Trucks

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Oakey

Senior Member
Location
New Jersey
I know that weve bounced around different work trucks that you all here use. I am considering buying a dual wheel Chevy Diesel E3500 with the Stahl body or maybe an extended 3500 Express van.
I am in need of more room to organize myself and a regular van is not cutting it.
Can anyone tell me there experience with either of these vehicles?
More so if an extended van would really be a help or not or should I just go for the big rig?
Is a diesel worth the money?
Thx guys!
 

pjg

Member
We have been using the Spartan Bodies since 2002 . The ones currently in use have two back doors and one side door . They are all open in the box and we build the shelving. They have plenty of room for most everything.
The Chevy chassis offers a little more room in the cab than the Ford. some of the things I like about the Spartans are the height of the box, FRP walls ( no rust ) Translucent roof.

As far as the Deisel engine, It all depends on the miles driven and if you plan on towing heavy loads. Today gas is 2.56 deisel 2.95. I'm not too sure on the Big 3's fuel mileage but I don't think any deisel is getting over 16-18 mpg. At a $5500.00 adder for the deisel, that is alot of gas you could buy.
 

iwire

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Massachusetts
Oakey said:
I am considering buying a dual wheel Chevy Diesel E3500

Do you really need the load capacity of 4 rear wheels?

I agree they look cooler but if you don't need the load capacity of two extra tires you will only be adding long term costs.

More tires = higher rolling resistance = lower MPG

6 tires to replace instead of 4.

Removing and installing the deep dished wheels from the truck can be a PITA.

As far as the diesel the company just got me a new GMC van with the turbo diesel and I love it. Lots of power and about 5 more MPG than the gas.

In my area Diesel costs about the same as regular...about $2.90 Gal

Doing some quick, rough figures assuming a 'short' 100,000 mile lifespan. Actually we often go 125,000 to 170,000 miles with the gas vans.

The Diesel @ 18 MPG will use about $16,600 in fuel

The Gas @ 13 MPG will use about $23,000 in fuel

I used $3.00 per gal for both as I am sure we will be paying at least that soon.

Also when the company bought the five diesels they ended up paying roughly what gas ones list for.

How can you beat more power with lower operating costs. :)
 

emahler

Senior Member
damn, hell is freezing over, bob and I agreed 2x today...

but in addition to what Iwire said, another thing to consider is your travel distances...

if you are always local and do 3-4 stops a day with a total milage of 30 or so, a diesel won't really be a benefit.

But if you travel 50 miles to 1 stop and 20 miles to the next, etc, diesel will be a worthwhile investment.

We actually run gas trucks for the residential side (they rarely put more than 40 miles a day on and do 3-4 stops)

however the commercial side is almost all diesel. But they'll put 200 miles a day on....
 

mengelman

Member
Location
East Texas
I have got 2 of the big Ford 350 and Stahl vans. Shelves inside, 6' plus headroom, bins on the outside. They are great for room. Mine are gas hogs.
8.5 mpg. If the diesel gets up around 16-18 looks like it maybe worth it. I wish mine were. I'm thinking of getting rid of them for economy. I shure will miss all that space.
 

active1

Senior Member
Location
Las Vegas
Maybe concider a smaller box truck or stepp van.
Our step van has lots of room on the inside to build out.
Building out the space to fit what you have takes time.
We have metal cabnets with doors for most of the power tools.
A Craftman tool box bottom for testers, small tools, & misc extra hand tools.
The ladders are inside which keeps them clean and dry.
The cieling is over 6' tall. It makes the sprinter look like a toy.

Duel rear wheels gives us better traction cornering and stoping in the snow compaired to the Ford E serries. On the same snow day the Ford can't stop well, slips taking off, etc. The duelies it's just another day. On slipery corners the back end does not kick out. The sideways traction is good enough you have to worry about the nexp problem, tipping.

Trucks made with duel wheels have bigger brakes in the rear. The factory knows there is more traction in the back so you can have more braking force. Add more braking force to single wheels and the back end locks up and becomes a sled.

I'm not saying it's the right thing to do but we have had flats on the back and kept driving our day because we still had a good wheel.

Diesel fuel was cheaper than gas for a long time but when the prices got out of control all bets were off. Diesel has been more by .20-.30 than gas. That kinda throws a wrench in the "save this much over gas in the life of a diesel". Last I checked Ford and GM were getting an extra $5,000 for a diesel. They do have a tax write-off and a bit higher resale. Oh, don't forget to plug the diesel in on winter days.
 

peter d

Senior Member
Location
New England
I can't for the life of me understand why anyone would buy a commercial vehicle with a gas engine in this day and age. But that's just me.

FWIW, GM/Chevy are offering deep discounts on their trucks. I just talked to an EC I used to work for and he traded in his Ford E-250 for a GMC diesel van and they took $10,000 off the sticker price.
 

emahler

Senior Member
that's an incredibly nice setup for a service truck. Looks like it might even fit in an 8' door....Aline, any idea of the price?
 

aline

Senior Member
Location
Utah
emahler said:
that's an incredibly nice setup for a service truck. Looks like it might even fit in an 8' door....Aline, any idea of the price?
Who cares? Just factor it into your hourly rate. Your customer's are paying for it. :)

I have no idea how much it costs. The low profile would be nice for those low tree branches that threaten to rip my ladders off my roof.
 

emahler

Senior Member
aline said:
Who cares? Just factor it into your hourly rate. Your customer's are paying for it. :)

I have no idea how much it costs. The low profile would be nice for those low tree branches that threaten to rip my ladders off my roof.

think my current rate of $65/hr will cover it? my customers won't pay any more....
 

aline

Senior Member
Location
Utah
emahler said:
think my current rate of $65/hr will cover it? my customers won't pay any more....
You may have to settle for this.
ServiceTruck3sm-2.jpg

ServiceTruck4-1.jpg
 
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khixxx

Senior Member
Location
BF PA
I know most diesels take about 15 quarts of oil but need oil changes every 7500 miles. most gas vehicles take 6 quarts of oil and you change them every 3k miles. Here in PA the roads look like a motocross track and what every they put on the roads eats your car up pretty fast. They say you can get more miles on a diesel engine but the body of the truck might fall apart and ware out before the engine goes.
 

hershey

Member
Location
hebron, ohio
Might I suggest the Frieghtliner or Dodge Sprinter van. They come in a varity of sizes and weight classes, all being deisel with about 22 miles per gallon.
 

Oakey

Senior Member
Location
New Jersey
Ill check out the sprinter. I'm gonna go diesel this time around, test drove another one today.You guys been holding out on us gas drivers..what a sweet ride with all the power anyone could possibly need. Im hooked on buying a diesel its just that the Stahl bodies tend to rot out after just a few years. Gonna see the Chysler dealer tmmrw, then off to look at a step van.
 

emahler

Senior Member
Oakey said:
Ill check out the sprinter. I'm gonna go diesel this time around, test drove another one today.You guys been holding out on us gas drivers..what a sweet ride with all the power anyone could possibly need. Im hooked on buying a diesel its just that the Stahl bodies tend to rot out after just a few years. Gonna see the Chysler dealer tmmrw, then off to look at a step van.

the sprinters are nice trucks...easy to maneuver, good storage (3700 lb payload) comfortable to work out of, good milage (20mpg, 500 miles to a tank)....

downside - maintenance. While they do not require much, they do require a qualified technician. Most independent mechanics do not have the tools or the access to parts to work on them. Most dealers do not have any or enough techs who know how to work on them. Even dealers that sell them do not necessarily service them.

simple things like an oil change (only need one every 10,000 miles) but expect the truck to be down for the day. I wouldn't take it to Jiffy Lube for a 10 min oil change.

If you have someplace in the area that can service the sprinter efficiently, it's a good buy.
 
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