Best Surveying Truck?

The best truck I ever worked out of was a 2005 Dodge 1500 with the Hemi and it was before they started with Traction Control (in the mud it will get you stuck) and didn't have the MDS so you had more ponies at your right foot than should have been.

It was the fastest truck I'd ever been in much less owned.

However, I'm still a dodge 1500 crew cab man. You cannot beat the price.

All pickup trucks with covers or caps need one of these or equivalent to make the bed accessible without climbing.

Website

Here's my truck.

The cap, roll-out and dividers are aluminum but I still had to add super springs to the rear to beef up the stock 1/2 ton suspension. The stand peeking out behind the driver's side wheel well supports a full size deep cycle battery tucked into the existing cubby hole in the bed wall. It's charged by a 70w solar panel mounted on the ladder rack and fed through the blue charge controller on the left side of the cap. The switch box isn't visible in this picture but it has four rocker switches that allow me to control the LED lights in the cap, two cigarette lighter sockets for charging equipment and a soon to be installed inverter for charging/running devices that won't run off 12v.

Edit: fixed a typo

we've been using Ford F-150 4x4 trucks for a long time - and plan on doing so in the future as we need to add to staff, or replace one.
super cab with 6.5' box preferred, but the crew cab (4 door) with 6.5' box works wll too, longer wheelbase is a bit trickier off-road.
we equip our trucks with Silver Shield bed covers, with SilverShield truck bed + wheelwell boxes - much lighter than building wood boxes, but they do cost a bit.
The bed covers you need to replace when getting newer model trucks as the box dimensions seem to change over the years - the truck bed boxes and wheelwell boxes can be transferred truck to truck.
we have looked at the 3/4 ton and diesels, but have not yet bought one.

Get a 1992 Honda Accord and save your money -- so you can buy a better instrument.

Dude, that truck setup is awesome! I'm jealous...

Thanks.

I worked out of Jeep Cherokees and Ford Explorers for years and never found a good way to organize them. My normal equipment/stake load is too heavy for a sport utility and I got concerned about my chances of surviving a wreck in a rig like that. I had the aluminum dividers made for the rear of an Explorer but fate intervened when its transmission failed last spring. I wasn't ready to buy another truck so I just strapped the dividers in the back of the Tundra and unloaded the equipment at night. That got old quick so I found the cap on Craig's list for $600, added the roll-out so I could access the full length of the bed with out climbing in, then added the electrical system this spring. The electrical system was a result of running the main truck battery dead on a couple of occasions from charging instrument batteries all day.

CHarmon,

that sounds really cool. Please post some pictures of your rig.! 🙂

After two suburbans, two white ford vans, I am now using a Chevy Trailblazer.

I liked the vans best, except that I am sick of driving a big vehicle. I considered going to a Prius with a small trailer!

Used pickups for years and then suburban’s for years and now vans for years.
Wouldn’t want anything but a van. We have wet weather so dry area is a must.

Off subject and I have to apologize ahead of time and it’s not personal but –
What the hell is a Geomatics Engineer? Are we to the point that we are so jealous of engineers and ashamed of our profession that we are not surveyors anymore? No wonder surveyors are second class compared to engineers.

Gas mileage is pretty bad, about 12mpg but it has a steel shell that sticks above the cab (I inherited it that way).

True, the weight is a problem in off-road situations. It handles firm forest roads fine but in the winter it gets greasy and I don't take the truck there, I use an ATV.

That is a great setup! I stole those pics for future reference.

I picked this cap because the price was right, but if I was buying new I'd go with double doors and remove the tailgate.

My geomatics engineering degree is accredited so that I can be registered as both a land surveyor and an engineer.. so by my math, I'm ranked higher than just an engineer.

AWD honda element. seriously, it was made for surveying.

actually, i think it was made for yuppies to go canoeing and then sip chardonnay on the tailgate after discovering they're not quite adventurous enough for class III rapids. but it's a beast of a survey vehicle too. 23-25 mpg easy.

if you are a flatlander a 'burb' can work. in offroad ruggedness, not so much. the body does not have any twist ability like a pickup bed does. the doors and fenders begin to pop and separate on uneven ground. the boat is also too long behind the rear axle, so an abrupt climb, like a railroad bed, will stick your rear bumper in the dirt. the differential has lousy clearance and hangs up. too wide for narrow brushy paths and has a heavy footprint that leaves tracks on soft soils. otherwise they aren't bad if you can afford the gas.
if you solo, the toyota won't disappoint. no room for a crew though