Switch and go

[Fivepoints]

Anybody here running a switch and go setup?

I have an international 4700 25,999 gvwr crew cab chassis that needs a bed of some sort. We could use another chip truck at times but don't really need one enough to justify buying and insuring a chip only truck. Having a dumpster to help haul wood and be able to load with a mini skid would be nice. We have an old flat bed truck that is going away so having a flat bed for it would be useful. We have had a very hard time finding help that has or will get a cdl. This would be a nice under cdl rig. We already have more cdl trucks than we have drivers.

For the switch and go, we would run a pto and use the heavy duty version with a hydraulic winch. We thought about hooklift but we are trying to keep it light due to being a 26k truck. Might still consider a hook lift. We aren't looking to swap beds multiple times per day so it kinda seemed like overkill. We have 114" cab to axle and 13.5 ft from cab to end of frame. We would want to run 14 ft beds. Thoughts?

 

[Reach]

Take my thoughts for what they’re worth, as I’ve never run one of those.

However, weight is a big issue on those trucks. The switch n go setup plus bed is rather heavy, and limits your legal capacity quite a bit.

There is a guy local who runs two of those setups, and they seem to work for him, but they’re always overweight loaded, and I’m told (one of his former drivers works for us now) they feel very top heavy because the bed sits so high and moves around on the rails.

 

[Jehinten]

If your just needing a flatbed and chipbox, you can build a removable chipbox for a dumping flatbed. Smaller wall sections could be manhandled to assemble the chipbox, or larger robust walls can be lifted with a loader. Your choice of a solid roof for the chipbox or a tarp that is easier to install but may need replaced more often.


As for the dumpster, I have thought of going that route myself and I have contracted a dumpster service in the past. It was pretty easy to overload his 14' boxes to where he couldn't lift them. FWIW, his system used a trailer for the dumpsters and he had the heavier duty winch setup with the pony motor and hydraulic cylinders that were used to pull the winch cable.

 

[Fivepoints]

Ive been doing some looking into specs and stuff. The switch and go setup is about 500 lbs more than just a dump hoist setup. So basically loosing 500 lbs of payload. The hooklifts seem to eat about 1500 to 2000 lbs of payload.

One reason I want it is so we can drop a can at a job a day or two before we start. We are constantly having to send someone to dump a truck or two while the rest of us wait at the job for them to dump and return. This happens 2 to 4 times per week. We have down time when we finish up a job at 2 or 3 in the afternoon or on rainy days when I could have my guys run a dumpster or go pick one up.

We have a single axle grapple truck. It will only haul about 10,000 lbs of payload before its full weight wise. We send it back after jobs frequently. Whoever goes to pick up ends up having to clean up a mess from the log pile after they pick up everything. We do not use it for brush. We only have myself and one employee with a cdl. The grapple truck requires a class b. Its looking like the payload for the switch and go truck would be about the same. 13k chassis with hoist plus 3k dumpster leaves 10k payload. I could send any of the employees with a drivers license back after wood instead of having to go myself when i need to be doing bids, etc. Our other cdl driver stays busy driving around our two cdl bucket trucks, the grapple truck, towing our mini ex, driving the crane, etc. There is not more time in his schedule. I would be selling the grapple truck at some point.

 

[colb]

I don't need a grapple on a truck because my rolled off high-sided dumpster is just loadable with my sk650, from the back (for brush and for rolling full sized rounds up and into) and over the side (medium sized branch wood with no brush, used to pack down the brush). Because of that, grapple trucks look odd to me around here except for the fact that they are cheap loads that I do not have to deal with, so the payload loss from the grapple is not my problem. I could put about 40 yards in a full size roll off can and still be able to load it over the side with my mini hinge pin height. If I loaded from the back, I could load 50-60 yards with the mini, but I would have to have a nice smooth wide ramp to get 12 inches up into the bin. My bin has a very useful custom split level door so I can put in branches without the butts sliding out. My bin can load a single medium size tree removal (brush and logs), or, most often, prunings. If I had a chipper behind it, I could probably load a lot more. My roll off bin is on a bumper pull trailer and I would much prefer to have it on an Isuzu FTR with a chipper behind it and a side load mini platform behind a backpack tool box behind the cab. The mini platform could be a side-dump bin instead, for extra capacity on jobs where you don't need the mini skid, or if you want to get lunch without worrying that someone will spot and then offload your unit. Walls offer refuge from trouble.

The biggest unknown to me is where the best place is to fit mats. I wonder if 2'x8' mats would fit next to the chasis under the roll off rails and mini skid platform. In my mind, I would lay them diagonally to make a wide path for my 36" wide unit. This is just a theory - I have not tried it. Otherwise, it seems like stacking them upright on the mini skid platform might be best, if not convenient. It's really important to let the machine handle mats and avoid handling them manually unless dragging them into final position using mat hooks or dragging them manually with hooks over smooth-sided mat paths that are already set down.

Your frame is probably too short. I think my manufacturer (U-Dump) requires 120" cab to axle. There are mixed opinions about whether it is okay to extend the frame - lots of people seem to only want to cut a frame. After sorting through all of that, it seems to me that some upfitters are routinely adding frame without fear of having their customers return with the rig in disarray. I believe that sourcing an upfitter with experience and comfort in extending the frame is really important. The upfitter has DOT requirements that they may think stop them from putting anything between the bin and the cab. You should proactively bring them pictures of rigs that inundate them with evidence that your request is legitimate.

Check the pto. There are different types of ptos and one of them is optimal for dump roll offs. You ideally want one that allows you to roll the truck back and forth while loading up the dump bed.

If you have a lot of jobs that don't generate a full debris load and your dump spot does not charge per load regardless of load size, I think you're on the right track.

 

[Fivepoints]

I have a 114" cab to axle. I could move the axle back but I start running out of frame rail for the rear spring hanger. I have 162" of frame. If we have to add 4 to 6 inches to the frame, its not a problem.

We plan to do the upfit ourselves if this is what we decide on. We also own a machine and fab shop.

I think any regular pto should be fine since our truck has a manual transmission. Engage, let out the clutch and allow the truck to roll.

We own our dump spot so thats covered.

A 40 yard full sized roll off is about 8 ft tall sides. They are big.

We use an 8k mini ex on larger jobs but mini skids daily.