Equipment Hauler

[evo]

I love my Isuzu frr.
I have my heart set on the impossible, a FUSO FG Canter 4door.
Tool boxes are a must, if doing a build, look into a heated tool boxes with an aux heater core and fan.
Makes for preheated saddles in the winter and helps dry out wet gear. My dream rig will have a solar panel to run a backup battery with a fan and heater.
Flexwatt heat tape could do the trick too.

 

[ATH]

How much is security a concern?

Every window opens with the automatic window opener...a large rock.

Not that it isn't a concern...but parked inside at night. Work in relatively low crime area. Of course it only takes one A-hole to really make for a bad day. Had a builder fried have his equipment trailer stolen from a job site where he was leaving it overnight. I got to thinking if I had to do that, I might jack it up and take the wheels off.

I suppose I could put bars on the windows - like the have in the backseats of police cars LOL.

 

[evo]

Not that it isn't a concern...but parked inside at night. Work in relatively low crime area. Of course it only takes one A-hole to really make for a bad day. Had a builder fried have his equipment trailer stolen from a job site where he was leaving it overnight. I got to thinking if I had to do that, I might jack it up and take the wheels off.

I suppose I could put bars on the windows - like the have in the backseats of police cars LOL.

My little chipper has an adjustable tongue. Two pins and the length of the tongue can shorten or lengthen inside a channel.
More often when not when I leave the machine overnight I’ll either take the tongue with me or stash it under a tree out of sight but leave the pins in the truck.

 

[Brando CalPankian]

@Chris Schultz did you ever end up expanding your hauling capabilities.

I'm thinking through options again... I still think I want a flatbed truck to haul the loader (Avant). Has anyone ever had a dovetail truck with a trailer hitch on it? Obviously would have to unhook trailer each time. Or just a flatbed with ramps?

How about loading from the side? Probably a bad idea...just a little too far and off the other side! Also probably not east to get it lined up for a straight trip down (that would be easier with a skid loader...).

We were heavily considering a dovetail truck as a hauler. If properly matched with a trailer you could have rams that go to the trailer deck that allows you to unload "in line".

We used these trucks when I did wildland firefighting in Georgia for dozers. It's pretty convenient tbh. If I can find one I'd go this way over the dedicated cmc hauler for this year.

I've seen many guys add a dovetail and hitch extension to trucks as well. It may be something to look in to.

 

[Brando CalPankian]

Put a hook lift on that rig chip box, spray rig, compressor air spade, all on easily swappable skids. Oh my! That cab over got me thinking.

Yesssss. Hooklift with dedicated skids for equipment.

 

[Lumberjack]

We use a hooklift as our primary work truck, to the point that I want to sell the grapple truck and build a tri axle hooklift to go with it.

We will be making dedicated flatbeds (~14.5' long) to store/haul the various ground protection mats on that will be haulable by either hooklift without futzing about. Also plan on making longer flatbeds to have the option to haul the equipment short enough to be hauled on the back of the truck, or to load/unload machines from semis without a loading dock or rollback.


Without a body, this setup full of fuel is 79.5klb, adding the jib winch puts it 1klb heavier.




Last month we bought a specifically non-CDL rig to help move the smaller equipment. 12klb empty weight with the trailer. Still getting it set up, I expect the truck to gain ~1-1.5klb pretty easily. We've got the airbags for the rear, haven't made time to install them yet.

 

[ATH]

Did some more digging...12' flat bed installed on a cab & chassis truck is $5700 for the bed $1200 for the installation (at least first quote I got....just exploring feasibility for now). So that's not to terrible. "Backpack" tool box (between the cab and bed) is about $4000-5000 - so that means the crew cab truck would be about $5000 more than standard cab+tool box. While I like the crew cab for gear storage, not sure I like it $10K more. But I might like it $5K more....