Buying used trucks and modding them

Gorman

Gorman

Branched out member
Location
Rhode Island
I've been toying with the idea of buying a used c and c truck and putting my choice of body on it or buying an existing truck and removing the body and replacing with what I want. Take for example, I saw a used isuzu fvr reefer box truck. I was thinking about getting it and replacing the box with a switch and go or something. I really can't afford new right now since I'm going to have to add another bucket in the spring.
 
It kind of depends on what your capabilities are fabrication wise. It can take a ton of time and effort to put a body on a truck. You have have some decent welding equipment and skills. A way to pick it up is also usually required. The switch and go frame should be easy to that with a skid steer. We have added sides to a flat bed dump and built toolboxes ourselves. Sometimes its a good way to get exactly what you want. From a business prospective you have to figure out if you can buy or build what you need for less. Sometimes it depends on what you have on hand. I have a Mitsubishi fuso fh that I keep thinking about doing a a switch and go on. I bought a grapple truck the other day so a lot of the motivation for doing that is now gone.
 
Fivepoints said:
It kind of depends on what your capabilities are fabrication wise. It can take a ton of time and effort to put a body on a truck. You have have some decent welding equipment and skills. A way to pick it up is also usually required. The switch and go frame should be easy to that with a skid steer. We have added sides to a flat bed dump and built toolboxes ourselves. Sometimes its a good way to get exactly what you want. From a business prospective you have to figure out if you can buy or build what you need for less. Sometimes it depends on what you have on hand. I have a Mitsubishi fuso fh that I keep thinking about doing a a switch and go on. I bought a grapple truck the other day so a lot of the motivation for doing that is now gone.
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Oh no no no. I’m not doing this myself. I’m talking about finding the c and c I want and having a company mount a body on it. I can weld but I’m no fabricator
 
That's a bit different story. There was a bunch of "I" in that previous post. I own a fabrication and machine shop as well as a tree service. Lots of guys seem to underestimate how much skills and equipment it takes do to this sort of thing. I'd go talk to a local fab shop before you buy a chassis and bed.
 
Swapping bodies is fairly easy and strait forward. Adding hydraulics and changing the wheelbase can get difficult, expensive and time consuming. I buy what I get a good deal on and usually build to suit.
 
When I bought the bus to turn into chip truck I missed a checkpoint but lucked out. The bus had an Allison automatic. Before in bought it I looked at the tranny to make sure there was a PTO plate. I had a couple of ptos and hoped one would work. Imagine my surprise after buying the bus and opening the PTO plate and finding no gear!!!

Dang...now what?!

I lucked out. Northern had a store that sold off their returns and damaged stuff at a huge discount. When I went there, it was only three miles from home, I found a motor mount version of a hydraulic pump with the bracketyr for the 350 Chevy I had! The whole unit was dirt cheap. It was like mounting another alternator. It was simple to wire in a switch with a bright red light inside on the dash. I didn't want a driver to
Go down the road with the PTO engaged

Over the years I built lots of things. I would never call myself a weldor but I can weld. Very few of my welds ever broke. When I fabricated hitches or critical things like that I would fab and tack things together then have a Weldor do the finishing

I have no clue what your knowledge is with truck
Chassis and fabrication. Be sure to find out what weight capacities you're dealing with on the CnC. Stay well below capacity

Building anything 'just so' was always satisfying. Still is! That's why I bought a box van to build into an RV instead of a camper of a factory Class C
 
Tom Dunlap said:
When I bought the bus to turn into chip truck I missed a checkpoint but lucked out. The bus had an Allison automatic. Before in bought it I looked at the tranny to make sure there was a PTO plate. I had a couple of ptos and hoped one would work. Imagine my surprise after buying the bus and opening the PTO plate and finding no gear!!!

Dang...now what?!

I lucked out. Northern had a store that sold off their returns and damaged stuff at a huge discount. When I went there, it was only three miles from home, I found a motor mount version of a hydraulic pump with the bracketyr for the 350 Chevy I had! The whole unit was dirt cheap. It was like mounting another alternator. It was simple to wire in a switch with a bright red light inside on the dash. I didn't want a driver to
Go down the road with the PTO engaged

Over the years I built lots of things. I would never call myself a weldor but I can weld. Very few of my welds ever broke. When I fabricated hitches or critical things like that I would fab and tack things together then have a Weldor do the finishing

I have no clue what your knowledge is with truck
Chassis and fabrication. Be sure to find out what weight capacities you're dealing with on the CnC. Stay well below capacity

Building anything 'just so' was always satisfying. Still is! That's why I bought a box van to build into an RV instead of a camper of a factory Class C
Click to expand...

Ok good point. So open the plate and make sure there’s a gear for the pto? Is this common?
 
Gorman said:
Virtually any c and c will require some wheel base alterations unless you’re incredibly lucky
Click to expand...
Just keep it in mind when your buying or get creative. My brother was looking for a small single or tandem dump but anything clean was going for big bucks. He found a killer deal on a 08 8500 with 50,300 miles and a 16ft flatbed. Was planning on building sides and adding a hoist but found a decent 12 box with the hoist. It would have been too short with just the dump box. So to keep from having to move the axle he found a couple cheap used pickup truck side boxes and turned them on end to fill the gap and added some tool storage too.2EBD5D65-4723-4332-8BCC-4DB56740CF97.webp
 
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