# Working out of a Contractor body



## mehtwo (Nov 14, 2010)

I was wondering if anyone has had good or bad experiences with contractor bodied trucks such as these:
















I want a liftgate like a Tommy lift on the back.

I also want to pull a 7'6"x14' enclosed tool trailer behind this rig.


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## Leo G (May 12, 2005)

Yer just showing off...




Aren't you?


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## Cole82 (Nov 22, 2008)

I am going to try that exact setup as soon as I can scrape the money tegther. Then this bed will be on my f450.


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## mehtwo (Nov 14, 2010)

Cole82 said:


> I am going to try that exact setup as soon as I can scrape the money tegther. Then this bed will be on my f450.





I'm actually going to build one for my 1954 Chevy 4100 1-1/2 ton(a poor man's f450:laughing:


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## Cole82 (Nov 22, 2008)

Slap a duramax in there! then you'll have one sweet ride.


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## A. Spruce (Aug 6, 2010)

mehtwo said:


> I was wondering if anyone has had good or bad experiences with contractor bodied trucks such as these:
> 
> I want a liftgate like a Tommy lift on the back.
> 
> I also want to pull a 7'6"x14' enclosed tool trailer behind this rig.


IMHO, any truck you're able to set up specially for your needs has to be a sweet ride. I've seen manufactured utility beds and I've seen more what you're proposing, grafting tool boxes to a flat bed. I never had the need of such a thing myself, though my standard bed pick-up was "customized" to my needs and not only suited me well, it got me a whole lot of positive comments from my clients and passers-by.

I say go for it! If you didn't have the need, you wouldn't be asking about it. If you're going to own a vehicle, it might as well suit your needs to the best of its abilities. :thumbsup:


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## Mark Siders (Dec 11, 2010)

mehtwo If you put the money that you would pay for an f450 into that 54 chevy you would have one sweet ride.


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## mehtwo (Nov 14, 2010)

A. Spruce said:


> I've seen manufactured utility beds and I've seen more what you're proposing, grafting tool boxes to a flat bed.


That's exactly what I was going to do! I bought a 9' dually utility bed I plan on saving just the side boxes and putting it on a 12' platform stakebed. Where the utility bed wheel wells were, I will put a swing-down door and have a 30-gal air tank inside on each side. I 'm also building an overhead rack like the above posted pics. The remaining 3' sides will have stake pickets joining the rear pickets as shown on the above posted pics. I will have underbody boxes for more storage. I hope between this and the 7'6"x14' tool trailer I want to build I'll have all the storage I'll need! I got my work cut out for me that's for sure!:thumbsup:


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## Kgmz (Feb 9, 2007)

My setup, 2005 Kodiak 4500 with Scelzi combo body and one of our enclosed trailers.


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## A. Spruce (Aug 6, 2010)

My favorite tile setter - an artisan that I truly miss - had something similar. The tools boxes worked well for keeping the sand and whatever else he had to haul neatly in the bed, while the boxes carried everything he needed. I think his tile saw had to be loaded daily, but just about everything else lived on the truck.

It sounds like you've been thinking about this for a while, so take all your ideas and start laying them out on the truck. You may not get the perfect set up the first time around, but it will be a darned sight better than "off the shelf" equipment.

Oh, and you know what pic whores we all are, so when you start putting it all together, post up about it and show it off. I kick myself now for not taking pics of my truck set up when I had the chance. Now it's all gone and left to my meager descriptions. 

... I still miss that truck, and she's been gone for 7 or 8 years now. :sad:


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## mehtwo (Nov 14, 2010)

Cole82 said:


> Slap a duramax in there! then you'll have one sweet ride.


A duramax?!? Well....not exactly. I plan on going old school and using a 261 cu. in. 6-cylinder with split manifolds like this engine:









I also want to have dual 4" stacks beside the rear corners on the cab like this but a little more tastefully done:









I bet that'll be advertisement all by itself 

:thumbsup:


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## Kgmz (Feb 9, 2007)

This truck has worked well considering the wide range of things we do.

In the compartments.

Drivers side first door, holds two rotating lasers, bullseye laser, David White LTU transit, hard hats, vests, gloves, safety glasses, towels and shop rags, first aid kit, etc.

Drivers side second door, electricians tools, bag, pouches, fish tapes, wire finder, knock out punche sets, and cordless tools, drill, sawzall, circ saw, impact, snake cam, etc.

Third door over wheel well, mainly nuts, bolts, and screws. Plus where I keep the plans, paperwork, etc and the door is used as a desk.

Rear low door, straps and slings.

Top box. All mechanics hand tools, wrenches, sockets, screw drivers, etc, etc.

Passenger side first door. Air tools, nail guns, corded tools, circular saws, sawzall, drills, hole saw and drill bit boxes.

Passenger side second door. Carpenter tools, hammers, bags, etc. air hoses, extension cords.

Door over wheel well. tripods for lasers, and LTU, and heavy tools like sledge hammers, pry bars, man hole lifting bars, large pipe wrenches and cheater pipes.

Rear low door. Man hole lifting rigs, chains, shackles, etc.

Top box. levels, squares, rods for lasers and transit. Tape measures, misc carpentry tools, batteries for lasers, etc.




Back of truck is the 110 gallon diesel transfer tank to fuel the equipment. Compactor, air compressor, generator, water pump and room for anything else.





Link to Scelzi site.

http://www.seinc.com/combo_schem.html


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## mehtwo (Nov 14, 2010)

Kgmz said:


> My setup, 2005 Kodiak 4500 with Scelzi combo body and one of our enclosed trailers.


I'm going to build a rack similar to yours, but with a few differences. It looks like your can be loaded/unloaded with a forklift which would be a big plus.:thumbsup:


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## mehtwo (Nov 14, 2010)

Kgmz said:


> Link to Scelzi site.
> 
> http://www.seinc.com/combo_schem.html


That's who I'm stealing ideas from.:shifty: I've been studying one of the trucks that a local concrete contractor has. It's also a Scelzi body. They want $6000 for the body, so that is why I'm fabricating one myself.


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## A. Spruce (Aug 6, 2010)

mehtwo said:


> I bet that'll be advertisement all by itself
> 
> :thumbsup:


My business manager always wanted me to restore a classic truck for this purpose. To be honest, as cool as that old truck would have been, I really appreciate my creature comforts, so the real day to day appeal would have quickly waned. There is a guy in my area that's driving around a Studebaker panel ... uh ... car. It's not big enough to be a truck, and it's definitely not a car, so how do you classify it? It looks kind of like those new microvans that Ford has come out with, only smaller.


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## mehtwo (Nov 14, 2010)

They were still considered trucks even though they were based off of passenger car chassis.


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## A. Spruce (Aug 6, 2010)

Yeah, way too small for my needs. Similar problem with the classic American trucks. Until the late 60's/early 70's, they didn't even have an 8' bed, which was kind of a prerequisite for me. I started with a Toyota long bed, which was only 7-1/2' long. It was really REALLY nice when I stepped up to my 95 GMC Sierra, I could finally carry materials inside the bed with the tailgate up, not to mention get a concrete buggy when needed.

Don't ever let anybody tell you that size doesn't matter! :w00t:


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## skipdow (Nov 8, 2009)

I think you should go for it but under one condition...
post pics of your progress:thumbsup:


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## Brimar (Mar 31, 2010)

I love working out of mine, although it is a 12'-6" enclosed Reading body which works better for me.


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## Cole82 (Nov 22, 2008)

Since everybody else posted pics of there truck I want to as well.


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