Mobile tool truck for contracting

[Matt018888]

Been busy, finally took the plunge and bought the shortest heaviest duty step van I could find. My 350 was over weight when fully loaded. It's a diesel, I can't stand up in it, carry all the weight I want and its substantially more truck than a Ford Transit. I struggled for a while between a tool trailer and this. Problem with the trailer is nobody wanted to tow it and they tend to be tough to navigate in tight suburbs. Anyway I love looking at other peoples cleaver ideals so I thought I'd share mine. After stripping the aluminum shelves we purchased DeWalt pack out system. I really like there drawers. I won't use them how most contractors would by bringing them into the site, I purchased them simply because I wanted to build lighter simpler shelves. I also wanted to pack all the tools up fast and be able to transfer them from truck to truck incase of break downs. My other van has really custom shelves and it took quite some time to setup and I don't think it's productive to keep building this way when we buy new vans. We also built a custom bumper with received so I can haul my generator without putting in the back and still tow my dump trailer. We added a full size microwave I had laying around from a previous kitchen remodel. I've used the truck now on 4 large jobs we usually park it onsite and leave it there. We are really liking it.

 

[Matt018888]

A couple more photos

 

[Matt018888]

Heres a couple of before and during pics, my father's a retired engineer and printed me a new shifter bezel and the old one wore off. Pretty neat "I thought"

 

[HoosierMark]

Very nice.

 

[Matt018888]

Very nice.

Thanks!

 

[nadogail]

Excellent

 

[cannuck]

I have built a few trailers from 36' up to 48' that have a genset, fuel, process plant, cargo area and tool for jobsite. The latter is by far the most difficult to facilitate so I would usually stock one set of shelves from 4' to 6' wide with stuff needed inside and carry some nasty big worksite toolboxes that would have to be forklift unloaded and emptied/set up on site. It is not an easy thing to do and I particularly like you solution to your needs.

 

[zimman]

Outstanding. Nice work dude. I'm obsessed with work trucks for some reason. Yours is very cool.
Zim

 

[Old tool guy]

I see a pretty stout padlock cover on the back door, how do you secure the front door? And do you use the center aisle for moving plywood?

 

[Matt018888]

I have built a few trailers from 36' up to 48' that have a genset, fuel, process plant, cargo area and tool for jobsite. The latter is by far the most difficult to facilitate so I would usually stock one set of shelves from 4' to 6' wide with stuff needed inside and carry some nasty big worksite toolboxes that would have to be forklift unloaded and emptied/set up on site. It is not an easy thing to do and I particularly like you solution to your needs.

I'm always trying new things and improving, for a while we used a tool trailer but found many places this proved to be difficult to either back up or manuver.

 

[Matt018888]

I see a pretty stout padlock cover on the back door, how do you secure the front door? And do you use the center aisle for moving plywood?

Actually they have electronic actuator locks that lock the vehicle down after 30 seconds, I have a key fab or key to unlock. The bulk head can lock down separately than the cab should you wish to leave the doors open to say grab a coffee and not want to lock it all down. They are pretty stout locks too. Onsite I have a fuel pump kill switch and we use one of those steering wheel bar locks as additional safety. We have transported plywood and foam panels down the middle works great, we usually leave the middle open as we leave this onsite. Commute back and forth and pick up materials with my other trucks.

 

[Old Man Roger]

I know I would take a turn too fast and half the tools would be on the floor.lol

 

[Matt018888]

Outstanding. Nice work dude. I'm obsessed with work trucks for some reason. Yours is very cool.
Zim

I know the feeling it's fun to see how other people layout and design there trailers and trucks. By me a step van isn't a popular choice or at least I rarely see them. I took the plunge and gave it a try,
Pros sharp turning radius, haul boat loaded of weight I believe gross is 24-25k, decent fuel economy with diesel 12-14mpg, can stand up, easy to customize, million mile aluminum body. Over built for what they are.
Cons, ugly, poor resale, more expensive to maintain, commercial insurance, only rear wheel drive, 10ft tall, no air! But with doors open it's fine!

 

[Matt018888]

I know I would take a turn too fast and half the tools would be on the floor.lol

They are locked in. We have tested it. Actually had a lady pull out Infront of me while doing 50mph and had to swerve around her the first trip to the job. Everything stayed but my little radio!

 

[Matt018888]

Heres some pics of how we laid out some of the tool packouts. Now I prefer the Milwaukee packout because it's been out longer and has way more accessories. But I wanted the DeWalt tough system for one reason... I love the drawer system. We have 8 drawer sections, cart base, and 14 boxes so far me and the guys like it.

 

[Matt018888]

We also upgrade the backup camera and installed a 2 channel stereo, Hulu girl "of course" and ship to shore power! And I'm sure I'm missing stuff. We worked on this over the course of two months when. We had down time or after work.

 

[Old tool guy]

Fuel cutoff switch is good, but i was thinking more of breaking in to steal the tools.

What brand motor, and what was the asking price for the van?

 

[Matt018888]

Fuel cutoff switch is good, but i was thinking more of breaking in to steal the tools.

What brand motor, and what was the asking price for the van?

2008, international vt275. Less than 50k miles. Probably won't believe me but
...Guy sold it to me for 4200 or 4800 can't remember lol. Went through the whole thing fluids change, new seals on breather, tires, batteries, and alternator plug and that's it.

 

[Aaron_W]

Thanks for posting the photos. I'm also fascinated with work trucks, mobile mechanics, mobile welders, plumbing trucks etc.

I don't know why stepvans are not more popular. When I started as a firefighter the department I worked for had a 1970s 3/4 ton stepvan as a hazmat truck. It had started life as some kind of US Air Force service truck before being acquired surplus and converted into a hazmat truck. It was tired (20+ years old at that point) underpowered, and overloaded but it had character.

 

[Matt018888]

I'm surprised there not. This one has a little pep to it's step. In my research while laying mine out I saw some people have done some pretty neat setups. As a tool nut this can be a addictive rabbit hole.

 

[nadogail]

I know the feeling it's fun to see how other people layout and design there trailers and trucks. By me a step van isn't a popular choice or at least I rarely see them. I took the plunge and gave it a try,
Pros sharp turning radius, haul boat loaded of weight I believe gross is 24-25k, decent fuel economy with diesel 12-14mpg, can stand up, easy to customize, million mile aluminum body. Over built for what they are.
Cons, ugly, poor resale, more expensive to maintain, commercial insurance, only rear wheel drive, 10ft tall, no air! But with doors open it's fine!

I remember the local bakery using one, I once drove a International Step Van, it impressed me with it's utility.

 

[carlaisle]

Awesome. I knew a guy who did the same thing with a big old RV after he semi-retired. He would do a couple of big jobs/year. Drive the RV up and park it on site until he was finished. Miter station, table saw, you name it, he had it all permanently mounted in there. The slide outs gave plenty of room to work. He kept the bathroom and kitchen. All the comforts of home combined with a mobile cabinet shop. Plenty of head room and he saved a ton of time setting up and tearing down every day.

 

[zimman]

I know the feeling it's fun to see how other people layout and design there trailers and trucks. By me a step van isn't a popular choice or at least I rarely see them. I took the plunge and gave it a try,
Pros sharp turning radius, haul boat loaded of weight I believe gross is 24-25k, decent fuel economy with diesel 12-14mpg, can stand up, easy to customize, million mile aluminum body. Over built for what they are.
Cons, ugly, poor resale, more expensive to maintain, commercial insurance, only rear wheel drive, 10ft tall, no air! But with doors open it's fine!

Ugly in a beautiful way. I'm not a mobile mechanic but I travel with a lot of tools. Always ready for whatever. I think it comes from my Scouting days and I'm prepared. LOL
Zim

 

[Matt018888]

That's really cool, I hand something similar when I started out working for a builder back in the day, I had a 95' wrangler. Carried a limited amount of tools but I got buy back then. I love the bed pullouts and always wanted to try those. I would love them in my wife's truck to just carry all the kids stuff like a bigger Manly diaper bag! Lol.

 

[mike93lx]

Nice setup!

You ever see Ron Paulk's videos on building out trailers for mobile contracting? Some really great ideas there

 

[Matt018888]

Yes I have, my very first trailer I copied his ideals, worked great for efficiency. When we got a new trailer I didn't have the down time to spend two weeks to build out all the customer compartments. (Was a real downside to the design) Eventually that trailer became a catch all. As we hired a couple of guys, none of them wanted to pull a trailer and slowly pillaged what was left. Now those trailers are long gone just have a dump and a open utility with a custom ladder rack we fabricated 8 years ago! But yeah those Ron setups are really slick and he has really put a lot of thought into efficiency.

 

[Aaron_W]

Manly diaper bag!

 

[Matt018888]

Well... Hit a doe yesterday. 55mph and the bumper saved me from having to replace a 3k fiberglass hood. No damage, just a scratch on the bumper and some hair stuck in the D ring. Other than hauling my generator out front I built it for this exact reason. Never finished the brush guard but I may have to get back into that project lol. I hate wasting meat... I was already late to a job so I couldn't harvest it. but I called a buddy down the road who took it. I argued with myself when building this because I didn't really have the time but I'm glad I did!

 

[andyvh1959]

Really cool. Given the way thieves are drawn to anything that stands out a generic white "moving van" may be the most obscure/least desireable, especially if nothing can be seen inside throught the windows. For my past job I towed a tandem axle hydraulic hose shop on site to customers, Inside I had multiple tool boxes, hand tools, hose cutting saw, hydraulic power unit, upright hose crimper, etc. The compnay had four similar trailers for the four sales regions. The trailers were plain gray outside, no company logos/signs, the usual trailer commercial style door lock systems. Yet one trailer was broken into using pry bars to force the doors open, and the thieves took all the tools and equipment, yet left all the hydraulic hose, hose ends, fittings, etc.

Meth heads and the like will break into damn near anything just to get stuff to sell for their habits.

 

[Matt018888]

Really cool. Given the way thieves are drawn to anything that stands out a generic white "moving van" may be the most obscure/least desireable, especially if nothing can be seen inside throught the windows. For my past job I towed a tandem axle hydraulic hose shop on site to customers, Inside I had multiple tool boxes, hand tools, hose cutting saw, hydraulic power unit, upright hose crimper, etc. The compnay had four similar trailers for the four sales regions. The trailers were plain gray outside, no company logos/signs, the usual trailer commercial style door lock systems. Yet one trailer was broken into using pry bars to force the doors open, and the thieves took all the tools and equipment, yet left all the hydraulic hose, hose ends, fittings, etc.

Meth heads and the like will break into damn near anything just to get stuff to sell for their habits.

 

[Matt018888]

The problem with thieves is they have all the time in the world to be thieves, since they don't work. They want it bad enough they will get it. I make sure I have really good coverage with my insurance. I park the truck in my shop when it's at home. When we leave it on the jobsite, we are typically in really nice neighborhoods with higher end homes. The truck locked down with big beefier electric lock actuators after 30 secs, I added a fuel shut off, and a steering lock bar. All the tools on the other hand are in packouts... Packed up like little gifts with a bow on top for convenient thieving lol. Last I tinted the windows because of the sun but also so people can't really see in.

 

[Bert_]

How long is the body behind the driver?

 

[Bunsen Honeydew]

Get some kind of grille screen before you lose your radiator or condenser.
Have you considered a loud, audible alarm system?

 

[Matt018888]

How long is the body behind the driver?

Something like 12-13' to the bulk head, with the sliding door open I can lay 16' down. I'm guessing over all 24' long. Shortest one they make, which I wanted to navigate neighborhoods. But they make them huge. The turning radius is ridiculous, very tight.

 

[Matt018888]

Get some kind of grille screen before you lose your radiator or condenser.
Have you considered a loud, audible alarm system?

Agree, was going to be part of the brush guard I never built but after hitting a deer I'll have to get back on it. No alarm yet. I should add it to the list tho

 

[andyvh1959]

Here in Green Bay a local non-profit bus transport company, and a school bus company had several cat-converters stolen while the buses were parked on their lot. Thieves use battery powered sawzalls and access under the buses made it easy for them. Looks like your truck is a good bit lower access wise than a typical bus.

 

[captaindiode]

Tom Silva on This Old House used to use a step-van.