Service truck ideas

[GOOG]

I'm building a service truck (my second). I'm starting with a 1999 Ford F550, with an 11" Auto Crane utility body. I've built a new bumper on the rear, and a 26" X 36" slide out work bench. I'm putting a new floor in the back as well. I have plans for a bench grinder that will pull out of a compartment for use. I have a teloscopic two headed halogen light coming out of the full height compartment on the curb side. There will be a vise on the back of the left side of the tail gate. I'm looking for ideas that will make this truck easier or to use. Things that can be built in and pre-engineered so when I'm out in the middle of the night working on a machine that must run tomorrow, it will be as painless as possible. Thanks. - Tom

 

[marineengineer]

A big generator welder and a big air compressor and every big sledge hammer you can find with as many cheater pipes and pry bars as you can fit this site has a lot of info on service trucks and we used it to outfit a truck I helped to modify http://www.vannattabros.com/truck38.html. I think there was a few links off of this site that showed other service trucks too

 

[rockwithjason]

an inverter with some outlets for charging battery tools is handy too. i have a 1200 watt wired to several outlets around my vehicle.

 

[GOOG]

I should have said, I have a Miller Bobcat 225 already, and a good IR 30 gallon compressor. I'll have air and electric at the rear of the R/H side of the body. Probably have a reel inside the back compartment on th R/H side with a fair lead through the body.

 

[kald]

Definitely post some build picks.

I don't use service bodies but I'm always conscious of what I carry on my trucks, even with my c7500 because of fuel prices. I try to load out what I need and leave the rest in the shop.

 

[GOOG]

Definitely post some build picks.

I don't use service bodies but I'm always conscious of what I carry on my trucks, even with my c7500 because of fuel prices. I try to load out what I need and leave the rest in the shop.

I try to keep the truck lean and mean. But at any given time, I'll have a bunch of stuff on the truck that doesn't belong on the truck, while I'm hunting for it in the shop.

 

[kbs2244]

I have seen ads from both Cat and John Deere for combo units that have one engine for a welder, compressor, and generator all in one box.
A real space and weight saver.

 

[Fixnair]

You said you have a 30 gallon compressor. The tank size means very little when describing the performance of a compressor. What horsepower is it?
I have a 13' bed on my truck. The front 3' is dedicated to my air compressor, oxy/acet. Bottles, a 30 gallon crop sprayer W/12v pump and 3pails of oil.
The crop sprayer is filled with water and a little alcohol (in the winter). I have this piped ofer to one of my cabinets and attached to a 20' hose. I use this for washing up after a job and around here if I do any hot work I need to wet the area down.
The last two feet of the bed is a work table with my vice and pressure washer pump. Occasionally I have to pressure wash oil coolers that have become fouled with dirt. I removed the pump/engine from the frame and mounted them directly to the bed. I piped the suction directly to the crop sprayer tank. Don't know if you could use that.
I also have a 2200# Venco hoist and a 10KW generator/welder.
You will need a two stage compressor also. The single stage compressors are only good up to about 110 psi. You will need more pressure to overcome piping losses..

 

[sberry]

I have a heavy truck put really rarely need it anymore. Battery tools,inverter welder has made it so much easier to tool a smaller truck and experience helps as I dont usually need every tool they ever invented.

 

[GOOG]

My compressor is a T30 IR, it has a 12HP Kohler. I would guess it's 20CFM. My Auto Crane body has full height compartments for the first three feet on both sides. Then there is a small section of roof between them, The welder will go under the roof and the control panel will be seen inside the front comp. on the curb side. That will also have the torches in it. The tall comp. on the street side will have a Craftsman lower and mid tool box in it. I have one in a car trailer that has a latch system on the drawers that keeps them in while driving that I really like.

 

[kald]

I try to keep the truck lean and mean. But at any given time, I'll have a bunch of stuff on the truck that doesn't belong on the truck, while I'm hunting for it in the shop.

Me too! Nothing pisses me off more than looking for something in the shop for two hours only to find it in the bottom of a truck tool box.

 

[Fixnair]

Nothing p-/:;()$& me off more than diving 8 hours to a job and not having the necessary tool. When I'm in the shop I work out of my truck, I consider it my tool box.

 

[GOOG]

I just took a bunch of pictures of the truck. I have to figure out how to put them on here. It's snowing like crazy here today. We just built a nice fire, and am putting the new diamond plate floor in the back.

 

[-->]

Nothing p-/:;()$& me off more than diving 8 hours to a job and not having the necessary tool. When I'm in the shop I work out of my truck, I consider it my tool box.

Ditto. Everytime I don't take my truck somewhere I kick myself. Although, when I do take it I never need anything on it. Go figure.

 

[Spareparts]

When I built mine I put the 30gal tank under the bed between the frame rails, sure freed up a lot of bed space, put the compressor head on top of the tool box and ran it off a hydraulic motor instead of gas engine. Are you building your bed or starting with a service body.

 

[NJHandyGuy]

tom at teh risk of asking a stupid ? wouldn't it just be easiewr to buy 1 i live 5 minutes from you should you need help but honestly the cost of boiodies at jtec in wall or mechanicstrucks .com barely pay for any metla you might use

 

[GOOG]

.......... Are you building your bed or starting with a service body.[/QUOTE]




I'm starting with an 11' Auto Crane utility body. It needed a new floor and a new step bumper. It came with an air compressor. It is split, the pump and engine are on the street side and the tank is on the curb side.

 

[GOOG]

tom at teh risk of asking a stupid ? wouldn't it just be easiewr to buy 1 i live 5 minutes from you should you need help but honestly the cost of boiodies at jtec in wall or mechanicstrucks .com barely pay for any metla you might use

The body I'm semi refurbishing, is about $50K to buy new. It won't be new when I'm done, but it will work fine for me for a long time. Where are you located. My shop is near the reservoir in Howell.

 

[sberry]

I share some specialty tools with the shop, I keep the power threader and some 3/4 drive some stuff on the truck but I have double everything common so I dont have to rob the truck for a grinder or other hand tools, drill etc.

I was on the road a while back and got a call which I needed to handle, was nice to be able to call up my neighbor and tell him its all on the truck.

 

[64Trvlr]

One of the things I did to the service beds on the trucks I had was putting switched lights in the bins. I HATE trying to find stuff in a bin in the dark with a flashlight in one hand and the other sorting stuff.

I also put those rubber mounted tractor lights under the bed pointing out at 45* in the rear and straight out under the sides. On one of my trucks I had a light on the end of the autocrane that I could move, that kicked ***. If you spend time working at night light is your friend.

I also plumbed air out through the bed in 4-5 different spots and in the front bumper. Don't forget big 12V posts on both ends of the truck to jump stuff with.

Good luck with it and post lots of pics as you go.

 

[kf4zht]

Second the lights in the cabinets. Also make sure you have a couple fire extinguishers, 10# ABC's are a good choice. On the FD we ran several calls for farm machines caught on fire after a welder ignited leaking fluid. Most of the time there were no extinguishers to be found, or those crappy 2.5lb plastic nozzle ones.

I would recommend a 24-36" universal key (bolt cutters). If you have the room under the truck you may want to look at a PTO generator and inverter welder (depending on what your welding). More power, less weight.

Don't forget the little items. A HF drill pump and 2 6' pieces of hose can be a lifesaver when water or fluid is in the wrong place. Some cheap twine for when you have to tie something out of the way or make an emergency pull starter. A welding blanket not only protects from heat but can give you a clean place on the ground to lay out parts.

Most of my exp is from fire dept (and fixing FD trucks in the field when something breaks).

 

[Joe69]

One of the best things I did was to add a couple of 12v magnetic lights with long cords and large alligator clips. I hook them to the big 12v jump starting posts mentioned above. I have one mag light that is hard wired with some extra length of cord wrapped around it. I usually leave it where it is, but sometimes move it when I need to.

I carry almost all my tools, because like a previous post said, it's irritating to drive hours away, only to find you need a tool you have back at the shop.

Joe

 

[All]

tagging this thread for ideas for my smallish service body

 

[gte718p]

So silly question, what is it you are planning on servicing? I would setup a road side assistance for big rigs different from a construction equipment service truck and different from a farm support truck.

I don't have a lot of experience with tractor trailer support, but for construction and farm equipment a big winch is important. A 550 with service bed is a big truck. Probably 20k winch min. Expensive up front, but cheaper a couple of tow outs.

High output alternator. Battery isolators and selection switch. Anderson connectors front and rear wired with 2/0 wire. 25 ft jumper cables and 50 foot extension cord wired with 2/0 wire and Anderson connectors. Farm equipment especially never seems not not start in a convienten location.

 

[geotek]

I've been driving past a service truck that is for sale for about a month now and decided to stop the other day. Its a 1999 Mitsu Fuso with 145K on the odometer. Its got a utility bed with the center section setup with a metal lockable cover, a hose reel, a rack for oxy-acetelyne tanks and has a crane. The asking prices is $9,400 (rounded). To be fair, I don't actualy plan on buying it. I think it would be cool to have and i'd probably get a trailer and use it for collecting firewood and other misc. projects. I have some suspicions about how well its been cared for since the crane was obvioiusly painted with a spray can and none of the decals were taped off (overspray), they didn't clean the zurk fitting (paint covered grease) and didn't scrape off the rust (paint colored rust) so I wonder about the condition of the chassis.

But that asside, is it worth it? And what should someone look for when buying a service truck?

 

[CreekWV]

Ditto on the fire extinguishers. I almost lost a brand new f-350 a couple years ago. Had an aftermarket inverter mounted in the floor on the second row of the crew cab, and it shorted out and caught fire. Was able to use the fire extinguisher to keep the flames at bay while I disconnected the thing from the truck. It was only a few inches from the cloth back of the front seats.
I heard the replacement unit did the same thing a year or so later.
Third unit went in a belly box under the flatbed.

So: quick battery disconnects are nice, putting heavy electronics outside the cab is good, and fire extinguishers are mandatory.

 

[Dick in Wisconsin]

So: quick battery disconnects are nice, putting heavy electronics outside the cab is good, and fire extinguishers are mandatory.

Put one or two of these on the positive line between the battery and the main bus. Put them were you can get at them quickly ... in the cab, under the hood, etc. Page 180.

http://behlingracing.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Catalog-12-176-185.pdf

That way you can very, very quickly turn off the juice when something shorts out.

Hint ... if you use multiple switches ... hook in them in series, not parallel. Using two batteries? I've seen switches that work with two batteries; giving you on-both-left-right.

 

[All]

When I first fancied the idea of having a service body, I thought that I would keep all of my tools in it, that way I'd always have all my tools with me wherever my truck is.

That was the fantasy.

Here's the reality:

1. I own more tools than can fit in the secure sides of the service body I have.

2. The types of tools needed depend on the type of job being undertaken.

3. Leaving expensive power tools in the service body is a real security risk where I live.

4. The sun's HEAT bakes the contents of the service body cabinets as if in an oven.

5. My truck's stiff rear suspension (an F-550, like the OP's) bounces, bangs, jostles, jitters, and generally beats on all the contents in the service body cabinets.

6. Keeping my more expensive tools protected from the "nice" to me means storing and transporting them in their original blow molded or metal carrying cases, which are impossibly large and too bulky to fit in the service body cabinets.


There are some other cold hard realities as well, but the above are what came immediately to mind. So what I ended up doing is having a set of tools dedicated to the truck. This eliminates the concern about theft, as usually the cheaper tools are the ones allocated to the truck. The down side is that I'm always using crappy tools when working remotely out of the truck.

 

[kbs2244]

Cushioned bottoms to any and all tool drawers.
And maybe that egg crate type foam on top of the tools to keep them from rolling around.
Maybe a bit of a nuisance to move out of the way.
But not as bad as digging through everything that has rolled up to the front because you had the hit the brakes hard.

 

[All]

Ha... I cushioned lined all of the shelves in my service body the day I brought it home.

I started with the tool liner stuff... the same type of product used to line tool drawers.

Heat baked it onto the shelf and the tools that were in direct contact with it. Well, a day of unloading the service body, unbolting the shelves, and scraping that shT off without gouging the galvanized coating too much, as well as cleaning the residual foam goo off of the tools, I tried a few other similar type of products, closed cell, high density, etc. I've had the service body for over a dozen years. The sticking foam routine gets old.

The best liner I have found to date is free cardboard. Cut up boxes fitted to the shelf. The heat doesn't effect the cardboard like it does foam and sponge rubber.

I've also encased most items in small cardboard boxes now, and am transitioning to more water proof clear plastic boxes obtained from the housewares department of a variety of stores I might otherwise have never heard of were it not for the fairer ***... like Marshalls, Bed Bath and Beyond, Hold Everything, etc. The trick is finding the boxes that fit inbetween the shelves, and through the door, while maximizing controlled space, and still fitting the tools attempted to be stored.

 

[kbs2244]

I have never had a service body truck.
My suggestion was based on how a friend of mine did his.
I did "trick" it up a bit though.
He used plush carpet both top and bottom.
He nevr mentioned heat problems, but the carpet had jute backing.
He said it was a lot more quiet too.

 

[gte718p]

Put one or two of these on the positive line between the battery and the main bus. Put them were you can get at them quickly ... in the cab, under the hood, etc. Page 180.

http://behlingracing.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Catalog-12-176-185.pdf

That way you can very, very quickly turn off the juice when something shorts out.

Hint ... if you use multiple switches ... hook in them in series, not parallel. Using two batteries? I've seen switches that work with two batteries; giving you on-both-left-right.

175 amps is not a lot for a large diesel. I prefer this switch with a 2000 amp peak and 600 amp continuous. I have one under the hood, and I'm going to mount another to under the bed to disconnect the Anderson connectors under the bed.

 

[All]

I suspect the heat in my service body is due to color. Most service bodies are white. Mine isn't. The carpet with jute padding is a good idea for quietness. However, once the carpet gets greasy or oily, it can't be just wiped clean with a rag, a Starbuck's napkin, gas station paper towel, or whatever's handy (all items I've actually used on the road in an effort to keep tidy). I can especially see staining and ruining "plush carpet." And then when the doors are open in the rain, there's the mildew issue.

That being said, there are some "outdoor" carpets that I might look at, based on your idea. In the meantime, cardboard looks hoky-doke, but it is very cheaply replaced (as in free) and is a lot easier to cut and trim into the shelf trays.

 

[Strouty]

I spent some money on my liners, they were snap together mesh squares, it protected the tools and raised them up in case a door didn't get shut all the way or was wide open when it started to rain. It cost me about $300 to purchase, but I used it in two utility trucks and then some gang boxes after that. So in reality it only cost about $30 per year.