I am setting up my service truck. It is a f 250 with a service body. Does anyone have any pictures or ideas how to organize it. I like to see any pictures of service trucks and there set ups. We went from a van to this so a little diffrent on room.
I set my truck up with the most used items, tools, chemicals (spray lube, etc) o-ring kits, electric terminal kits, rags, fasteners, the stuff you use on pretty much on any job, on one side of the truck. The other side of truck is stuff that I just need occasionally, specialty tools, oils, antifreeze, filters, lifting chains/straps, etc. When I pull up to a rig, I put the driver side or rear of truck to it and most of my trips are to driver side of truck for most used items.
I have welding stuff on the drivers side, I use it the most. Other side, front compartment I have a drawer unit welded in with mechanics tools, sockets, wrenched, air tools, etc... Next compartment is power tools , and stuff in cases, tap and die set, soldering gun, etc..... The compartment over the wheel has drawers, and I keep nuts, bolts, small parts, chemicals, and other misc. stuff in there. The back compartment has rigging, jacks, dunnage, pry bars and bull work gear. I have an 11 foot body and still want for space, it ain't easy having everything you need on the truck.
Amen brother, you can never have "too much" stuff on that truck.
First off welcome to the forum, I try to keep everything handy, anything oily or greasy tends to stay towards the rear of the truck down low, welder and fuel hoses are on curb side of truck, or passengers side as you call it same as air hose reel, bolts, air tools and electrical stuff is in drawers on curb side, bolts and nuts assortment is in drawers on drivers side, tools are on passengers side, most anything I use most is on passengers side, so when I park along the road, I don't have to stand in traffic to get what I need to use, which is somewhat different than most do it, all manuals and such go in military rocket boxes in the cab, to keep them dry and mouse proof, I prefer air ride seats in cab. It won't matter how you set it up, it'll never be right anyhow, big enough, or have enough drawers on it for what you want to carry anyhow, just start with a plan and move on from there, there is no ideal service truck, that fits everyone's idea of the perfect truck or perfect setup, it just depends on what you do, fix, or need to have on hand, where you work, and the enviroment you work in.
Well said Randy88.
im with u Willie we will never have enough room, BUT iv also said "i could have a 53' trailer & still not have everything i want"!! try to pick what side of the truck you want to work out of the most, ie does it have a crane that u will use very much? the problem with a 3/4 ton service body the compartments are not very deep most are only 12-14 inches deep. hard to find a drawer unit/tool box like that. vanguard makes drawer units for bolts/small items that are great i have 2 sets on my truck. my truck is set up with tooldrawers in the tall 1st compartment on crane side(what most use as the torch box)the next box back has shelves that store the most used plastic boxed tools & chemicals the horz box has drawers that i use for the 1" &1 1/2 drive sockets & acc, the crane box i use for the 3/8 air hose reel &rigging straps/chains. something i done to all the boxes was mount little white LED lights in every box on a master switch, its nice to b able to see something else that i really like is a sliding bed cover, if u dont have one get a canvas tarp & a few loops of square tube for supports,( keeps the snow/ice off of stuff) just pick what side you want to work out of & start there with your most used tools. you will change it accordling over time, iv been changing mine for 20+ years now & its still not perfect yet
i've been in and out of service trucks for 25+ years. every truck body is a little different, but i try to keep my general layout pretty much the same. left side front bay toolbox with 3/8" & 1/2" dr sockets, ratchets, wrenches up to 1 5/8", pliers, screwdrivers, ect basic hand tools 2nd bay side box with air tools, spare filter wrenches, large adjustable wrenches hammers prybars, pin hammers, long 1/2" dr ext, 3/4" dr ratchet handle 3rd bay blow molded sets, taps/dies, extractors, drill bits, seal and bushing drivers, 3/4"dr sockets (in acro bins) electrical test eq. cans of brake cleaner & pent oil, 1/4" dr set, wire ties, loctite, neversieze, couple rolls of wire 4th bay grease, eng oil & hyd filters, std & metric hardware, 1 "junk" drawer and the beginning of oem parts storage right side front bay A/C guages, dye kit, vaccumm pump, extra fuel filt for the truck, bulk heater hose, harness connector kit( for my OEM eq) eq air filters 2 bay more air filters, orings, fuses, electrical parts, fuel system parts bay 3 alternators, starters, fuel shutoff, brake solenoids, bulk brake cleaner storage, additional small parts storage bay4 jumper cables, test hoses, guages, fittings, electric fuel transfer pump, hyd cap and plugs back of truck has a sectional sliding cover eng oil, hyd oil, drain pans, waste oil storage, trailer hitch vise mount, flow meter cab laptop, remote start connection, midtronics battery tester, 1st aid kit, fire ext, torque wrenches, inverter to power laptop and cordless battery chargers :drinkup
Thanks I have it set up about the same as most. First box tools secound filters ,bolts term, o rings things like that. Thrid two booster batterys for winter work electrical tools rags. Other side sprays special tools books jacks and torches. In the back it has a slid lid compressor and genarator and more oil. vise on back. But ya never enough room.
Like every one says there is never enough room,I think the best way to utilize the space in a service body is to have drawer sets, seems with standard shelving there is a lot of wasted space.Here's mine, drivers side has hand and power tools,curb side has welding equipment,small parts,and fasteners. Good Luck
Dang, Tom, I was afraid you'd show up in this thread. I just decided not to post pics of my F-SuperDuty w/ the 10' bed. My first service truck believe it or not, was a Toyota 1-ton 4x4 w/ a 7' service bed from 1989-2000, then a SRW C-30 w/ an 8' bed (like yours), then this fall I got a 16,000 gvwr ford w/ a 10' bed and top boxes. I have organized all my trucks the same basic way. On my first 2, the hand tools were in a drop-front tool box right behind a the drivers door, on top of the bed. On this truck they are in the top box on the left side. Mounted to the top of inside front compartment, drivers side is a 1500w inverter w/extension cord and trouble light reels. The inverter runs off of a series 31 battery in the front corner of the bed that also starts my compressor and runs the floodlights around the truck. The battery is charged by the truck alternator through an isolator, or by a 125 amp Delco run by the compressor. The top shelf in this compartment is a junk shelf and where I throw parts when I come out of the store. The second shelf has my parts and service manuals, though a lot of them are now on the laptop behind the seat. Next shelf has welding rods, welding helmet,hardhat,gloves, rain suit, and various other supplies and etc. The bottom shelf is where I keep oils, fluids, and chemicals. The horizontal compartment top shelf, has my air and electric tools, my diagnostic tools, my 3/4 and 1" drive extensions, adapters, universals, and 3/4 sockets from 3/4 to 1-3/8. The bottom shelf has wrenches from 1-3/8 to 3", pipe wrenches, pry bars, torque multiplier, driving rods, and other large tools. The rear top shelf has chainsaw parts and tools, GoJo and a few other things. the second shelf has rigging such as hooks, straps, shackles, etc. The next shelf has funnels and hammers, and the bottom has jacks and a fire extinguisher. Right inside the tailgate is a 7 gallon aqua-tainer in a milk crate for washing hands, etc. Also in the bed are a lot of wooden blocks, shovels, ax, gas for compressor, etc. The front compartment on the right has 3/4 and 1" dr sockets, wheel bearing sockets, power and manual grease guns, grease, jumper cables, extra air hose, extra extension cords, rubber boots, and other bulky stuff. The horizontal compartment has parts and hardware and emergency canned food. The rear compartment has the cutting torch. and last but not least the cab is full of small parts, junk, trash and other stuff that shouldn't be on a truck. Oh, and behind the seat is my laptop and cold weather gear.
Thanks for showing your rig Tom - a class act similar to your work, I am currently setting up a 4wd twin cab truck, your set up has given a few ideas, have you used any reels for your welding leads in the past or do you reckon a couple of hooks are just as good ? is that a compressor on the top of the l/h side boxes ? do you have any pics of inside the tray from the back ? Not sure if the drawers would stand up in my application as the roads are extremely rough and corrogated - everything seems to bounce and rattle to bits.
carn Mitch don't be bashful - post a few, may be able to share a few ideas. regards wick
Wick, my service body is specially built, first off the drawers are made to my specifications and second the entire body, drawers and all are hot dipped galvanized, no rust issues whatso ever, the drawers supports are just angle iron, with a piece of angled poly bolted to them and the drawer sits on that, its so strong I can still stand in the drawer, even when its loaded full, the drawers are welded up sheet metal and the pulls are welded angle iron on front, when full they pull somewhat harder, but we shoot a little oil on the poly slides and that cures that problem. I'd tried all the standard boxes and everything was either too high priced that worked good or was always broken and didn't work anyhow. Also mitch, whats an aqua-tainer that fits in a milk crate look like anyhow, we need some pictures, a post like that and now we need some pictures of the whole bed assembly, as for me, for hand washing, its pretty low tech, I get my wifes old laundry detergent jugs, the ones with the liquid spigot on them, fill with water and when shot pitch it in the trash and get the next one. I use dawn in smaller containers, now don't laugh, the large jugs of dawn don't stand up, literally, so I got kids coolaide or juice containers with a pull top lid and fill them with dawn, then in my toolbox, I welded a piece of pipe for it to sit in, figured if its good enough for my wifes hands washing dishes it must be good enough for me, those bottles are about a third the height of a standard pop bottle, good for me for months, when they freeze its no big deal, just thaw it out and use it, but be sure the bottles not full in the winter. In colder months, we put scalding hot water in the dishwashing jugs and keep them in the cab, by the time we need them they are still warm and wash our hands in warm water, if we forget and it freezes, toss the container and get the next one, and the spigot is the best part of the whole deal, no lid to take off or lose or nothing to spill out either no matter how it falls over in the truck. Ok guys, what tricks do you have for cheap or handy fixes on the truck, for my welding cables I didn't want the standard reels, first off they were too high priced, second it didn't fit in my boxes and I didn't want them exposed to the elements so I made a rack to hold them inside the box, on a roller system so it pulls out to unwind them, and slides back in when done. Come on guys I can't be the only cheap one out there who's come across something stupid for a simple fix.
Hey Randy how about some pics? one idea that I set up on a previous service truck that worked well was a simple hinged frame which swung up and out of a 3 foot wide box, which, to try and describe was effectively two one foot lengths of 3/4 pipe about 2ft 6 apart which when swung up out of the box poked out of the side of the tray, you would wrap the oxy hose in a figure eight fashion on the two pegs then swing the peg frame over into the box this would keep the hoses un-tangled and out of the weather and was convenient to swing over and walk out with the torch and hose when required. Another one is I use those tomato sauce bottles with a twist top to put hand cleaner in (over there you probably call it tomato ketchup ) , the plastic is really tough, they are air tight so the hand cleaner doesn't go off and they don't leak. I liked the idea in one of the previous posts of the 12 volt demand pump on a small water tank to top up radiators etc. As I weld and spanner on mainly logging gear where fire is always a risk, especially in gouging and welding I therefore always have a pressurised water extinguisher at hand but the demand 12 volt pump and garden hose idea would be handy to wet down prior to welding especially the accumilation of sawdust sticks and leaves that gather alongside cabs on excavators or belly plates on dozers etc
I here are some pix, but my truck is a $hitting mess right now, guess it is better to be busy and have a messy truck than have the time to organize it. Drivers side, welding gear Passengers side Rear view I need Tom's truck in my next life, my wire feeders are living in a gang box, and climbing in and out to setup/breakdown the torches gets old fast. I have 2 8' boxes going where the compressor is now, hopefully that will make life better. Even if I had a 20 foot body I would want more.
my dealership is in the process of replacing our fleet of trucks. f450/550 PS with monroe 'glass bodies f350 gassers with a full stand up steel service body. kinda like a plumber's truck, our biggest headache is the size of some of our air filter boxes, and it seems like every new model takes a different filter. we used to be able to cover 90% of our machines with 2 sets of air filters, now to get the same coverage, we need 6 or 7 different filter sets. :drinkup
One thing I did was to mount a 16 gallon spot sprayer on top of the front of the bed. A short garden hose, gravity, and water works great for washing hands, filling anti-freeze jugs, etc. Northern tool has them for pretty reasonable. I agree that tool drawers work best. Theres just never enough of 'em! My company is trying to phase in an all Pete or KW fleet of service trucks. I have a '13 Pete 337 and I'm surprised how small the cab actually is. I'm seeing about having some boxes made for the bed to put coats, coveralls, books,etc. in to keep the cab usable. Anyone else have ideas for in the cab?
G'day toz Handy looking body, what are the slotted looking rails in the back of your truck inboard and below the crane boom?
That is called E track, used for tying down to. Handy stuff, Google it.
My helper at the time installed the bottle holders in my new truck when I was out sick. Right behind the rear window. I like having a rear view even if it is through the mesh. I would have put the oxy and acetylene on one side and the CO2 on the other. Not worth moving now.
Something else to remember, not sure if this has been covered or not...I was reading everything till I saw the pictures of Tom's truck then I started to get teary eyed thinking about the Pete I used to drive... Anyhow something you might want to take into consideration when you set your truck up: try to keep the weight balanced from left to right. I was driving a older F-Superduty years back and it perfectly level L to R till the day the wooden block some genius put between the helper springs split and fell out.
Thanks toz, have seen the same stuff on car carrier trailers didn't recognise it on its side cheers
I missed the last 2 posts on the first page, I have no pics but here is the Aqua-Tainer: http://www.rei.com/product/618168/reliance-aqua-tainer-7-gal?preferredSku=6181680015&cm_mmc=cse_froogle-_-pla-_-product-_-6181680015&mr:referralID=0da4b81c-4a59-11e2-b779-001b2166c62d
I am not a service person by trade but wonder: When working on a project in the yard at home: Doing certain tasks under a cheap plastic tarp or canopy really helps me on a hot or inclimate day Or something like a slide out hd work surface to spread out an assembly job Why don't service trucks have them? I see maintenance vans set up like a portable shops- no place for a crane though.. Everything cannot be a field repair type situation I install that 12 gage E-Track and the like in my pickups. Inexpensive and handy for a lot of uses. Just about every enclosed semi trailer and cargo van has it (horizontal and even vertical version). Easy to find at trailer, truck body suppliers. TSC has it, along with the accessory fittings.. Lets see, lumber sockets to the e-track for wood tarp beams... A removable bench could be done with the track down low on the truck body... Or am i turning work into play?
Nice looking rig hatchequip, any pics of the back? Cheers
Thanks mate, as I said nice looking rig, hefty looking crane.
2012 F550. This is the first truck that I have set up with my tools on the passenger side, I should have done it a long time ago. I also extended the start/stop/choke controls for the welder and air compressor into the side compartments. No crane because I work for a construction company that has a lot of forklifts. Bobby
Beautiful....
Thankyou
hatch, I have had many thoughts of building a truck like yours. one of my biggest concerns is not having the winch on the crane. do you find yourself needing the winch? do you work on smaller stuff say like doing trans changes on 30k dozers? just wondering. can we get a pic of the inside of that covered area? what is the ceiling height? I assume you have a bench grinder and solvent tank in there. those are things I have always wanted. did you have this for sale on truckpaper.com recently?...........theironoracle
IMT makes a winch as a option and Im still tring to find one for it but I dont usually have to have one with all the extensions it has 2live and 3 pull outs it will get close to 50 foot tall but so far when I need one I just hang a winch on the end of the boom other wise just a long chain or cable then extend and boom I work on a lot all sizes but on big cranes its nice just to lift stuff out thru holes in the roof and not have to remove alot of side equipment and sheetmetal. The dog house is 5foot inside wth sliding roof Id taken it off another bed years ago that i had mounted a auto crane on inside has bolt bins and pull out drawer bins with fittings switches screws and spray cans and a lot of the stuff that when you get out on a job you say boy if I just had that I wouldnt have to pack up and go get it. Bench grinder drill press AC machine wash basin. and nope it wasnt this one Ive got so much money in building it that nobody would want it. Will try and get some picks soon. yall keep me in mind if you know where a winch might be
This is a nice thread. These suggestions here are perfect guide for me on my business.
shoot, I wish I had me a nice rig like these tandems; but I don't see i9t in my future. I am underway on getting my latest one up and running though, shame that I have to buy cheap and repair and upgrade to what I want or need!
nope you got it right start small with low overhead and then grow when I started it was just me and a 10 year old c30 chev that liked oil and no crane or welder
I second that hatch, no shame in starting small, there is only shame in complaining there is no work out there and sitting on your thing complaining and letting the state or feds take care of you.....theironoracle
You got that shot right
hatchequip, i found that truck like yours for sale again, its on ebay a lot the same, like someone is watching you!!!!!!!!!!!theironoracle
item number 261237581854 if you care to look, TIO
Hatchequip, that is a really awesome looking truck. Would love to have something like it but we really don't have the need for it. Although I am envious of your truck I do love mine, wish I had a little more storage space though and a ranger welder. Plan on getting one sometime but haven't gotten it yet. Maybe I'll put some pictures up sometime.
Even though I seriously drooled over hatch's truck, I recall the you're work I actually end up doing, and all the times I've had to back my 11' imt on a f550, several hundred yards down a dirt path just to find room to turn it around! Lol Oh and as someone mentioned previously, I do carry a poly tarp, and plenty of bungee cords on my truck, it's nice to have shade, or a rain fly time to time. Nathan
Nice setup
In regaurds to mountain welder or compressor on sidepacs or sideways behind cab, make sure its mounted to more than the body. Saw ones inside of a cab after f550 was in and accident. Truck had no headrack, I'll try to find pictures,