Sprinter Van Spray Rig

The company I used to work for had a few of those vans for lawn care applications. The guys who ran them despised them in comparison to a cab over purpose built PHC truck. The hose reel and pony pump were located in the back door while the side door contained the push spreader and granular. These vehicles lacked a PTO pump and several other features that the purpose built PHC trucks have.
 
Over the past few weeks I've been eye-balling Isuze NPRs on Craigslist. There are a couple of former ChemLawn units with the fiberglass pod boxes on back. they look like very nice units in the 'stealth' way. No tanks or hoses visible once the gull-wing doors are down.

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SearchTempest
 
Can someone enlighten me as to why a truck is needed for a spray rig? I have mine mounted on a trailer, and although it's not the perfect trailer, I'm having difficulty justifying registration, insurance, excise tax, property tax, payments, etc. associated with a truck vs. a trailer. Lower to the ground, easier to disconnect and repurpose same day, etc… What am I missing?

-Tom
 
My trailer has a 300 gallon, 50 gallon and 30 gallon, and could easily be adapted to many different scenarios. I see many rigs out there on pickups with less storage, capacity and space than an 8X10 trailer, and I wonder why.

-Tom
 
my ideal rig would be a switch n go system on an f-550. it could carry equipment, a skid or have a small chip box. that would be slick. Im currently doing what Tom is doing and it has worked fairly well, but we need to add another vehicle to the fleet.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Can someone enlighten me as to why a truck is needed for a spray rig? I have mine mounted on a trailer, and although it's not the perfect trailer, I'm having difficulty justifying registration, insurance, excise tax, property tax, payments, etc. associated with a truck vs. a trailer. Lower to the ground, easier to disconnect and repurpose same day, etc… What am I missing?

-Tom

[/ QUOTE ]

I've wondered the same thing. I don't even see a real pressing need for multiple tanks. Example: our insect treatments are dictated either by insect life cycle or season, and we try to knock them out as timing and weather permit. Planning ahead and switching chemicals for the next day is a lot easier and cheaper than adding tanks.

I've seen lawn companies lately with beautiful Isuzu cabovers with dedicated beds. (i.e. the back of the truck has a fold down ramp and all the mowers drive right up). I just can't see a benefit as compared to a pickup with a trailer for the mowers, unless the Isuzu is used to tow additional equipment, which I haven't seen. With a pickup and trailer you get reasonable price, separability, easy resale, ability to use truck as a daily driver, and 4WD pickup can be used for plowing too. The same principles would seem to apply to PHC, right?
 
trailers are more difficult to get into tighter areas. you also have to deal with someone backing a trailer into a driveway potentially without a spotter. in my opinion a multi tank unit with two or three separate pumps so you can run different products is ideal. for me route density is more important. by doing 2 or 3 products i can keep my travel time to a minimum and get the most out of production. my rig has two 200 gallon tanks and a 35 gallon. tank, but only one pump. so my tech has to download product to switch over. that is a waste of product and time. there are a lot of times where are doing 2 sprays such as hort oil and fungus. There are a lot of times where we could do 2 or 3 applications per property. thats when you make money. Also don't forget about having a backpack sprayer- totally handy for ipm. there is also the issue that people are signing up for different things everyday in the spring. for ferts 400 gallons is small. we can easily do 600-800 galloons a day. what i want to get and will probably be purchasing a 800 gallon rig with two pumps, one pto and one pony. My goal is to put a tech and a hose dragger in it. one thing I forgot about was the ability to send a dragger out with a tech. have your tech do high brain activity while lumper fills out paper work and does the heavy lifting. My point Mike is plan for the future. if you have the rig you will sell the service. Can you keep 2 techs going with that rig you are buying. I always try to buy more than I need and grow into it. Do you ever wish you had a smaller chipper or chip truck. maybe sometimes. but the majority of the time I wish i had a bigger chip truck or chipper. I regret not buying a 75, bucket instead of my 60' the cost of a 75' is now through the roof. The equipment you are buying is only going to get more expensive. Equipment is dictated by geographic area and your program.. what id do is based on what i need. What I stated above is what i need. i started with a trailer.. my rig goes out on a f350 pickup that is all beefed up. I paid 15k for it. good luck.
 
As usual, great advice and info Dan. It definitely depends on size of client base and typical treatments done... But your 'grow into it' comment could not be more spot on. I'm going to stick with my trailer, but I guess if I was selling 100k in PHC I'd be less worried about those additional costs.

Tom
 
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