Simple TM...Now something like this looks promising.

[Greenie]

Kevin, you said it was cheap, how much Does the Transit go for?

I was checking one out closely, a new unit, empty, a high roof wagon is what came to mind.

How does the 4 cyl. pull with a load?

How is your 47 pulling on dual wands? Single 2" hose per man right?

How is that Fiber floor holding up?

How much Kero/Diesel are you burning in a day/week?

The 2014 Diesel unit (especially if it's larger) shows promise.

 

[Erik]

Some here may be dead in four years!!

 

[Lefty724]

That transit look awesome!!!!! It is definitely different, I'm sure you get a lot of attention!

 

[Greenie]

Followed one into work this am, yup still looks like a toyota corolla wagon with high top. I miss the Astro vans, that 4.0 was a good motor and the thing had a real chassis.

 

[joeynbgky]

Followed one into work this am, yup still looks like a toyota corolla wagon with high top. I miss the Astro vans, that 4.0 was a good motor and the thing had a real chassis.

4.3 v-6 get it right!

 

[Lee Stockwell]

4.3 was a great motor, two cylinders removed from a small-block Chevy V8.

Astro back doors actually opened up wider than the full sized van.

 

[joeynbgky]

i have a perfectly good astro all lettered up, but the motor blew it only has 254,00 miles on it i was going for 300,000

 

[Lee Stockwell]

My daughter had been using mine and called me saying it was making a clicking noise. I asked her what the oil pressure gauge showed. She says "I don't know, it hasn't worked for a couple days".

 

[joeynbgky]

My daughter had been using mine and called me saying it was making a clicking noise. I asked her what the oil pressure gauge showed. She says "I don't know, it hasn't worked for a couple days".

thats funny. mine hasnt worked for 2 years. I had to unhook it. When it was hooked up the speedo went backwards haha

 

[Kevin. McCreary]

Kevin, you said it was cheap, how much Does the Transit go for?

I was checking one out closely, a new unit, empty, a high roof wagon is what came to mind.

How does the 4 cyl. pull with a load?

How is your 47 pulling on dual wands? Single 2" hose per man right?

How is that Fiber floor holding up?

How much Kero/Diesel are you burning in a day/week?

The 2014 Diesel unit (especially if it's larger) shows promise.

The Transit was like 18,300, pretty much plain Jane, it has air tilt, no power locks or windows.

The roof is the same height as a Chevy 3500. The Floor is what is lower. (advantage to loader and un loader)

The 4 cyl is surprisingly "peppy" There is no real substitution for cubic inches, however I can break the front tires loose

from a dead stop on damp pavement and It gets up and moves accelerating on to the highway, I had it at 90. Its a High R.P.M. Mazda

motor. I never have to floor it and have all the get up and go and passing power you would ever need. (even with the a/c on)

I can actually drive this faster, get around faster, and burn less fuel than any other truck mounted van or box van I have driven.

The 47 is definitely not my old 7008, It reminds me of dueling with a Butler with the big blower. Something about the Tank-less

design makes the vacuum more responsive than a butler. I have run combos of 2 wands, stair tools and uph tools and its pretty good. I would

be hesitant to go more than 125ft each. One cool thing is we can get closer and use less hose because the van is so small and

maneuverable .If one is an uph or stair tool it doesn't make much difference on hose length. Its set @16"hg.

The floor is like any other Line-X van floor, Duane had the part of it where the Ford knock out insert for the row 2 seating is "Beefed up"

and re-enforced before Line-X was applied. Currently I'm running #2 diesel and I estimate we are using just slightly under a half a gallon

per hour. I use 2.5 to 3.5 gallons a day 4-5 residential jobs, somewhere between 14-18 gallons a week. It fluctuates depending on outdoor

temps and what we are cleaning to what we set the thermostat at. I did decide to have regular fuel oil delivered to my shop in a 250 gallon

tank inside the shop, designed for a furnace, its about 45 cents a gallon cheaper with out Michigan Road taxes. I can honestly say though

the honeymoon is over with this set up, I all ready have my first door ding, it has just about 350 hours on it and 8k miles and I really do enjoy

it. I actually don't feel like such a dumb ass for once in my life, I might look like one driving that van though

 

[Mikey P]

JHC Kevin.

What is more embarrassing, the Red Wings failure last year or the fact that you cant carry anything in that set up.



What a F'n Hack.

 

[Kevin. McCreary]

Thanks shiteatinggrin At least I'm having fun again!!

And for the price of the van I could have some kid follow me around in a brand new empty one

pay him $10 an hour and still come out a head of some of the other machines I have owned.

 

[daniel@procarpet]

After looking at your setup, I still don't get it. Are you trying to market green cleaning by using smaller trucks? The machine looks great, but why not just install it in a minivan or astro type van. You could even buy a 4 cylinder pickup truck and have a camper put on it. The whole gas savings deal sounds great. I bought a tacoma over a silverado and the gas savings are good. I would like to save money on gas as well as it is by far my biggest expense every week. On the other hand when I put it to my customers like this "Would you pay 20 dollars more for a bigger more powerful machine to clean your carpet deeper and dry them faster," they all say yes. Clean four houses a day and get a 20 dollar service charge and that 80 dollars will pay for all your gas and a lot of your maintanence as well. I guess I am spoiled with a larger truck and machine. The machine really does look good. I can't wait to see one up close. I could never clean without a tank though.

 

[Kevin. McCreary]

Not to get off on another subject, I thought I could never clean with out a tank too.

I was finding out that as much water as use you use flushing carpets with "high flow"

I was pretty much hooking up on every job any way. So why not hook up before you start

as opposed to having it shut down stopping your rhythm and hooking up when you have 14 square feet of carpet to clean.

Cant say I miss it. We get some freezing days here too, where you get a little worried you cant find water, but I have yet to

encounter that yet.

I also have been experimenting with trying to lower my quality of cleaning and cost of doing business and raise my prices

and see how many customers i can loose, I have way too many and not enough time for "life". I really don't want the stress

of a multi truck operation and I'm very comfortable with my financial situation.

 

[daniel@procarpet]

Not to get off on another subject, I thought I could never clean with out a tank too.

I was finding out that as much water as use you use flushing carpets with "high flow"

I was pretty much hooking up on every job any way. So why not hook up before you start

as opposed to having it shut down stopping your rhythm and hooking up when you have 14 square feet of carpet to clean.

Cant say I miss it. We get some freezing days here too, where you get a little worried you cant find water, but I have yet to

encounter that yet.

I can see cleaning without a freshwater tank but not a waste tank. Even if you hook up the apo having a waste tank is a neccessity imo. I didn't see one in the photos. Where do you pump the water?

 

[Kevin. McCreary]

A "waste" tank is called a "waste" tank, because that is exactly what it is and does. Its a waste, of space, money

maintenance cleaning it, why do I want that crap in my van? Why would I want to carry it around, when i can pump it right down

the sanitary drain. It wont fill up to shut you down while you drain.

 

[Kevin. McCreary]

Not to get off on another subject,

do you ask if you can use the water first? The reason I ask is because I've had many customers state they sent the last cleaner away when they ask where the water was before starting the job. Of course the cost is nothing, they are tards, and I can't imagine not being able to convince a custy to let me hook up after an explanation but this seems to be a common occurrence.

That used to happen to me all the time when I didn't charge enough and had cheap customers.

If some one did complain, which really hasn't happened to me, I would explain what a waste of energy it is to transport water.

I would use some B.S. line about how it would cost more to bring water to them than it would cost to use water that is already there.

so I would have to charge more, wear and tear on the truck, etc.

 

[Nate The Great]

No water, no clean. Pretty simple. If we didn't hook up to the water, they'd ask if were actually cleaning.

If "said customer" gets bent out of shape about the use of electricity or water, there better off not my customer. :wink:

 

[daniel@procarpet]

Not to get off on another subject,

do you ask if you can use the water first? The reason I ask is because I've had many customers state they sent the last cleaner away when they ask where the water was before starting the job. Of course the cost is nothing, they are tards, and I can't imagine not being able to convince a custy to let me hook up after an explanation but this seems to be a common occurrence.

I have never had someone complain about hooking up to get water. I can see how some might though. If it was a problem I would tell them I could use their water for my normal price, go back to the shop and get water for an additonal charge, or they could just pay me a service fee and call someone else. That has never happened though.

Kevin what kind of apo are you running? Can it keep up if you are doing water extraction or tile cleaning?

 

[Kevin. McCreary]

The #1 thing that pisses off high end customers is being late or not showing up, they think their time is more important than

anyone one else s, that's why I'm singing off and going to bed, I have an 8am job.


My apo could drain my pool in 4 hours. Its belt driven. It pumps rocks! I dont know what brand it is.

 

[Nate The Great]

Not to get off on another subject,

do you ask if you can use the water first? The reason I ask is because I've had many customers state they sent the last cleaner away when they ask where the water was before starting the job. Of course the cost is nothing, they are tards, and I can't imagine not being able to convince a custy to let me hook up after an explanation but this seems to be a common occurrence.

I have never had someone complain about hooking up to get water. I can see how some might though. If it was a problem I would tell them I could use their water for my normal price, go back to the shop and get water for an additonal charge, or they could just pay me a service fee and call someone else. That has never happened though.

Kevin what kind of apo are you running? Can it keep up if you are doing water extraction or tile cleaning?

Do they have to pay a service charge for you to go home and use your own PC?

No, but it costs to use the "backspace key".

 

[Kevin. McCreary]

No, but the point is, if its that big of a deal to them, I can give them the number of 100 other cleaners in

my area that will bring water. There are enough customers out there who simply could care less.

 

[daniel@procarpet]

I have never charged anyone a service charge or have I had anyone disagree on price to the point that I did not provide service. I guess I am lucky on that. I am going to implement a service charge and offer three different cleaning packages for the customer to choose from.

 

[Nate The Great]

I have never charged anyone a service charge or have I had anyone disagree on price to the point that I did not provide service. I guess I am lucky on that. I am going to implement a service charge and offer three different cleaning packages for the customer to choose from.

Package 1. Clean all open area's and use of computer. .30sf

Package 2. Move all furniture and use of the computer. .50sf

Package 3. All the above with protection added and also get to raid the fridge too. .75sf

 

[daniel@procarpet]

I have never charged anyone a service charge or have I had anyone disagree on price to the point that I did not provide service. I guess I am lucky on that. I am going to implement a service charge and offer three different cleaning packages for the customer to choose from.

Package 1. Clean all open area's and use of computer. .30sf

Package 2. Move all furniture and use of the computer. .50sf

Package 3. All the above with protection added and also get to raid the fridge too. .75sf

 

[everfresh1]

i have a perfectly good astro all lettered up, but the motor blew it only has 254,00 miles on it i was going for 300,000

I wish I would have been on the board and known you in feb. I had three Astro vans till feb. When I had to junk one becouse a tree fell on it the thing still ran great, I would have given it to you for the engine, I could have even have meet you half way or even drivin it down there. No problem. as long as the cops wouldn't pull me over for having a smashed in roof. :mrgreen:

 

[Lefty724]

I have never charged anyone a service charge or have I had anyone disagree on price to the point that I did not provide service. I guess I am lucky on that. I am going to implement a service charge and offer three different cleaning packages for the customer to choose from.

Package 1. Clean all open area's and use of computer. .30sf

Package 2. Move all furniture and use of the computer. .50sf

Package 3. All the above with protection added and also get to raid the fridge too. .75sf

Now that's my kind of price list!!

 

[joeynbgky]

i have a perfectly good astro all lettered up, but the motor blew it only has 254,00 miles on it i was going for 300,000

I wish I would have been on the board and known you in feb. I had three Astro vans till feb. When I had to junk one becouse a tree fell on it the thing still ran great, I would have given it to you for the engine, I could have even have meet you half way or even drivin it down there. No problem. as long as the cops wouldn't pull me over for having a smashed in roof. :mrgreen:

i

Well, I appreciate it.. I need to get another motor for it, it's probably not worth it. But I do miss it.

 

[steve g]

[quote="Chris Adkins":33ofs085]Let's see some pics Kev, me thinks you must have that hose reel mounted on the roof!

[/quote:33ofs085]

if that was my unit. I would have used the skinny tall hose reel that is like a 1ft wide. I would also mount that aluminum filter box thing right next to the machine on the left. mount the solution reels on the back doors and you would grain more than enough space to haul a couple air movers. I guess you don't prevac or use chemicals because as that thing is setup there is no room for it. it looks like the vac reel is about 4" away from the truckmount. wonder if a judson unit would fit, at least with that you would probably gain some room behind the unit and have a real waste tank.

 

[Duane Oxley]

if that was my unit. I would have used the skinny tall hose reel that is like a 1ft wide.

Then you would also have the other 100 ft. of vacuum hose laying somewhere in the van... taking up more floor space than if it was on the reel

I would also mount that aluminum filter box thing right next to the machine on the left.

So, you'd have the vacuum hose out one door and the other hoses out the back...?

mount the solution reels on the back doors and you would grain more than enough space to haul a couple air movers.

... And in a year or so, have a door that is about to fall off of the truck, since door hinges aren't built to take the extra weight of 2 solution reels, loaded. (And the hinges on these doors aren't as massive as standard vans.)

wonder if a judson unit would fit

The truckmount is only 20 inches wide. I'm pretty sure that Judsons are wider. Most machines are.

, at least with that you would probably gain some room behind the unit and have a real waste tank.

...and lose some vacuum performance