Just wanted to get everyone's opinion on the best service beds out there, and why. Would love to see pictures of how everyone's got them up fitted. I love to get new ideas.
As far as price goes, i have had real good luck with either Monroe or Rawson Koeing beds. They are very heavy duty. Most trucks like this come stock with either a Knapiede, Omaha, or Reading bed and the introductory level beds are pretty flimsy in terms of the guage of steel. However i know Reading and Knapiede E coat their beds now so the rust issues should be a thing of the past. Not saying these guys build a bad product, its just the trucks in my typical price range always have the "base" level bed and the Rawson or Monroe are better in that regard. If you wanted a really nice bed i think the maintainer or royal beds are about as good as it gets. Right now i have an enclosed Omaha bed thats pretty nice it looks like the one attached. Its got interior lights in all the doors, rear work lights, rolling tool trays, centralized locks (a must!)..... Pretty nice but still has the flimsy doors.
I really love the enclosed beds. I want a two ton truck though like a t300 or Peterbilt 330. Does anyone have or have seen a enclosed bed like that with a crane on the side still.
Locally I have seen enclosed bodies on some BNSF trucks with cranes on them. Never got close enough to see who manufactured them however. Nice looking units.
I've been reading some more post. Does anyone have any experience with a box truck converted into mechanics truck. Pictures would be great also if so
Adkins truck equipment in charlotte will build you anything you can afford or dream up. they build a lot of the bodies for most of the cat dealers on the east coast and power companies .almost all the beds for pike electric. Also Norfolk southern. all are custom build. they also sell some production built bodies I think they are autocrane. 704-596-2340 is there phone # they can also get cab and chassies
the best bed I have ever been around was made by Brutus truck bodies in Canada I have buddies that have IMT, Auto crane, Maintainer, & a Palifinger.. my bed is IMT & is on its 2 chassis now very well made. If I ever have to buy another body it will be a Brutus that body has ALOT of features built into it that come standard. along with a long list of options like sliding metal bed cover, side doors that open up instead of out or down to give you better access to the box & a place to get in outa the rain. I hate to get wet!!
I've had Autocrane, IMT, and Carco on my last three trucks. I really like the IMT and Carco but my Autocrane was a leaky POS. It was a mid 90's model though so they hopefully got better.
I literally looked at every major brand bed a couple weeks ago at con ag. In my opinion the top 3 in this order are Stellar, Summit and Maintainer. Stellar by far had the most solid feeling bed of all. The Summit was night but you need to be a computer engineer to run the crane. And Maintainer made a very nice bed too. Brutus, auto crane ,reading carco palifiger, all had decent beds but not in the same league as the stellar bed
Im a big fan of maintainer Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Had anyone ever seen anyone use a box truck and concert into mechanics truck?
Had one, hated it. Way too much climbing. The only thing it was good for was working on excavators. You could walk straight out the back onto the machine. Best service bed I've ever owned is an enclosed trailer. If someone GAVE me a brand new Pete with the most tricked out bed available, I'd sell it and put the money in savings. Any truck with just a flatbed and crane, pulling an enclosed is the best setup available for year round field work. Out of the rain, snow, wind, sun. Put a heater in it if you want, he'll I've got a microwave and big stereo in mine. Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2