Over the winter I completely gutted and redid the box truck that my employee drives everyday. Here’s a quick video of it. I plan to do a more detailed video when I have it 100% complete.
I’ve since added the roof pump and reel and I still need to install and plumb in the 65 gallon water tank for the pressure washer. I’m still tweaking a few things here and there as I get feedback from my employee. For instance we found better style bins for the towels and also have moved where he hangs his tool belt.
I mentioned earlier this year that I traded in the Tundra for a new truck. I wasn’t even looking to replace it this year… I was with my wife who was looking for a new vehicle. So as the designated chauffeur for the day one of our three stops was at the Ford dealership. I’m kinda hanging around looking at vehicles I’m simply not interested in and I notice my wife standing by a truck she said we were there for her to test drive the explorer. I walk over to stand beside her and asked “why are you looking at trucks”? She says " I would drive this" and I think to myself… well then I need to buy this. The salesman comes over, says hello, and my reply is “I should not be seeing this truck”.
Any of you who are familiar with my previous 2 builds (Tacoma and Tundra) are aware of what I deal with regarding winters off and boredom. I have spent roughly 2 months working on this mostly custom build and so far, the frustration and patience is paying off. It is not completed yet but can be worked out of proficiently and better than expected.
The truck is black with red accents and with the last two trucks, the themes were both in blues… both very different. At first I struggled with how I was going to lean towards darker tones with red involved but I think we have it figured out. Over the years I have followed a designer from Russia who creates the sickest designs (I even emailed him) and found something my designer is working on to not duplicate but to modify as a jump off with what I have in my head.
Below are some pics of the truck before the build.
I got a trailer this year. Was going to go get a truck but decided to just spit shine the old blazer a bit so i can save enough to buy one outright. I don’t really like taking out debt.
I wanted a smaller bed with my next truck anyhow but did not realize the challenges ahead in not only accommodating the necessary equipment but to build it in a way that allowed me to efficiently work from. I figured that a smaller bed would keep me honest with dropping all other services and focusing on window cleaning only. The bed became a nearly 2 month build with so many components needing to be modified for fitment and fabrication of much more.
I live in an assoc. so the truck has to be garaged due to the graphics. I actually brought the truck home prior to buying to make sure it would fit… literally 2" to spare. Bought the Thule xsporter pro in black because it is adjustable both in width and more importantly because the truck is lifted, in height. I had an older rack on both the Tundra and Tacoma and was happy with enough to stick with Thule again.
Started the bed build with a line-x spray in bed liner and installed a decked system. For any of you looking into this, the drawers are large, glide smoothly, and is well built (can support 2000 lbs.). You do loose usable space due to the hollow areas within the design and the top of the system covers over the wheel wells. They even have pull out storage units that lock into the bottom of the drawers preventing them from sliding. It is also lockable if need be.
So now that the truck has a 6" lift on 35’s and the decked system brings the floor of the bed up an additional almost 13", how am I going to get the remaining gear in and out of the truck? The next component became a pull-out bed slide. There are many different slides on the market but I chose Bedslide. This is well made, quite strong (this model supports 1000 lbs. fully extended) with quality felt in how it glides in and out of the truck. Has three separate locking positions and a large number of accessories to accommodate all kinds of gear. Biggest problem with this slide is that it was 48” wide and would not allow the utilization of the bed side mounted tool boxes (which were difficult to find fitment with regards to the decked system). So, we cut it up! Now the four major components are installed and working flawlessly.
I had nitemares with my new rig. I had to raise the header on my garage. I measured the length , but didn’t have the opportunity to drive the truck home to satisfy my anxiety of not fitting. Beautiful truck you have there. Good luck with it. Looks sick already. Can’t wait to see the finish product
It is a ng furnace with an lp conversion. Bought it through Northern tool for about $380. Having the ng line ran and connected was the major money. It works well enough and takes up little room, so far I would recommend it.
Mr. Heater Big Maxx Natural Gas Garage/Workshop Unit Heater — 50,000 BTU, LP Conversion Kit, Model# F260550
Here in CT. I had about 5 quotes that ranged from $900 to almost $4000.00. Cost me $1600.00. It was necessary for me to have heat due to I take care of the snow removal at the development I live in. If I need to work on the machine, I have heat and lights. And besides, I love my garage (one of the two rooms my wife let me have in the house). It was a 3 week winter project about a year and half ago. Again, boredom and winters off. People often ask if we park our vehicles in there.
In my last truck, every piece of equipment had its spot and if it did not go back in its respective location, there was no room to bring it home. All of the water fed equipment had to be removed from the truck, plumbed, used, disassembled, and stored back in the truck. This routine would take place sometimes 3 times a day…… waste of time. Efficiency was my main goal in this build and easy to work from. I literally have days if not weeks in researching components alone not to mention the hours of thought and setup.
One thing that wore on me with the previous set up was that the more I plumbed and then disassembled the water fed equipment, the more that fittings, clamps, and hose ends would piss water. On this build, all the equipment is mounted and plumbed. Plumbing between cart and reels are 5/8”ID 12AN black nylon covered stainless steel braided fuel lines. These fittings do not leak and they look great. Threw a 6AN line on the cart’s waste water exit and the hose ends swivel to allow any movement that may be necessary. Broke down the large supply hose reel, had it painted red, and due to it being towards the front of the bed, the hose is retractable with just a quick tug. 300’ of 3/8”ID tubing + 100’ of ¼”ID on the pole hose reel (I have a few homes I empty the reel working around). The cart is new and am extremely pleased with the performance. The Bedslide and below it are covered with the same flooring I have in the garage, just different colors. In the driver’s side bed mounted tool box, two deep cycle batteries that can be switched on and off independently for the cart and they both charge while driving the truck.
The holder for the spray bottles was fabricated around two storage boxes that came with the Bedslide. It was a goofy side project due to the bottles fitting in them and had some space for it. Had additional leaf springs installed to level the truck because of the weight. The bed had dropped almost 3”. The mud flaps were something we customized with the red inserts showing through the black cutouts to help give the finished design an image of being grounded. The wrap is still being designed with no dead line and the wheels are going to be switched out to some that are black with red.
This is it for now and am glad of it! So far, the truck is a treat to work from and just feels good knowing all that time, effort, and $$$ worked out better than expected. All of the critical fabrication and very helpful experience is of my cousin’s talent, thanks Jr… I have a few other additions I might include but will see.
Art, your truck really deserves its own build thread. There are too many awesome little details that are sure to get lost amongst all the other rigs in this thread.
I especially like that retractable reel with the garden hose routed underneath the reel in front of it. What an awesome utilization of space.
The geometry of the gas strut mounts is another great little detail. It naturally holds the sign panel down without the need for a latch.
