My 83 Caprice (same car as the Impala) was actually not bad for an occasional backup, since 90% of my work is on the construction sites. The biggest downside was remembering to pop the trunk before getting out so I wouldn't have to go back inside to do it.
Our previous part owner (he left the first day of my placement) was much more frugal than the current one and had a small Dodge (made by Mitsubishi) truck with a manual transmission. One of our guys had to learn to drive manual on it.?ÿ
They also had an old Buick or Oldsmobile station wagon. I'd love one of those for a backup work vehicle.?ÿ
When I was in college in the early '80s I was driving a '65 Pontiac Parisienne. That is a Canadian model, same body as an Impala of similar vintage. That sucker had more trunk room than the cargo box on my Toyota Tacoma does today. And if you took the back seat out .... well, some PDX people live in apartments that are smaller.?ÿ ?ÿ ?ÿ
We always ran 3/4 ton Suburbans until that model got priced and optioned out of work truck status.?ÿ
We did run a Toyota Tundra, with upgraded rear suspension. It worked great. They are kind of a "heavy" 1/2 ton. But other than that, 3/4 ton minimum was the standard.?ÿ
The new company I am with runs 1/2 tons, but it seems that most 1/2 tons are rated for what 3/4 tons used to be rated for. Not sure what the rating even means anymore.
Worked for a few years with a chemist who grew up in the heart of St. Louis.?ÿ He knew nothing about pickups.?ÿ He assumed that you put more than 1000 pounds in the back of half ton pickup you were overloading it.?ÿ I had to prove to him that was not the case.
A few days ago I was chatting with a friend whose father had been the vo-ag instructor at my high school.?ÿ He commented on how the school had set up his dad with a half ton Chevy pickup with a small camper shell over the bed.?ÿ One of his earliest memories was watching a group of FFA kids loading up in the back to be hauled to some competition because a bus was not available.?ÿ I told him I could remember doing that same thing as a member of the track team on a trip of roughly 75 miles each way.?ÿ We had to toss in some gear as well, such as a couple shot puts and discus(?plural) and a javelin.?ÿ Picture about 20 sweaty high school boys crammed into that space for a 75 mile ride.?ÿ It wasn't pretty or pleasant.
Back in the day when I was shooting competitive Skeet. I bought 500 lbs of shot and loaded it in a Honda Accorde. Spaced the bags evenly about the car. The Honda was breathing pretty heavy getting up to the top of Rogers Pass.
The big challenge was getting down the other side. I had to put new brake shoes on after that ride.
I had to pick up the rebar order one day when I was mowing lawns after work that night.?ÿ
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Word to the wise: If you are unfortunate enough to be in an accident with your survey chariot and there is question of fault, you are going to find out how much weight you are carrying and whether or not your chariot is properly rated.?ÿ No doubt many of our vehicles can feel like they handle the weight we are adding to them, but from a pure numbers standpoint, many of us are operating outside the recommended criteria, which could put us at fault for an accident.?ÿ If your company name is on the side of the vehicle, you are a target.?ÿ A police officer investigating an accident that knows his job well will be looking at it.?ÿ Heck even if you are not at fault, he still could write a citation to you for being over weight.
That's the equivalent of two good old boys.?ÿ No big deal.
@350rocketmike Yeah, but you don't need everything all the time. When I'm doing a job that needs stakes, I'll get some stakes out of storage and put them in the Bolt. Need rebar for sets, load 'em up! I always keep a few stakes and a few rebar in the rig, for emergencies, but it's not to hard to travel light. I can see it for the kind of bigger firms like I used to work for, but since I've been on my own and I'm taking care of everything, it didn't make much sense. And this is SO much less expensive...
@mightymoe Way back in the 80's I was working for a big, multi-office firm that covered the northeast. On two jobs, one a 10,000 acre boundary in Maine and the other a huge powerline job western NY state, we were the "B" crew. The "A" crew, from the home office of course, got the 4 wheelers, while we were left to walk. On each project, we got double the production of the A crew. Now, they got written up in one of the survey mags at the time, but we got WAY more work done than they did. They spent so much time futzing around with their "rides", and trying to use them where they shouldn't, it was no contest. Now, as I'm about to hit 69 with bad knees and 2 new hips and still working alone in the woods, I'm contemplating getting a Rokon, but that lesson from the 80's still makes me wary.?ÿ
That works out in your case if you're leaving from the same place as your supplies are every day...but I take my equipment and everything home every night and leave for the first job from there. I don't have extra room for supplies in my garage so I stock up everything once a week or so.?ÿ
A typical day could be a staking first, then a pinning with nails, then a pinning with rebar, then nails on footings, then settings a bunch of steel. I don't leave anything at home because inevitably I'll need it. The schedule also sometimes changes multiple times a day as builders aren't ready or emergencies come up. With how busy we are it's more efficient to just keep the truck full of extras. At least I don't have a second body in the truck most of the time but that is changing soon for the winter.?ÿ
195lb
I'm being assigned ( granted, gifted, induced, etc.) A brand new 4x4 tradesman dodge ram.?ÿ I'll weigh it prior to loading it up and chime in after the box etc get stuffed in.?ÿ
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@350rocketmike When I need it, I'll put it in the car before I leave the office. But carrying all that around all the time? Nope.
@350rocketmike I'm boundary only, no construction, so it's a whole different ball game.
