will likely shove the pushrods through those funky rocker arms. We used to have a fleet in 31/2 ton dump trucks with plows. They would run 80K miles at full throttle most of the time plowing snow. Pretty durable under that load. Later model trucks, (not any Scouts), had a 446 CI engine. Not popular and got 3 MPG when worked hard. The 466 CI diesel replaced most of them. The 466 CI was an excellent engine in a 31/2 ton truck. I spent a lot of time driving and servicing IH trucks in a former career.

 

[AXE]

There’s an old lady near me, probably in her 90s, that still drives hers every day. I’ll try do grab a pic of it next time I see it. She’s at Home Depot all the time lol.

That's awesome!