Truck or Van?

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I've been pondering switching from a truck to a van, but I am worried about getting stuck. Are any of them available in 4-wheel drive? If not, does anyone have experience with them out of the city? Most of my work is new rural construction and I'm not sure if I should keep the truck and deal with space issues or switch to the van and deal with getting stuck issues. Also, what are the repairs on a Sprinter like, do they take special parts or labor that would be hard to come by in rural Northern Wisconsin?
 
tmbrk said:
Even with my Econoline I need to get on a step ladder to pull the ladders from the top of my van. I keep the 6 footer inside because I use it so much.
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I always just have a step bumper installed and have no problems removing ladders off the top... I also keep a 4' and a 6' ladder inside.
 
To Sprint or not to Sprint

To Sprint or not to Sprint

Well i can see pros and cons, I would hate to have to work out of an oven
and i hate to get up inside of the oven to pull parts etc. And i can see putting my extension ladders ontop to be problematic. But the locking up would be way cool. The way things are going Diesel might be the wrong choice for fuel
as it seems to be continually climbing :confused:
 
stalllingselectric said:
Well i can see pros and cons, I would hate to have to work out of an oven
and i hate to get up inside of the oven to pull parts etc. And i can see putting my extension ladders ontop to be problematic. But the locking up would be way cool. The way things are going Diesel might be the wrong choice for fuel
as it seems to be continually climbing :confused:
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make sure you take milage into account with a diesel..sprinters get 20+ mpg....so even at $3/gal for diesel right now, it's still cheaper than $2.40/gal for gas in the Chevy's and Ford's that get 9-10 mpg.

I say we all go back to horse and buggies and show the oil companies a thing or two...
 
Those vans look nice but lets be realistic, how many guys are going to keep it that neat and organized? Sure YOU might, but 99% of the guys I have in trucks wont even clean out the cab let alone maintain an organized material system.
 
Parking Deck Clearance?

Parking Deck Clearance?

I am starting to hear a lot of good things about the Sprinter. I was curious if anyone knows about the overall height with single stacked ladders on top? Will it clear in parking decks/garages? THANKS!
 
ITO said:
Those vans look nice but lets be realistic, how many guys are going to keep it that neat and organized? Sure YOU might, but 99% of the guys I have in trucks wont even clean out the cab let alone maintain an organized material system.
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I have a "cab can" a special trash can for truck trash and I enforce morning truck clean out.
 
220/221 said:
Van = dry and secure.


Big van = less trips to the supply house.


DSC01001-1.jpg
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Everytime I see that truck I get truck envy for an hour or so.
 
I know that it will not in Boston. My Ford POS Van won't come close to parking garage height. I was parked next to a sprinter today (drooling over it) and it looked about 6"-8" taller about even with my roof rack.
 
Rewire said:
I have a "cab can" a special trash can for truck trash and I enforce morning truck clean out.
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If you want an eye-opener, check out the time stamps on convenience store and fast food receipts, and ATM slips that might be in the truck trash.
 
mdshunk said:
If you want an eye-opener, check out the time stamps on convenience store and fast food receipts, and ATM slips that might be in the truck trash.
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Awe... you did not need to say that. Now I am going to look.

I mandate all trucks come back into the shop for routine service, at witch time we literally hose them out, service them and do an inspection.

Some of the more interesting finds:
Guns
Empty whiskey bottles
Empty beer bottles
Receipts (that I am not going to check the time stamps)
About 4 pounds of empty sunflower seed hulls
Womens clothing
Tools there were long ago reported stolen and turned out to just be lost in the cab.
 
mdshunk said:
If you want an eye-opener, check out the time stamps on convenience store and fast food receipts, and ATM slips that might be in the truck trash.
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Then what Marc? Is that info you really want? I had a guy who went home between jobs and than had an accident at the end of his driveway..Do you really want that info from productive employees? Would it inprove their productivity? Or just drive you nuts?
 
ITO said:
Awe... you did not need to say that. Now I am going to look.

I mandate all trucks come back into the shop for routine service, at witch time we literally hose them out, service them and do an inspection.

Some of the more interesting finds:
Guns
Empty whiskey bottles
Empty beer bottles
Receipts (that I am not going to check the time stamps)
About 4 pounds of empty sunflower seed hulls
Womens clothing
Tools there were long ago reported stolen and turned out to just be lost in the cab.
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But you are in TX aren't you?
Isn't having a cold one while driving and carrying a concealed weapon legal and considered the norm down there?
 
My point is still the same, while the pic of that van was just awe inspiring, its hard to find electricians that have the mentality to maintain it, and guys that have that mentality don't always make good fast production workers.

There is one guy on my payroll that keeps a perfect truck and does perfect work, he just does it all real slow, which is great for T&M jobs but not so good for contract work.

Not trying to be cynical here but my material and tools that come back from jobs require a full time crew to sort and get read for other jobs. Its almost like a dump truck coming back from a job and making one big dump at the warehouse door. I think maybe a van would not work so well for me, because it would just fill up full of unsorted material and trash.
 
We dispatch from the shop/warehouse so it is easy to keep the trucks clean and stocked. First thing the guys do is clean out their crap from the day before and restock the items they wrote up. One guy comes in an hour early and fills the "orders" in about 1/2 hour for 4 trucks.

It takes 15 to 30 minutes a day but is time well spent.

ANYBODY can be taught how to keep things clean and organized. The main thing is to have a specific place for EVERYTHING and a designated time to perform the work.
 
mdshunk said:
If you want an eye-opener, check out the time stamps on convenience store and fast food receipts, and ATM slips that might be in the truck trash.
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Wow, and I thought we hired responbible adults. Go figure.
 
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