Box Truck Quesions

[Eric J]

hello and nice to meet you all. Been a member of DG for 4 yrs or so and have been doing strictly hard surface. Moving into carpet and ready for more space in the work van so I am scouting out a box truck. I need some advice from other box truck owners or ones who want one and know exactly what to get.

I am thinking a 12' with a ramp. gas, to work with my TM, not diesel. Side door, min. 36" wide. Brand? don't know. how many miles are too many? last thing I want are truck issues.

Trouble is, all I find are ones with out side doors and they all have like over 100k on them. if they don't then they are killer expensive. I can get a beat to death Uhaul for like 4k but 200K and on death bed????

Please help. and good links to some good ones???

thnx in advance and nice to be here with you all.

 

[Giorgio]

You might have to open a lot of clams to find a perl.

I use searchtempest.com when I'm after something.

I purchased an awesome boxtruck about 24 months ago using that site.

Good luck man!

Btw, the uhaul sales lot here has beat to death Uhauls starting at $2k.

The boxes on them are heavy duty FRP with aluminum bed and loading ramp. Just be prepared for an engine / tranny overhaul.

 

[GeneMiller]

Go to the local box truck dealer and look at there's. They will have plenty including low mileage repos. remember you really are just buying the truck for get about whats on back it comes off. a new box custom made with 2 aluminum roll ups on the side and a roll up back door with fiberglass sides cost 10k. i used Legget and Pratt i believe to build my box. they can remove what ever it has on back and scrap it. i prefer a diesel truck, i added a side tank for the gas but to each his own. you know different strokes .

gene

 

[floorguy]

or if you find a truck you like....but no side door...

go to an RV type place and see if they can cut it out and put one in...

I got 1 from a trailer place, they had in stock, and could put it in right then..$500

if they built one...over $1000 and would take 2 weeks.....

just remember (and this is one reason i am going back to a Truck trailer setup)

you wont have much EASY access to that side door....machine use only.. thathurts thathurts thathurts thathurts

 

[PCCN]

Careful buying anything UHaul. They sometimes have the manufacturer put parts on that cannot be bought/replaced at local dealers or auto parts stores. You'll be stuck with crap then. Found this out when I bought a 10 ft. box with a Toyota cab on it. Figured I would just repalced the worn out tranny, but nooooooooooooo.

 

[Mike Draper]

I bought my box truck and installed my own side door. Its really pretty easy. Side door cost about $1000 or so with all the parts if I remember correctly. came with a ramp and all. the truck was hard to find, tooka few months. Gas motor, taken care of and 40k miles $20,000.