New truck questions

[Fox-Ind]

We are looking to upgrade from our little tow behind to a truck. I primarily do interiors for a large truck load company. I have several new fleet washing customers and am looking to move into buildings, commercial customers only. We have several churches, stores and large apt buildings that are lined up this year.

I have seen several trucks and have my heart set on on certain truck. It will give me the room for both sets of equipment and a boom that will allow me the movement and reach. I have looked at box vans and stake racks. We are in the NE and would like enclosures for the equipment.

Any input and concerns will be greatly appreciated
-Josh

* could not get the pics to come through... Posted link on site link below.
Wish List

 

[H2O WASH]

Truck Info

Ha Josh U Need To Check On What The Total Weight Of All Your Equipment Is , To Know Which Way To Go For A Truck , Stay Under 26000 Gvw Or U

 

[DAFF]

Nice truck, here is the bad news. Must of the time you cant use those types of man lifts because of the grass you wold have to cross or obstices. Have thought many times about building a truck like that but on the long run it doesn't make much sense. Plus those lifts need to be anually inspected which can be very costly.

I would look for a mini tanker truck or a retired fuel truck and make it into a wash truck. For those jobs a man lift is reqd, rent a boom. Indoor or out. I much rather see more water on the truck and need no garden hoses than a boom which you might not use every day.

DAFF

 

[Fox-Ind]

Thanks for the responses / feedback. I never thought about the inspections. We are still looking around at various trucks. Will probablt post more questions as we get closer.
Josh

 

[DAFF]

If you want a good truck look for a Ford L7000. These are older trucks 91-97 but come with a 5.9 Cummins motor (diesel). They give the impression of the big truck and they still have hyd. brakes. This is a great work horse but not a hywy runner, top end of 65-70MPH. EZ to drive and will hold 2000GAL if you have the proper licensing. Plus any one could drive it with less payload. I have one of these trucks and looking to buy another. Looking at a 93 for $4900.00 w/24' box.

DAFF

 

[DAFF]

Here is the one I'm looking at. Sure it might be a little ruff around the edges but a little paint and some stainless simulators and lettering.

 

[Fox-Ind]

That is similar to the other trucks that we have been looking at. That is reassuring to hear that you are having luck with it. What is fuel like up there... we are pushing 4.40(US) gal in central NY.

Have a question on power. We have alot of detailing equip... vacs, steamers, lighting, etc; would also like to wire for better lighting and such. I have a 3k watt gen that I would like to install and wire out? any concerns or info i should know prior to getting into that?

Thanks again,
Josh

 

[DAFF]

Fuel is insane!!! If you think you have it bad wait untill to absorb these #'s. Price of fuel is $1.26per litre on average. At 3.8l per us gal=$4.79. It's only going to get worse.

For all those extras run as simple as possible. Look for a reefer package with a bad compressor. Use the engine at the front and make it into a killer generator system. If you want to get realy fancy you coud run PTO's off the engine to run all the pumps and generators. It all depends on what your budget is and how mechanically inclined you are.

I use old reefers and gen sets to make our washers out of. My favorite is a 3cly. Isuzu diesel running (belts) two large general pumps. Runs all day long on 4-5 gal of fuel. Plus you can run it 3:00AM next to a residential area with no complaints. (noise)

DAFF

 

[Fox-Ind]

That is awesome!!! My father has been a dsl mech for 40+ yrs... and avid creator of the abscure. He will get a kick out of that. He has been aching to get his hands dirty with this business

Our largest problem is that the area I do most of my businesses surrounded with resi and there are even some restrictions with noise. I really appreciate that advice, really

Thanks
Josh

 

[DAFF]

The most important thing is to have an ample suppy of water. These bad boys will clean fast and will rinse with ease. You will save lots of time and get better results.

The hardest part of fabbing up things is the output shafts on the engines. These have to be customed built and bullet proof. Take your time on the gearing and make it possible to over clock the pumps. This will allow the diesels to run alittle past 2250rpm, and max out at 3000rpm. at 3000rpm the pumps will turn 2000rpm giving you allitle ,ore kick and gpm. Ya, you might have to rebuild a pump once and a while but the power and performace is amazing.

Total cost of the unit will be comparable to a new 20hp Honda one. Assuming you go used with the diesel.

Good luck

DAFF

 

[Fox-Ind]

Thanks again... I will probably shoot you an email or post in the near future with a tech question or 2 We are both looking forward to this.

Josh

 

[north coast]

Good words of advice DAFF, we run all of our trucks on PTO and would never use anything else. 99.9% reliable and 100% customizable, from the number of pumps, generators, even vac systems can be run from the PTO, add in 12v clutches and you can turn on and off what ever you want. Check out our website @ Welcome to JWS Service Systems for some pictures of out PTO set up.

 

[Fox-Ind]

That is the way that we are going. We have looked around for the past year and also feel that is the best way.

Thanks for the info, did you custom build yours? Very nice set-up.
Josh

 

[DAFF]

I like the idea of the PTO drive units. This was the way I was heading untill I thought about fuel. At close to five dollars a gallon around here this is an issue. For at most these pumps / generators will use 80-90HP while the engine (truck) will develope close to 200HP @1500RPM. Seems to be a bit of a waste of fuel and engine wear and tear.

While washing our trucks are normally turned off and the pump engine is on. Sure I might burn out a starter every year or so but they are cheaper to replace than letting the truck run.

Just some food for thought.

DAFF

 

[DAFF]

Hard to think that North coast is only 100miles from my door step. By the way all the engineering looks clean and well though out. Why only 1000gal on the truck seems to be a little low. Does it have Juice brakes ??

DAFF

 

[north coast]

DAFF if your a 100 miles from me then your in my territory, ha ha although we do have regular runs that are about 150 miles from our shop. We have 2 T-300 Kenworths and a 1 Freightliner that carry 1200 gallons of fresh water and 400 gallons of waste our other 2cab over trucks carry 800 gallons of fresh and 400 gallons of waste. The KW's have air brakes the rest are juice. Air is the only way to go and will never buy another truck with out them. Never run into to many water problems and we do have different sites where we can buy water when out in the field that are pretty convenient. All of our trucks are titled @ 26,000 gvw and are about 15,000 lbs empty so it only leaves about 11,000 for all of the equipment, water and chemicals. But then again as the old saying goes "if you aint over weight, you aint trucking".