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Show me your...Shop Truck?

johfoster

Cast Iron
Joined
Dec 15, 2016
The forklift thread seems popular enough, and I didn't find anything similar in a search. I have been using this '98 Chevy Flatbed for bout a year now, but am thinking of making the switch to an NPR. I picked up a gas model, but would probably trade out again if I find a clean diesel model. Curious to see what configurations the rest of you are using for shop vehicles/trying to get some ideas.
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I have a diesel 93' super duty (f450) with 12'x8' flatbed, air ride, telma retarder, banks turbo. It does pretty well but it's a little slow and there are times when I need a little bigger truck. Gonna ride this one till the wheels fall off.

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I've been rolling in this Custom Deluxe since 2004 (pulling the Kaufman 14k gooseneck). Most everything forward of the transmission is new or rebuilt. But I paid little back then and I don't have money sitting around. It hasn't been 100% trophies and glory. Once I thought I was going to melt the truck down on the side of the road. Another time I had brake fade on I-24 coming down the Big Hill, but nothing serious -- its always gotten the job done. Had to fix a couple of things roadside but what do you expect for a 32 year old pickup :D











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I bought a 2009 Ford F-250 in the fall of 18' that only had 13,600 miles on it. An older gent just plowed snow with it. There was no place to tie down heavy loads on this truck so I bought an old ladder rack with a headboard/headache rack, cut it up and made what I wanted. It was a fun project and I like the way it turned out. The Porter Cable sander was a cinch to tie off.
 

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2003 F-350 4x4 6.0/ZF6

I make a few parts for the 6.0's and 6.4's. Basically bought this truck because it is a crew ZF6 with power windows and nice interior. I have a 12 valve to go in it, but haven't managed to scatter the 6.0 yet. When the 6.0 comes out I will use it to demo the install of parts.

With 385,000 miles on it I have done the following to keep it healthy:

-Changed oil on a strict 65,000 mile schedule.

-Changed oil filter once, it was the wrong filter, but it was expensive and I didn't want to go back to the parts store so I stuck it in anyway

-Add water to the cracked degas bottle when it overheats from heavy towing (only locked up solid once, icy cold water got it freed up though)

-Tied rope around waterpump shaft and each of the fan's blades to bypass the bullshit electric fan clutch

-Used 2nd gear instead of trailer brakes a few times. Engine has no problem spinning way past where the tach stops at 5000

-Replaced 3 driver's side unit bearings within one 20K mile span. I hate unit bearings (product in the works BTW)

Overall, I love the truck except for the turning radius and the engine's performance. I have a set of '08 axles to go under this when the cummins goes in someday.

The picture is why I love Superduties. That's a 3000+ lb 8' tall press brake behind the rear axle. I drove that 40 miles and it handled it just peachy.
 

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My truck from the '90's.
1982 GMC 1 ton 4wd dually with 6.2 diesel.
Bought it in '94 when I really kind'a wanted to give the new Cummins/Dodge G1 a go, but couldn't justify the $ at the time.
Only to have put $12K into this truck over the next year or so.
I would have been way better off to have bought the new truck!

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Then in '99 that truck was giving issues and Mamma was the one driving it all over, so finally did git that new Cummins, and then in 2002 (?) we upgraded to a flatbed, and couldn't be more happier!
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But finally that truck was getting quite drafty from help from ODOT, MDOT, and whatever outsourced company that Ontario uses for hwy 17 up north.
In 2015 (?) I bought a 2006 Cummins from Florida and this time we built the bed out of SS.
This truck will likely succumb to our winters, but this bed should last me the rest of my life!

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-------------------

Think Snow Eh!
Ox
 

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Matt....have you thought of buying (and using on that truck) a "Chopper Gun" ?
Along with a trowel and 12" paint roller, should have it looking spiffy in no time....:D
 
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My shop trucks. Dodge is 02 cummins w/ 62,000. I did an extensive flatbed rebuild and modifications on it last winter.

The Powerstroke is a 99 w/ 109,000. I built the bed on it back in high school.

Neither gets driven much in the winter and neither is stock under the hood :D (salt) We have a 03 F-150 (crank window model) for running around.
 
Matt....have you thought of buying (and using on that truck) a "Chopper Gun" ?
Along with a trowel and 12" paint roller, should have it looking spiffy in no time....:D

I had to look that up. It could very well be an improvement. I Fluid Film the daylights out of it every year. More and more paint disappears every year...its not super high on my priority list. I have to keep peppermint oil cups under the hood to keep the damned rodents from chewing on the fuel lines...had to lift off the bed last year and replace some leaking....from chewing....fuel hoses. Its just simple and functional and one can buy parts for it almost anywhere in America. If I ever did a more serious major move I'd have to invest more but these days its longest run would be to the bane of my existence.....HGR :D
 
My "main" rig is a 2004 Dodge 3500:

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Great truck. Will/has hauled/towed anything I could possibly want to. But, it had high miles (over 300k) when I bought it (cheaply) in 2010ish.
And, I proceeded to add another 80K to that. It finally caught up to me, and it went down about 5 months ago with oil in the coolant.
Been all but parked ever since. The good thing is its tranny-fluid, not engine oil. Heat exchanger took a poopie. The bad news.
It is still a huge project to fix because I am going to address a whole bunch of stuff at once. And, it has just been real low on the priority list.
I have all the parts to fix everything potentially wrong with it and more. And, if this whole quarantine situation gets bad?
Or I somehow get shut down over this crazy corona virus crap? That is what is going to keep me busy.

But, so far it has taken back-burner to everything else going on. So, fill-in duty for the last 5 months has been handled by this:

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And, to be honest, it has made being without the big Dodge pretty enjoyable.
1970 Dodge D200. 383 under the hood. And, completely original, un-molested (except the paint :mad5: )
NO! it is not going to pull a 10k trailer with ease (I wouldn't even hitch up!). The brakes are just adequate for itself and possibly 500lbs in the bed (if you know what your doing, LOL).
But, it is handling shop-truck duty just dandy. I love driving it. And, it sure is a conversation starter everywhere I drive it.
 
I traded some work for this beauty. It was taken apart for a rebuild that never happened..par for the course around this joint. Sold it and have rued the day ever since.

Stuart

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Then in '99 that truck was giving issues and Mamma was the one driving it all over, so finally did git that new Cummins,


An interesting side bit:

As I said - Mamma was the one driving the truck as I was in the shop, and actually - at that time I had recently lost 3 of 3 full time+ employees for various reasons, and I was running alone, so I didn't get out much.

I had been interested in the Cummins for some time, but when it came time to buy sumpthing - I weighed my options, and when you looked under the hood of the 3 diesel trucks, and the 2 V-8 based trucks had pipes everywhere trying to git exhaust and intake all on the same page, and when you look under the hood of a '99 Dodge - the inline 6 just lends it'self to being turbo'ed so much better with so much less BS about it....

So Mrs. Ox went to the Cummins dealer and all they happened to have, had a Dodge wrapped around it. She said "I want that one" and the guy asked if she would like to drive it?

"Sure"

"Can you drive a stick?"

"Yep."

It's been a few years since, but she used to drive a 5 speed Cherokee.
She was a bit rusty, and the 1 ton truck doesn't shift quite like a unibody, but she got it figgered out.
So then she says that she'll take it, and the guy was like...

"You sure that your husband doesn't want to check it out?"

No."

She is an officer of the company and thus is able to sign docs on her own, and she brought me home a new truck.
LOL!
(that was the red one)

And BTW - she Shirley put the bulk of the miles on that truck too!
It is now my plow truck and "yard" truck and is generally hooked to my goose for just around the farm here during the summer.

And occassionally used for emergency recovery when newer tech fails:

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379:

I think that I can read the tire size and make on the forktruck beside your truck.
I have no intention of havig to keep sumpthing like that all polished up all the time!
But it is impressive work - especially for a HS kid!
You had a good mentor (or 2?).



Green:

I had to look at your profile to see where you was from - as I recall seeing SO MANY trucks like that coming out of Detroit back around 2000! We would be heading to The Soo and not see any until we hit Grayling, and then they were everywhere - coming up I75.



Stu:

My G-dad had a truck like that that had a grain body on it, but the truck was shot, and when I was in high skewl, in ag shop I pulled the cab off of it and all the front end shtuff, moved the front springs/axle back, and then took it uptown to the welding shop guy, and he built a tongue for it, and we used that as a wagon then.

However, for whatever reason, that running gear ended up with 2 molasses tanks on it and was parked next to the chop pile for the next several years, and the box of the truck ended up on a nice chopper wagon chassis, which really did give me a warmer/fuzzier feeling when going down the road. I never did like that hitch....

Scurried the motor on home and tore it down to see how they werked. Seems like it was a 292 (?) V-8. What they referred to as the original Y block motor.
Before the FE. I'm trying to think if that motor was actually cross bolted mains or not? It actually seems like it may have been?


-------------------------

Think Snow Eh!
Ox
 

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An interesting side bit:

As I said - Mamma was the one driving the truck as I was in the shop, and actually - at that time I had recently lost 3 of 3 full time+ employees for various reasons, and I was running alone, so I didn't get out much.

I had been interested in the Cummins for some time, but when it came time to buy sumpthing - I weighed my options, and when you looked under the hood of the 3 diesel trucks, and the 2 V-8 based trucks had pipes everywhere trying to git exhaust and intake all on the same page, and when you look under the hood of a '99 Dodge - the inline 6 just lends it'self to being turbo'ed so much better with so much less BS about it....

So Mrs. Ox went to the Cummins dealer and all they had happened to have, had a Dodge wrapped around it. She said "I want that one" and the guy asked if she would like to drive it?

"Sure"

"Can you drive a stick?"

"Yep."

It's been a few years since, but she used to drive a 5 speed Cherokee.
She was a bit rusty, and the 1 ton truck doesn't shift quite like a unibody, but she got it figgered out.
So then she says that she'll take it, and the guy was like...

"You sure that your husband doesn't want to check it out?"

No."

She is an officer of the company and thus is able to sign docs on her own, and she brought me home a new truck.
LOL!
(that was the red one)

And BTW - she Shirley put the bulk of the miles on that truck too!
It is now my plow truck and "yard" truck and is generally hooked to my goose for just around the farm here during the summer.



379:

I think that I can read the tire size and make on the forktruck beside your truck.
I have no intention of havig to keep sumpthing like that all polished up all the time!
But it is impressive work - especially for a HS kid!
You had a good mentor (or 2?).



Green:

I had to look at your profile to see where you was from - as I recall seeing SO MANY trucks like that coming out of Detroit back around 2000! We would be heading to The Soo and not see any until we hit Grayling, and then they were everywhere - coming up I75.



Stu:

My G-dad had a truck like that that had a grain body on it, but the truck was shot, and when I was in high skewl, in ag shop I pulled the cab off of it and all the front end shtuff, moved the front springs/axle back, and then took it uptown to the welding shop guy, and he built a tongue for it, and we used that as a wagon then.

However, for whatever reason, that running gear ended up with 2 molasses tanks on it and was parked next to the chop pile for the next several years, and the box of the truck ended up on a nice chopper wagon chassis, which really did give me a warmer/fuzzier feeling when going down the road. I never did like that hitch....

Scurried the motor on home and tore it down to see how they werked. Seems like it was a 292 (?) V-8. What they referred to as the original Y block motor.
Before the FE. I'm trying to think if that motor was actually cross bolted mains or not? It actually seems like it may have been?


-------------------------

Think Snow Eh!
Ox
My truck spent most of its life in AZ, I actually almost despise it, at least the Ford part of it.

I am trying to get my old 78 C30 3+3 dually restored and back on the road as my summertime hauler.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
 
Are you in Australia?

Nope, just Idaho, they do some things a bit different here.

After working 8 hours at making parts while loading trailers then driving 20 hours I put a handfull of ice cubes in a quart cup, filled the rest with Makers Mark, drank that and refilled it with Merlot. It looked OK at the time, but likely as not I was not operating at peak performance at that moment, big dog tired but not ready to sleep yet. I am however glad you pointed it out, they are normally sideways but not upside down, I need to find out which side of my new apple product is supposed to be the top but that has not been the top priority as of late.
 








 
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