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South Plains of Texas | Wondering after looking at the very nice service truck posted earlier. Why do some people have to have such a service truck? I farm about 3000 acres and we do it with half ton pickups and have a welder and cutting torch on a trailer. Is this like a competition to see who has the biggest? I have friends that farm 15000 acres and no one around here uses a service rig other than just the tools that they carry in the pickups. Every pickup on my farm has a toolbox and a good set of tools. We have 500 gal. diesel tanks on tandem axle trailers that we haul diesel to the field. Don't know just wondering. |
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central Indiana | To each his own sort of thing..we have aneighbor that farms 12000 acres in 4 counties but only uses pick-up trucks...and then we have another that farms 750 and has a serice truck you could live in...while it is very nice I can't afford it |
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East Grand Forks, MN | I saw its just a personal preference. We bought a 2000, F-350 diesel with a work box on the back and bought a generator/welder and built a custom diesel tank to fit in the back and we only raise 2,200 acres. It has worked really nice for us, we used to have a small IH-Loadstar truck we took the box off and made it into a service truck, but only had 2WD - constant problems with getting stuck in mud-country.
Mcfarm - who is that farm you are talking about? I have an idea who but maybe it isn't who I'm thinking of. |
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SW Iowa | Too answer your question you should really ask the person with the big truck? He might be the next generation in the family,and wanting to farm,but not room yet.So wants to be able too branch out working for other people beside just the family operation. He might have to travel a long ways,as in they might follow the wheat harvest? Yes it's not for everyone!but if he is planning on doing custom i wish him luck. |
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Fruita CO | Personally, I'm thinking about going back to a 1-ton dually-the hassle-insurance, DOT BS, stopping at the port, annual inspection, etc., etc., on a 2-ton is amazingly more than a pickup. I ran a 1-ton for 25 years, graduated to a whole new level of crap when I got the F600....but now I'm doing the engine in it, so I may be married to it for a while....
The local Diesel injection/repair shop here has sold all their big service trucks & gone back to pickups, due to the horse-sh*t the state of CO deals out....
One of these days they're gonna get around to telling me I need a CDL just to run around to a few farms, & I'm gonna park the SOB & retire....
Edited by ronm 3/8/2010 11:41
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central Indiana | Big one or little one? |
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| I use a 2 ton, 4WD crane truck, with air. fuel tanks, welder, and torch. The crane get a lot of use. Also sees some time with the local VFD, or did until a fire worked it over pretty good. I also found it was slow and hard to get around. Have been thinking about going to a pick-up/ton truck with utility bed, but haven't found/made a choice. Seems like if you need to run for parts, you are in the big truck, and vice versa. Guess the bottom line is, whatever you have, you think something else would be better. I will warn you of this, whatever you go with, somebody will want you to do something for them. Sure have put in a lot of light poles, installed and maintained lights on ball fields, donated! |
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nebraska | I could see it on a custom combineing crew out in the middle on nowhere but farming with in a couple of countys. I really do not know how you would pay for some of these rigs. I would love to have one though. I agree you wuold get asked to do a lot of donated work. I would think that the landlords would not be afraid to ask for more money when they see of them also. |
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The Breakfast Club | I bet that 13 letter $hit spreader such as the one that's the target of your question can be bought for around the price of a newer 1-2ton pickup with service body...so what the heck. Go bawls out. I bet he doesn't have much more in it than a guy with an F-550........Gotta stroke the ego and what not.
On the other hand, ours is whatever pickup the 3-5gallon buckets of tools are in...and we're in the process of putting a 300gal fuel tank on wheels. The one 'L' tank doesn't cut it anymore. |
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nc ks | I was thinking it was over-kill and too expensive but your post made me think of what amount of dollars some guys are getting into the smaller service trucks and he probably doesn't have all that much more money in that truck. It does seem a little impractical though unless he goes on a harvest run. I tend to not be the flashy type either so maybe I am a stick in the mud? |
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Pittsburg, Kansas | Different operations are run differently. If you have your dealer do most repair work and only fix the small stuff probably a Datsun would be fine. We ran a one ton truck for several years and it got to the point we had it so over loaded that when we had the chance to buy a 2.5 ton truck reasonable we didn't hesitate. With the Diesel engine in it it runs nearly as cheaply as some of our gas 3/4 ton pickups and with an automatic and power steering about anyone can drive it. We are spread out about 40 miles, not centered and when we leave the farm in the morning it is simply poor planning that we should have to return. The service truck carries about 90% of the tools that we would have back at the main shop. If we are at one end ov what we farm and we have to go back to the shop it is basically an hour wasted minimum and usually more like 1.5 hours. The service truck carries enough supplies as well as tools we rarely have to do that. During what ever season we are in it carries a lot of spare parts. We have spare parts for machines in baskets in our parts room and we can easily load them in the service truck (it has a totally enclosed bed with slide back top and plenty of storage under roof). For example during harvest we carry the combine baskets as as well as most likely to break belts (header drive mostly). We used to spend a lot of time driving back and forth wasting a lot of time. The big service truck has reduced that considerably. Every operation is different. If everything we farmed was within 5 miles of home it would be a different story. If we had the local dealer do most of the work it would be a different story (we have a full time mechanic). If we ran all less than 5 year old equipment it would be a different story. What works for some others don't need. John
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| I'm up in the air how I feel about these big fancy service trucks. Main reason I'm still up in the air is because we just bought/built a pretty fancy one ourselves. BUT, we have less money in it (including tools, gen/welder, all the goodies) than a lot of farmers have in just a regular pickup. I agree they don't have to be fancy as long as they get the job done, but on the other hand does your tractor have to be really fancy, NO!!?? It's really a personal preference thing. As for landlords seeing it and thinking they should raise the rent because you can afford something like that, isn't this the same as running a fancy new tractor or combine through the field? The reason we went with a service truck is because we don't have a shop right now that we can fit the combine or most of the tractors in to work on them. We do have other sheds that they fit in and it's nice being able to pull up to them and have every tool you need instead of having to run home to get something, especially when that is 25 or so miles away. I'll post some pictures up next week of our service truck and you can make fun of how fancy it is LOL. |
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Pittsburg, Kansas | If you watch you don't really have to pay a lot. Our truck is an IH 2.5 ton, had about 100,000 miles, totally enclosed bed, auto and Diesel for $5500. Spent another 1200 or so for a professional paint job inside and out (painting the inside of the boxes white is a tremendous advantage light wise - can see inside so much better. Has given very little trouble and gets ran almost daily.
Ours does not have a crane which would be nice but that jacks the price up a bunch. The crane is usually worth more than the truck and bed used. John
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Brazilton KS | I ain't never seen a 1/2 ton pickemup with an 8000 lb crane on it. Can't really carry 500 gallons of fuel either. Where is the air compressor? Welder? If I wanted to drag a trailer around all the time, I guess I could, but what's the point of that when a truck works so much better?
The purpose of the service truck is to actually FIX stuff, not stand around looking at it while you wait for the dealer to show up with his service truck to fix it for you. I'll bet there are a lot of guys on here driving around in pickemup trucks which cost more then both of our service trucks put together, but I'm thinking we have considerably more capability when something needs service in the field.
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Clarksdale Delta Dixieland | Here is mines I used in harvesting: the boom will pick up 12,000 lb and use it to set headers in truck, lift side of combine when there is a front flat and various other projects. Very handy. Got about 25,000 invested in it.
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Manitoba | Know a guy who farms 8000 acres,doesn't own a half-ton.Does everything out of the back of a little Toyota hatchback. |
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Pittsburg, Kansas | A crane would be nice. Otherwise it suits our needs fine. We have less than $7000 in the truck and bed including the new paint. I don't think that is hard to justify. John
Edited by John Burns 3/8/2010 17:51
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Slicker than a Yes album. | http://www.truckpaper.com/list/list.aspx?bcatid=27&PCID=&dlr=&dlrgr...
Here's a list of 2000 Intl trucks like bincitybandits. Not too pricey, probably couldn't find many diesel pickups for the same price that can carry everything he has. Plus you have the option of a pintle hitch or hauling heavy implements. There are days it'd be nice to have a dedicated service truck, but we've gotten by for years with just tools in 5 gal pails in the pickup. Usually if we can limp it home to the shop, we do. |
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Southeast Iowa | I've been all over this service truck thing with my own operations as well as a few others, and a few of the comments on this thread are right on the dot. The first thing I learned was that one-tonners are cute, but quite useless in mud or to carry a big load. As a real, SERVICE/REPAIR truck, pickups are too small to be of much use, and forget even driving out the gate unless you have a crane on one rear corner. Big gassers are dirt cheap, and a used semi tractor is perfect for most service bodies. The CHEAPEST way to go is to buy a used utility or service truck and torch cut the body into a shape that suits your particular job. The right welder, the right torch, and the right air compressor are absolutely critical, and of course a complete set of bolt bins. Portable lights for night repairs are helpful, as well as lots of hose, 120V extension cords, and welder leads. Tracked-type tractor farming always needs more service truck capability; that's kind of where I came from, historically so I still think in terms of "maximum" service capability. I'm working in a Midwest corn-bean operation now; a totally different kind of farming; and it AMAZES ME how little need we have for service truck work. All the equipment is so new and the preventive maintenance program is so intense that we have almost no breakdowns. We have a small fuel trailer, and during harvest we just use a 1/2-ton pickup with a 30-gal air tank sitting in it, and maybe a few boxes of bean head sections in one corner of the bed. When I see how little "service capability" we work with, I almost have to laugh; but we seem to get the crops out with little or no downtime (we lost a total of SEVEN hours in the 2009 season when we stuffed the corn head into a gully). I think service trucks are hopelessly cool, and would love to have a big one to drive around again; like in the old days; but the reality is that it would probably be just sitting, or used for fixing other people's stuff about 90% of the time. I guess there IS a kind of "mechanical high" that goes along with driving something that can repair itself; and there is always that hope that you'll come upon a damsel in distress on a lonely highway with the RF spindle broken off her vintage Airstream. You could weld it back on while she fixes you an ice cold lemonade. My last service rig did have a microwave, but no fridge. |
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Leesburg, Ohio | We don't have a huge service truck, but have progressed from pickups (still have them around) to heavy duty pickups with service bodies, to recently a new 1-ton with serice body. We were carying enough tools, parts, fuel, and seed (in season) that we didn't have room to get to anything without unloading/digging. The longer one ton gives us room for more fuel, bigger compressor/generator, and plenty of spare parts for field equipment, dryers, electrical, plumbing...whatever we need at most of our farm locations without running back to the shop. We don't have as much invested as most new "loaded" 3/4 ton pickups, and can do most day-to-day repairs on the spot. Big time savings means $ to the bottom line in busy times. |
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North Dakota | While our service truck may have some extra bells & whistles that are probably not neccessary, we're pretty pleased with the functionality of it. We farm about 6,500 acres spread across 3 counties, so a versatile and well equipped service unit is critical to our operation. Our newest piece of machinery is 9 years old and the most vital equipment to our operation is 13-20 years old. So we probably have more repairs to do than other operations of similar size who invest in new machinery, and we do virtually all of our repairs ourselves save for things like rebuilding transmissions and differentials. Because of that, it is important for us to have a well equipped service truck, and a well equipped shop. We've always used our service trucks pretty much year round, for farm work, home beautification, demolition, working on the neighbor's furnace, or what have you. We are pretty happy that we could fit a rather large fuel tank on this truck so that we can retire the 1979 Standard Oil bulk truck that everyone drew straws for to see who had to drive it to the field! Like someone else said in this thread, it's just matter of personal preference. Rather than trading for brand new tractors/combines/sprayers/pick-ups/SUV's every other year, we like to have a practical shop to spend the winter in, and a service truck that is ready and equipped to deal with breakdowns or projects all year round. |
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Roseglen, North Dakota | Couldn't agree more. You shouldn't have to defend yourself for a truck like that. One feature on ours (long ways from done yet) that we love the most is a pto-driven screw air compressor--a constant 150 cfm of air with a 1" hose. Works good for blowing off combine when combining fire-prone sunflowers. Congrats on a fine truck. |
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Leesburg, Ohio | So tell me more about the pto driven screw compressor...is it hydraulic drive off the pto, or direct? Only ones I could find were either hydraulic off thepto, or direct engine drive, and very spendy...like $7000. |
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Slicker than a Yes album. | Also, could you use your wet kit to power one? Or does it have its own pump that hooks to the PTO? (I'm just jumping on KDD's post since he asked the first question.) |
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Roseglen, North Dakota | I will do the best I can to describe a screw compressor. Maybe someone more knowledgeable will jump on here and do better. The actual pump is driven by a shaft that comes off the PTO (mounted to trans of course). As soon as it starts pumping there is a solenoid that speeds up the engine 3-400 rpm, then slows down when you shut pump off. There is a tank mounted beside the frame (est 5-7 gal) that holds oil to cool the pump. The truck actually has an oil cooler to help cool and there is an oil temp guage as well. Somehow the air actually goes through that tank before it comes out the end of the hose, the wand is warm to the touch.
I apologize for not being more knowledgeable, but this much I know: It has a 50' 1" hose with a 1/4 turn valve fastened onto the wand--when you open the valve you have a constant 150cfm @ 140psi (that could be adjusted higher but when you have that much volume, more pressure is not necessary) They are designed to run a jackhammer so they just play with any farm application. When you open the valve you better be hanging onto the hose.
You are right, they are $7000 plus but they would last a farmer a lifetime. We stumbled on ours quite by accident--bought one of those electric coop service trucks with an enclosed body (this one happened to be a Freightliner FL70) that had a screw compressor in the $10k range--it made the truck pretty cheap when you deducted some value for the compressor. Advantages I see over gas comp:
~7-8 times the capacity
~don't have to be running 175 psi to get max power out of air tools
~gas engines can be a little temperamental in colder weather (even warm weather for us!)
~you don't take up as much space on your truck is space is an issue (usually is)
They are pretty impressive, you can blow the combine off in just a few minutes. |
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East Grand Forks, MN | Big one. |
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Southeast Iowa | The last service truck I bought at auction had a compressor just behind the cab; a two-cylinder Quincy; that was belt-driven from a small jackshaft between the frame rails. The front of the jack shaft was coupled to a transmission PTO with a very short driveline. The compressor had a regular unloader on the head which cut it off when the tank pressure was all the way up, and at the same time it released the pressure in a little airline that went to a small air pot that increased the truck engine idle speed while the compressor was pumping. It must have had thousands of hours on it, because the PTO unit, AND the small driveline were COMPLETELY worn out. Still functional, but worn out. The 21500 GVW GMC truck (gas) brought a very low price (1200) because the sale bill disclosed that it had a horrible vibration in the drive train. We had to roll under and tighten the big nut that held the e-brake drum on the back of the tranny to even get it home. Between that waddled out tranny shaft and the worn out PTO, we decided the truck needed a four-speed-to-five speed tranny upgrade. It made a terrific service truck for us, and in the twelve years we had it, we put a slew of miles on it. For the life of me I cannot remember what make that service body was; the swinging crane was a 24-Volt Auto-Crane, I remember that. |
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Big service trucks
