The Truck Thread

6.0's didn't come with a dpf. They do have an egr cooler, however it's the oil cooler that plugs. Use a scanner to monitor the temp spread between coolant and oil temps to determine when to change the oil cooler. 15* spread is considered the limit.
 
Thanks Jay. I'm not in any bands right now and not trying to be. Been doing a bit of collaborating for fun on the 'net and working on improving myself as a musician. As a side note, my living room is one of the best rooms I've ever played or recorded acoustic music in so i usually jam there.8)

Thanks for the tips guys. I have time to have my diesel guy go through it before it goes into use so I appreciate the advice.
 
Unfortunately engines & vehicles are not in my list of things I have a great understanding of. I have managed to cultivate a few local go-to people I trust over the years though and thankfully get by quite well with their assistance.
 
I've been having electrical problems with my "95 flatbed. About a week ago I hooked it up to my dump trailer and when I went down the road it the speedometer went to zero and the voltmeter also went to zero and it was reluctant to shift from first gear and once it did it was stuck in second gear no matter what. I tried a few things and like I figured it was beyond my capabilities so I took it to the auto electric place that I go to. $200 later everything is working. A few days later the turn signals quit working, The fuse is blown and I replaced it and they still don't work. There were some other fuses blown also and they checked the harness. Haven't hooked up to the trailer in any of this time. Everything is rosey until I hook it up to the trailer again and it was back to not shifting and the speedometer and voltmeter are on zero. So the electrical guy had me bring in both the truck and trailer to him.
 
I hate electrical problems and my Chevy bucket truck has had more electrical problems than all my previous vehicles combined over the last 30 years. I'm going to have to upgrade one more time in a couple years and the next one will definitely be anything other than a Chevy.
 
What sorts of problems do you experience, Brian?

I've heard the newer Chevys with the electrical gremlins in the dash boards, speedos stop working, tachs go crazy, etc.

Where I worked PT he has an older chevy with your body style. Never noticed any trouble with the electronics, just a lot of gas engine trouble.
 
I've seen all of that and then some; Mike's truck sometimes won't shut off, sometimes starts by itself, sometimes there's "alien" writing in the odometer...
 
Haha dang poltergeist ... I have had wierd things happen too. On an older gmc I had the windshield wipers would go on at random times while the truck was off and parked. :lol:
 
Is this a good deal?

http://cleveland.craigslist.org/cto/2827016911.html pictures

Tree Trimming Truck - $7000 (Trumbull County )

Date: 2012-01-31, 2:21AM EST
Reply to: see below [Errors when replying to ads?]

My dad's retiring and no longer needs this truck. My mom says it has to go NOW!! Serious inquiries only - asking $7000.00 but all reasonable offers will be considered.
The Bucket Truck is a Ford F-800 with a working height of 70'. Low mileage at just 27,500 and the truck is in pretty fair condition, and runs well.
 
It could be a good deal or it could be really scary. When it comes to buying a bucket truck, the purchase price is rarely an indicator of the true cost of the truck. IMO you need to spend about $30K or more to be safe at height and be able to get home reliably. You can spend $10K on the truck and $20K on repairs or you can spend 25K on the truck and $5K on repairs. To a climber the dollars sound scary but once you spend some time working out of a bucket the dollars tend to come a little easier.
 
It's big and cumbersome, not to mention maintenance would be a way of life with it I would think.

Got new shoes on the 550 today. Guess I'll have to get on fitting the fenders or putting a bed on it now.
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So it's about time for TreeCareLA to get a real truck. For the first 5 months of the biz I worked out of my car and rental trucks. Then in December a huge limb fell on my car in a wind storm (no joke). I bought a '07 Ford Ranger...

ranger.jpeg

It's time to buy a chip truck and I'd like advice. I want a SMALL chip truck. For two reasons:

1- I don't have a full time crew. We're working average 2-3 days per week. And we're doing pretty small jobs. I don't need the capacity.
2- Many of my clients are in the Hollywood hills and getting even a small truck around up there is a pain in the butt. Smaller is better around many parts of LA.

A while ago I perused this thread and at that time, the truck I remember liking the most was Brendon's custom chip box. Even that is a bit on the big side for me. I'd consider this the upper end of what I'm looking for.

Here's what I REALLY want and this is where I want help from you guys. Do you think I could get what is typically used by plumbers and electricians, convert the back door to handle chips, put a dump on it and be good to go? Here's a pic of what I have in mind...

utility truck.jpeg

I really like all the tool compartments on the side. I've snooped around a few and the capacity seems to be what I'm looking for. Keep in mind that most jobs we do will fit (stacking branches) in the back of a rented F-150. Chipping, this truck could hold 4 days worth of work for us. Right now we go to the dump after every job (and it sucks). I would love to only have to go once a week or so.

Whattya fink?
 
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