Hello everyone, I'm in the very early planning stages of a fuel hauler/work/service truck to support a helicopter working in the field. Chances are it may never be built but funding and need permitting it just may be... The plan right now is to have a daycab truck with a 10 foot or so long box behind the cab that is a work shop/storage for parts, with the right wall on a hinge so it folds down for extra floor area out the right side of the truck. There would be either a slideout roof and walls that would enclose this added space or a tent-kind of support system with a heavy tarp to go over it similar to what you'd find on a curtainside van... Behind this box would be a fuel tank, roughly around 2500-3000 gallons, then behind it a crane, such as a hiab 140 so that I could lift components in and out of the helicopter and onto the fold-down floor of the box in front of the tank to allow a) transport of said component when moved into the box and b) working on the component out of the weather, mosquitoes, etc. There will also need to be a pintle hitch so I can drag a quad axle tank or tandem/tridem pup fuel trailer... This trailer would be left either at a major staging area such as an airport or other semi-easily accessible area and the truck would chase the helicopter out to wherever it goes for the day. Which brings out another requirement in the winter - an underbelly plow, as some of the places we work do not have roads plowed in the winter, in some cases for several tens of miles, and sometimes up to a dozen or so vehicles, some with trailers, need to travel up this road. I'd want to mount a big winch on the front, say a 20K lb winch, in case I did get into a pickle, or pull out other trucks as needed (a few months ago the 5 ton on one of our jobs got sunk up to it's axles in mud under the snow and with just a pickup we had a heck of a time getting him out...) Perhaps I'd stick another winch on the back somewhere but I don't see how I could manage that with a hiab and pintle hitch at the back of the truck... So all in all it's a pretty ambitious truck I'm thinking of concocting... Now the question I originally wanted to ask is I've been looking around on the various manufacturer's websites and Western Star offers Tier 3 engines in their trucks, but there's a disclaimer saying they're for offroad use only. Can a fellow get one of these registered for on-road use in Canada as the EPA regulations don't apply here? I really don't need the headaches of all the EPA garbage on the truck especially since we're usually FAR away from any service facility and in brutal cold conditions, and short of buying a used one that most likely won't be configured the way I'd want, this seems like a great option if I can get it registered for on-road use. My ideal specs would be 6X6, 500+ HP engine, 18sp. transmission, a 280-320" wheel base to accomodate the shed, tank, crane, etc., and of course a pre-emmision engine. This thing won't be built for some time, if at all, but just wanted to put the thoughts out there, and maybe gather some good advice from all you fine folks here. Sorry about the long post... Cheers!
I can't answer your tier3 question, but I question the weight distribution reality of putting a 2500-3000 gallon tank at the back of the frame, or 10+ feet behind the cab. Sounds like not enough front axle weight to me.
get a glider and have it done how you want it
in Saskatchewan a lot of shops won't pass a truck on safety if it doesn't have the proper emissions controls. They are just starting enforce that rule so you can still get it passed at some safety stations.
Thanks guys, Markat425, I was thinking that too, hence the longer wheelbase, that way I can still put the filter and reel cabinet between the tank and the frame... Ohiofleet, what's a glider? A truck with no engine? THat would be an idea too!
sounds like a 750K+ truck to me. You could prob get a C-500 KW or western star built to handle that, also with the weight your talking with a knuckle book and a belly plow your prob going to need to step up to a twin steer depending on how big your hiab is. The roof on the box is going to limit your rotation of the hiab i would look at getting the knuckle boom added at the very rear of the frame and adding a winch option to it to make it more versatile then you can put the fuel tank in front of that over the tandems to distribute the weight better than the shop box in front of that, having the knuckle boom behind the tandems will also take some weight off of the steers so you could probably get away with a heavy single steer in that configuration. I will say that 10' seems pretty small, without doing the actual tape measure math i think you could squeeze at least a 14' in there. You could even build the shop out of an cut down ISO shipping container and use std. can locks to keep the attached the frame. Remember that with the height of your frame with the powered front axle is going to be 4'+ off the ground so your going to need a staircase if your planning on working out of that thing on the regular. i would look at something like what they do on high end jet planes that folds out. A ladder isn't going to work and be a very dangerous thing in this application. IF you planned the truck right and got a big enough knuckle boom you could containerize the workshop and set it on the ground next to the truck to work out of it. also with the shop box set off you could have a 10' flatbed under it to haul parts that you could load with the knuckle. You're definitely going to want to get the remote control option for the boom as you wont be able to see the landing area for the box over the fuel tank. if you're going with a tier 4 engine the cummins seems to be the one with the least amount of drama. I would also recommend having hyd plumed front to rear for axillary tools and what not. A rear winch could be packaged at the back but would be a very expensive option. If your up in Canada i would start talking to the shops that build the oilfield Kit. they would be the ones to point you in the direction you need to be in. I will go on the record as saying for the money it would cost to build this one truck you could probably build two separate trucks and split the duty's across two platforms and still be money ahead
Thanks Dualie, at 750K this thing will just be a dream for sure! I did think about a twin steer too... It would be set up exactly as you describe, the box in front and the crane behind the tank and tandems... Right now we have a 28 foot trailer with a fuel tank in it that holds 2800 litres, and there's a small shop part in the front approx. 7 feet long... It works ok for what we do, but it is a trailer... I like the containerized workshop idea! I would also for sure plumb hydraulics to the front and rear... Then again your two separate trucks idea makes a lot of sense too! Thanks for the ideas!!! Cheers! :drinkup