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New Truck Box

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(@bob-beilfuss)
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Greetings,

I inheirited this 2010 Expedition from the PD to replace the rotting 97 Surburban. The "free" truck needed some upgrades like tires, lights, seats, fumigating etc. to make it my new Urban Assault Survey Truck.

The old Surburban box was dated and didn't fit any of the new equipment or the back of the Expedition without major chainsaw work.

I made this box out of 1/2" MDF which is lighter than plywoord and with a large amount of screws and glue I am almost finished. I just have to add a couple more items and reload all the equipment.

All that is left is the top of the second level, some tripod slot stops and some fuzzy dice.

I am a solo department so I haul a Trimble S6 along with a Trimble R6 GNSS rover all the time. The S6 goes in the cutout area behind the drivers seat. Everything goes in the office at night as the truck is parked outside like most survey trucks.

I added a couple pics I took during construction, but I never uploaded these before. I hope this works.

Bob

[img]

 
Posted : October 26, 2014 1:49 pm
(@bob-beilfuss)
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More pics of the box

 
Posted : October 26, 2014 1:53 pm
(@brad-ott)
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Sweet. I love a new setup like yours. I have had my 98 GMC (230k miles) setup my way 5 years now. No plans to change.

 
Posted : October 26, 2014 2:14 pm
(@jim-frame)
Posts: 7277
 

What do you carry in that gigantic (if gigantically short!) length of PVC with threaded cap?

(On second look, I think it's just a threaded cap and adapter, with no actual pipe attached.)

 
Posted : October 26, 2014 2:30 pm
 BigE
(@bige)
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Nice job Bob.
Best keep hold of these pics.
It'll probably be the last time things look all nice and spiffy.
😀

 
Posted : October 26, 2014 2:40 pm
(@bob-beilfuss)
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Hi Jim
That space with the PVC cap will have 2-6" PVC tubes for lath. I call them my torpedo tubs which I reload from the Mother Ship when needed. I have to recut the PVC tubes to fit in that space.

Bob

 
Posted : October 26, 2014 3:45 pm
(@jimmy-cleveland)
Posts: 2812
 

Looks good Bob.

I still have some modifications to make to mine, and may use some of your ideas fro this setup, and from your previous box in your Ford pickup.

Thanks for sharing

 
Posted : October 26, 2014 8:19 pm
(@Anonymous)
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Bob have you thought of a crash cage in that device?

I used to cart all my gear bar the Total Station in the tray of my Nissan. Nikon held pride of place on back seat.
Had a construction worker ask me about Safety Gurus (Work Health & Safety) and an 'event' with the big box coming forward? That was enough and it now sits in tray encased in a padded section to try and protect it from constant jigging about. Only gets back seat when traveling on very rough surfaces at low speed.
I still have memory of a steel truck that hit a soft spot in our highway upgrades.
It instantly bogged and stopped dead. But the steel load didn't.

The least issue would be you just need that roll of crap paper in last photo whilst you collect your breath.

Take care mate, but don't take compromises. They don't come back for beg your pardons.

 
Posted : October 26, 2014 11:52 pm
(@paden-cash)
Posts: 11088
 

A most important fixture

Notice the entire section behind the passenger seat dedicated to beef jerky.

...a truly professional setup. :good:

 
Posted : October 27, 2014 3:50 am
(@william-d)
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A most important fixture

Looks very good but how about extra weight. Looks like a minus 3-5 mpg.

 
Posted : October 27, 2014 7:12 am
(@williwaw)
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New Truck Box Cage

Like this?

After a couple of close calls of high speed roll overs/collisions, one a near miss on a moose at 70 mph and another near head on with a sliding semi where I had to leave the road going 60+ (I swear angels kept the rig from rolling), had a cage fabricated between myself and anything in the back that might brain me.

Just a suggestion.

 
Posted : October 27, 2014 2:46 pm
(@bob-beilfuss)
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Jimmy
I have a CADD file available if you need one.
Bob

 
Posted : October 27, 2014 5:15 pm
(@bob-beilfuss)
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Big,

I'm kind of a neat freak when it comes to a clean truck. The first firm I worked for never gave us any time to clean out the truck or dump trash. A couple guys got dysentary including me from riding around in a nasty truck.

It didn't do anything for the company image either.

So I keep things pretty clean. This Expedition used to haul around the drug dog and that truck literally stunk from dog pee and man sweat. I needed to do a serious detail job when I picked it up from the cop shop. Lots of Lysol and Mr. Clean.

Bob

 
Posted : October 27, 2014 5:22 pm
(@bob-beilfuss)
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New Truck Box Cage

Hi guys,

I thought about a cage but I used all of the available space for equipment. The one thing I have left to do is add a top on the second level of cubes/slots so things don't get airborne if I nail a deer.

I had both the GNSS rod and the S6 rover rod laying across the back seat of the old surburban and that was a accident waiting to happen.

The water jug s strapped down with the bungy and right now it's empty for the winter.

The cutout for the S6 will also get some bunby cords and some padding for the robot. The section where the R6 sits will also get a roof and some more padding.

I put all the steel (shoval, Berntsen monument, pins) on the floor under everything so that should stay in place.

Thanks for the comments

Bob

 
Posted : October 27, 2014 5:32 pm
(@bob-beilfuss)
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A most important fixture

Hi Paden,

A guys got to eat when doing some carpentry. I did manage to take the beer bottle out of the picture before I took it. 😉

Bob

 
Posted : October 27, 2014 5:38 pm
(@bob-beilfuss)
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A most important fixture

Hi William,

The box I had in the old Surburban was made out of 3/4 marine grade plywood. That sucker is real heavy. It took 4 of us to pull it out of the Surburban and stick it in the back of a GMC 3/4 ton pickup for our construction inspector to use to store his picks and shovels and a tripod.

The 1/2" MDF is alot lighter. I take out 4 screws and 3 hold-down bolts and the whole thing slides right out the back gate. I can unload it by myself.

That truck already gets bad mileage. It's a 2010 Expedition with 95k miles on it and it was running almost 24/7 with the PD.

Bob

 
Posted : October 27, 2014 5:45 pm
 BigE
(@bige)
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Funny, you called me "Big". Only my Dad and brother Bill calls me that.

My first and last firms I worked at didn't mind at all to give one of us (usually me) time to clean up or clean out the vehicles.
The first company kept sending me to this one job that was usually a big mud-pit. I made sure to have fun at first (i.e. made use of that 4wd if you know what I mean). After a while that got old and I made sure there was plenty of mud falling off in the company parking lot. Guess I was sending a message in a subtle way. Unfortunately, they got the wrong message and sent me with said truck to the car wash with a roll quarters out of petty-cash.
After a few days of the same thing, they just sent me out in the morning with a roll of quarters saying to not even bring the truck (Suburban) back like that again.
Well, they got tired with that soon so they decided to let me take the truck home and clean it myself. That was ok with me and they let me put that time on my sheet.

That was ok to until some higher-up (engineer turned manager) red-flagged my "unbillable time" and we had a meeting about it. Of course being me. I immediately pointed out that this meeting was unbillable time about my unbillable time. Then I had to take one of other engineers with me to that site a couple days later. Fortunately for me it had just stormed really hard the night before so the mud-pit was in full swing to make my point. I made dam sure it was a rough ride for that unsuspecting feller.

Several funny things happened after that day:
1) I never got questioned about my unbillable time (they may have changed my timesheet to charge back to the project) I really don't care, they just never mentioned it again. 🙂
2) they never questioned me about the conditions on that project again
3) they started asking my opinion about conditions especially after recent bad weather events
4) unfortunately, I also got tagged as someone who could go anywhere in that thing. Guess, that's true since I never got it stuck.

We were being subbed that job from another locally renowned surveyor, Webb Morgan, whom I met with almost daily. Him and his guys all knew good and well what I was dealing with on that mountain and they never mentioned once about the mud I left in their parking lot. A couple years later at my last NC surveying gig we were having a project planning meeting about some new job. Someone mentioned we would be fallowing some of his work. I piped up suggesting we just ask him for his data. They looked at me somewhat astonished "do you know him?". "Sure! I know him very well. How about I just hop over to his office and ask him. He'd be happy to share." He was happy to see me again, asked who I was working for now, and I came back within the hour with more data and maps than could have been asked for.

Anyway, his guys were equipped with nothing short of a full office on wheels that would make any solo surveyor green with envy. Each had their own rig and they were always spotless inside and out. Perhaps that's why they/he was happy to sub out work to us. They just loved hearing my stories about the nastiness which would explain their s...t eatin' grins when I came over. Them all being big hunters always wanted to hear about any signs I might have seen - deer, turkey especially bears. To walk into their office was like walking into a big game hunter's trophy room.

Anyway, their trucks were always spotless. I guess, they pretty much owned them so they took care of them.

Sorry for the tome. Guess I'm in a story-telling mood on this semi-early Tuesday morn.
E.

 
Posted : October 28, 2014 6:26 am